New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh once served as a graduate assistant under Brian Kelly at Central Michigan. But a few years back, he shared an eyebrow-raising story about how Kelly once treated him, which recently went viral following his high-profile move to LSU.
Back in 2019, when he was still with the San Francisco 49ers, Saleh recalled how he and Matt LaFleur once served as workers for a party Kelly threw at his home. Saleh and LaFleur shoveled snow and parked cars, and the two apparently pledged never to make people work the way they worked that day.
However, Saleh felt the need to clarify that two-year-old story today. Speaking to the media, Saleh said that the story was “taken out of context” and praised Kelly.
Saleh added that he tried going to work for Kelly again early in his Notre Dame tenure. LaFleur actually did work for Kelly at Notre Dame in 2014.
Robert Saleh said the story on Brian Kelly was “taken out of context.” Praises Kelly and said he tried to go back to work for him when Kelly was hired at Notre Dame.
— Brian Costello (@BrianCoz) December 1, 2021
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But it’s hard to gauge what part of the Brian Kelly story was “taken out of context”. Robert Saleh did, after all, say that he and Matt LaFleur learned an extremely valuable life lesson from that experience.
“We decided that when we’re in that position, we’re never going to treat people the way we got treated,” Saleh said in 2019.
So what part of the story is wrong? Is it the part where he and LaFleur did the snow shoveling in the first place? Or was the life lesson the part that was made up?
Ultimately, no amount of love Saleh has for Brian Kelly can cloud the fact that he’s done some people dirty over the years.