Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly’s “execution” joke didn’t kill it on Sunday.
The Fighting Irish football team squandered an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter against Florida State but still won, 41-38, in overtime. After the game, Kelly was asked about his squad’s “ability to withstand” the Seminoles’ comeback.
“I’m in favor of execution. Maybe our entire team needs to be executed after tonight,” Kelly quipped to ESPN’s Katie George on the ABC broadcast. “We just didn’t execute very well.”
The remark caused a stir on social media and reporters later asked him about it.
“It’s an old John McKay quote,” Kelly explained, referring to the late University of Southern California and Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach. “I was kidding. It was tongue-in-cheek. It wasn’t funny? ... I was talking and making a joke about it. It was taken serious? Are you people crazy?”
“I was stealing one of his old quotes and being funny, because nobody likes to be funny anymore,” he added, according to ESPN. “If you want to take me to town on that, please do.”
McKay, whose Buccaneers team lost every game during its inaugural 1976 season, was asked about his team’s execution.
“I’m in favor of it,” he cracked.
Here are some of the more noteworthy Twitter responses to Kelly’s updated take from fans and pundits.