Brian Kelly details plans to visit Notre Dame, Marcus Freeman during year off from coaching

For the first time in more than three decades, Brian Kelly won’t be on the sidelines in 2026. He is taking a year off from coaching following his departure from LSU, but he could return to one of his former stops this season.

Kelly told USA Today’s John Brice and Blake Toppmeyer he is planning to return to Notre Dame to spend time with Marcus Freeman and Mike Denbrock, among other members of the staff. Freeman, of course, replaced Kelly in South Bend after serving as his defensive coordinator in 2021 while Denbrock left LSU to return to Notre Dame as offensive coordinator in 2024.

In addition to the trip to South Bend, Kelly said he hopes to visit with plenty of former assistant coaches this year while also hoping to continue his own coaching career down the road. He also plans to keep doing some TV work with CBS, which he began ahead of the NFL Draft. It sounds like he’ll find ways to keep busy during his year away.

“I honestly want to go and spend a little time with guys that coached with me,” Kelly said. “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. Mike Denbrock was in my wedding. Reconnecting with the guys that I know, and I want to go see how they’re doing and how they’re doing it. What are the things I can pick up from that?

“Along the way, getting the chance to do things like this [podcast interview]. Do a little work with CBS that keeps you thinking about football, podcasts like that where we can touch upon all the topics that we’ve done in 30 minutes. That keeps you sharp, from that perspective.”

Kelly became Notre Dame’s winningest coach in program history with a 113-40 overall record from 2010-21 while also leading the Fighting Irish to a national championship appearance in 2012. He then left for LSU, where he went 34-14 before his firing mid-year in 2025.

Brian Kelly also ‘doing a little bit of project work’

In addition to visiting former coaches, Brian Kelly said he’s also doing some consulting. Specifically, he is part of conversations with schools about possibly moving into a Power Four conference. That includes teaching them about the importance of front office-type structures in the NIL and transfer portal era.

“I’m doing a little bit of project work with a couple of schools that are looking at making the move into different Power Four conferences and kind of giving them a perspective on, look, the hardest thing for these schools now is front office buildup,” Kelly said. “The front office buildout is a huge, huge piece of this. It’s no longer just about a centralized head coach and all of it revolves around the head coach. You have to decentralize. That means you’ve got to bring in a front office with a GM and a director of player personnel.

“That’s a whole new model for guys like myself that you have to adjust to. I’ve been doing a little bit of that work, as well.”