David Grimes is an assistant strength and conditioning coach for Notre Dame. He did not agree with a penalty against the Fighting Irish on Saturday and let an official know. Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly was not happy about that.
Notre Dame coach shoves assistant, says he did so to prevent penalty
A head coach getting angry at another coach during the game -- especially over arguing with officials -- is not abnormal. It happens frequently. It just doesn’t always happen when cameras are fixated on the sideline and it doesn’t usually escalate to the level of grabbing to emphasize the point.
Kelly downplayed the confrontation after the game, saying he was acting to avoid a 15-yard penalty.
“David was going to get us a 15-yard penalty,” Kelly said after the game, via Tyler James of NDInsider. “I had to control the sideline. I wasn’t going to let that happen. He got a little too close and I backed him up out of the way to make sure we didn’t get a 15-yard penalty.”
The action itself will likely get chalked up to a “in the heat of the game” moment. It’s football. That doesn’t mean it’s not troubling to see the head coach of a college football team get so angry he puts his hands on another coach. Kelly’s postgame comments seemingly defend and justify his actions, which is, again, less than ideal. The action was bad enough. Defending it is not a good look for Kelly and Notre Dame.
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