Jets head coach Robert Saleh calls Brian Kelly ‘a phenomenal man’ after snow shoveling story resurfaces
Robert Saleh tried to dig out of a snow-shoveling hole he dug himself with his old boss.
The Jets head coach used part of his Wednesday press conference to say that his unflattering story-telling about working for Brian Kelly at the beginning of his career was taken out of context.
“I feel terrible,” Saleh said.
ESPN’s Rob Demovsky wrote a feature on Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur in 2019, brother of Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur, on how LaFleur rose up from the ranks from lowly college assistant to the NFL.
The article included an anecdote from Saleh — Matt LaFleur and the Jets boss were graduate assistants at Central Michigan under Kelly from 2004-2005 — about the two attending a party at Kelly’s home during the winter break. But they weren’t on the guest list, they were there to work.
“We shoveled the snow and parked all the cars,” Saleh said in the ESPN article. “Then, at the end of the night, we had to go get the cars again.”
That night caused some self-reflection for the two and Saleh told Matt later that night, “that when we’re in that position, we’re never going to treat people the way we got treated,” according to the story.
When former Notre Dame head coach Kelly became LSU’s head coach on Monday, the quote popped back up and Kelly’s character took some heat.
Saleh believes the quote was taken out of context and said the story was meant to be funny and explain the trials that came with being a graduate assistant.
“Part of that article was to tell a funny story of Matt and I as GAs. Part of being a GA ... every single coach in this profession, there’s a rite of passage whether you’re a GA or a QC [Quality Control]. And that was a funny story.”
There is a contradiction from Saleh because in the article he mentioned he wouldn’t treat anybody that way. So how was that taken out of context?
Saleh didn’t answer, other than to talk about what a great guy Kelly is.
“Not an indictment on how Brian treated us. Brian is a phenomenal man. He really is and that was just one of those deals. That was supposed to be a funny story that people took in a negative light,” Saleh said. “Shame on me. I should have worded that better but there’s a reason why Matt went back and worked for him. There’s a reason why I tried to go back and work for him. He’s a really good manager and treats people the right way.”
