Brian Kelly explains sideline shove of assistant coach

Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly got in a sideline exchange with assistant strength and conditioning coach David Grimes late into the Irish’s 24-20 win Saturday night at Temple.

It took the Fighting Irish head conditioning coach to get in between the other two Notre Dame coaches. Even though Kelly said he was trying to prevent his coach from receiving a penalty, social media has sparked the conversation that the coaches got into a physical spat.

Kelly said after the game that if Grimes kept bickering with an official, the Irish would suffer a 15-yard penalty.

From ESPN:

“David was gonna get us a 15-yard penalty, so I have to control the sideline,” Kelly said. “I wasn’t gonna let that happen. And he got a little too close and I backed him up out of the way to make sure that we didn’t get a 15-yard penalty.”

If this is the true story, both men were trying to protect their teams. However, there are ways to protect your guys without having to give up a ton of yardage.