The story Brian Kelly recalls demolishing a Notre Dame apartment building to build dream home originally appeared on The Sporting News. Click here to add Sports News as your go-to source.
In the hit “APT.,” ROSÉ and Bruno Mars sing: “It’swhat, it’swhat, it’swhatyoulike,” while turning the apartment into a party. For Brian Kelly, the apartment story is a little different. He tore one up.
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During an appearance on SiriusXM College Sports Radio, Kelly revealed that he and his wife just built what he calls his dream home near the Notre Dame Irish football team’s campus. It was a house so close to them that the golden dome could be seen from the yard.
“It’s hard. My wife and I just finished building our dream home,” Kelly said. “You can walk out of your home and look at the Golden Dome. We tore down an apartment complex to build this beautiful home. We have no intention of leaving Notre Dame.”
By that time, Kelly had solidified himself as the most successful coach in modern Notre Dame history, becoming the program’s all-time winningest coach while leading the Irish to multiple College Football Playoff appearances.
His departure in late November 2021 remains one of the most surprising coaching changes in recent college football history. Notre Dame was 11-1 at the time and still had a chance to make the four-team College Football Playoff, depending on the outcome of championship weekend.
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However, Kelly left to become the head coach of the LSU Tigers football team.
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To this day, Kelly feels that his original mission in South Bend has largely been accomplished.
“The agreement we made was we needed to get this program back to being an elite program,” Kelly said. “Everybody associates success with winning a national championship or winning a Super Bowl or a World Series. I get that. I totally get it. But that’s not our mindset. Our mindset is to get this program back and be a consistent force in college football.”
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“In some cases, we feel like our job is done,” Kelly said. “We still have a challenge, which is to win a national championship.”