Longtime police spokesman Paul Browne is leaving NYPD Blue for the Fighting Irish.

The Bronx-born son of Irish immigrants has been named vice president of public affairs at the University of Notre Dame, the NYPD said yesterday.

With Commissioner Ray Kelly likely out of a job in January when a new mayor takes office, Browne, 64, had been planning his exit, a law-enforcement source told The Post. “He’s been working on this for a while,” the source said.

John McCarthy, a senior adviser and spokesman in the Mayor’s Office, will take over for Browne starting Aug. 19.