Six months after LSU fired Brian Kelly, he is taking time and looking at what comes next. Now, he says he wants to visit Notre Dame, meet Marcus Freeman, and spend time with coaches he once worked with. But this is not a comeback pitch yet. It sounds more like a coach going back to a place he once led, now to watch, talk, and learn. That is what makes the visit worth noticing.

“I honestly want to go and spend a little time with guys that coached with me,” Brian Kelly told USA TODAY Sports. “I want to get to some NFL camps. I’m going to go back up to Notre Dame and see Marcus. I want to see those guys and [OC] Mike Denbrock… So you know, reconnecting with the guys that I know and I want to go to see how they’re doing, and how they’re doing it, and what are the things that I can pick up from that.”

Marcus Freeman is not just an old contact. He is the coach who took over after Kelly left in 2021. Mike Denbrock also matters here because he worked with Kelly before returning to Notre Dame, so this trip is about familiar faces, not just one handshake.

Kelly’s Notre Dame years were successful, but they were never free from debate. He won big there, yet many judged those teams by what happened in the biggest games. He won 113 games there, passed legendary coach Knute Rockne on the all-time wins list, reached a BCS National Championship Game in 2012, and made two CFP appearances. 

But somehow, Brian Kelly never fully escaped the criticism for his team’s shortcomings, especially his departure from South Bend to LSU in 2021, which still leaves a sour taste for ND fans. But now, he doesn’t sound so defensive.

“Notre Dame was more about building it and [becoming] a consistent winner and becoming relevant again,” he admitted. “Now Marcus is taking that and moving it to another level.”

The timing matters, too. Marcus Freeman has pushed Notre Dame into a different phase, including a run to the national title game in the 2024 season. That makes Kelly’s praise sound less like old history and more like respect for where the program is now.

“I’m proud of the work that we did at Notre Dame,” he said. “I’m proud of the time. We raised our family there. We loved it. But it was time to move on, and the next challenge was the LSU challenge. That, in 3.5 years, was too much to get to.”

Brian Kelly’s LSU run ended quickly by his standards. He went 34-14 there before LSU fired him in October 2025, and the size of his buyout, which is reported to be around $54 million, means he has room to be patient about what comes next. However, he also made clear that he still wants to coach again, even if he is waiting for the right job.

“I’m in a very good position that I don’t have to coach again unless it’s the right coaching position, but I wanna coach,” he said. “Because it’s given me this chance to know what’s my passion and I love the relationships and I love being around the players.”

And that’s why instead of spending his time golfing or making TV appearances, he’s even using artificial intelligence to prepare for his next opportunity.

Brian Kelly is preparing for his comeback with AI

Brian Kelly revealed he’s been actively using AI tools like Claude to prepare himself for interviews. 

“Every day, I’m trying to do my due diligence using Claude and AI,” he said. “Asking questions to build some of those answers that I think can be helpful for me as I get in front of an athletic director.”

As it stands now, college football has changed in unrecognizable ways with NIL, the transfer portal, revenue sharing, and evolving CFP formats, among others. Brian Kelly seems to understand that it has now come to the stage where you adapt or get left behind. He even compared AI’s role in football to replay technology in baseball. 

“Balls and strikes are here to stay in Major League Baseball,” he said. “But it’s not taking over the game, I think it’s enhancing it. And I think AI, used the right way, and understanding how to use it, can enhance the experience for everybody.”

Brian Kelly sounds adaptive because a coach with nearly 300 career wins usually doesn’t disappear. Especially if he’s still studying the game six months after getting fired, reconnecting with old staff, visiting NFL camps, and preparing interview answers. Whether that’ll bring him back to Notre Dame remains to be seen.