Notre Dame Head Coach to Te'o: 'She's Dead'

When Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o first told his head coach Brian Kelly that he had received a phone call indicating his girlfriend, who he thought had died of leukemia, may be alive, Kelly simply told Te’o that, as far as Notre Dame was considered, she was “dead.”

When asked what his conversation with Kelly was like, Te’o said: “Coach Kelly just said she’s dead. That’s how we’re going to go about it. She’s dead. When you come in, we’ll talk about it. That’s all he said.”

Te’o’s “girlfriend” had allegedly told a duped Te’o that she had to fake her death to elude drug dealers. Te’o believed she may be alive. But Kelly, according to Te’o, appears to have wanted nothing to do with the situation or to get to the bottom of it. 

The investigative firm Notre Dame hired did not even interview Te’o or anyone allegedly associated with the hoax. Notre Dame and investigators did not even examine Te’o’s electronic records, including e-mails. They did not search his text messages and phone numbers he had dialed.