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Brian Kelly said a Stanford coach told him ‘bye bye’ after Notre Dame’s loss

Could he be onto something here?

Stanford v Notre Dame Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images

Notre Dame dropped to 2-5 on the season with a 17-10 loss to Stanford at home on Saturday night. Given that this is the most irrelevant Notre Dame has been in several years, questions have been swirling for the majority of this season regarding head coach Brian Kelly’s job security.

After the Stanford loss, Kelly is reported to have gotten into a “heated exchange” with one of the Cardinal strength coaches. Kelly later told reporters that the coach told him “bye bye” when brushing past him, which would imply that the coach believed Kelly’s days in South Bend are numbered.

Grimes happens to be the strength coach Kelly shoved during last year’s game against Temple.

Despite Kelly’s team having a dreadful season, the Fighting Irish head coach has added a couple of entries to his history of blaming everyone other than himself for the team’s struggles. After the Fighting Irish’s 1-3 start, Kelly fired defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder. The firing came less than a week after Kelly insisted that a social media staffer accidentally liked a tweet calling for VanGorder to be fired.

After losing to Duke 38-35 in late September, Kelly questioned his own players’ lack of motivation.

It’s obvious that Kelly’s future in South Bend may be in question after 2016, depending on how the rest of the season goes. The road ahead won’t be an easy one; still remaining on the schedule are Miami, Navy, Virginia Tech, and USC.

A Chicago Tribune columnist was calling for Kelly’s job even before Saturday’s rivalry loss at home.

The interesting thing about the current Notre Dame season is the status of Brian Kelly’s contract. He received a six-year contract extension in January. It came after ND’s 10-win season last year.

Notre Dame, in case you forgot, gloriously gave Charlie Weis an unbelievable 10-year extension in 2006. He was fired in 2009, and given the ridiculous contract, his buyout totaled over $18 million, which he was still getting money from as recently as December of 2015.

I’m not saying Kelly’s six-year deal is anything remotely close to Weis’, but it’s still kind of funny to remember, given the current 2-5 record for Notre Dame. Did I mention Notre Dame is 2-5?