Kelly to ND official?
December 10th, 2009 at 5:16 PM ^
This seems credible, especially with the recent news that the press has been dis-invited from Cincinnati's banquet. I was hoping they'd move to Edsall, but Kelly will still have a lot of work to do.
December 10th, 2009 at 5:36 PM ^
I really don't know what to make of Chris Mortensen having the story. He's an NFL guy (who has had stories blow up in his face in the recent past), so on one hand, why would he have the story instead of the college writers that the sources are likely to be more familiar with. On the other hand, maybe ESPN would have given the story to a college guy to square up, but Mort's sources were too solid to take the story away from him.
Just a strange little angle. Unless, he has been reporting all along and I just missed that fact.
December 10th, 2009 at 7:36 PM ^
They interview one guy, one time for what may be their most important hire ever? They know they weren't interviewing for a bagger spot at Kroger, right?
December 10th, 2009 at 5:17 PM ^
eh. his teams play defense about as good as ours. should have some fun shootouts though.
December 10th, 2009 at 5:50 PM ^
A year where Cincy had to replace 10 starters on defense...
Scoring Defense:
Cincy- 24th in the country
Michigan- 79th in the country
Yards per play is another indicator I like:
Cincy- 27th in the country
Michigan- 70th in the country
I have some question marks with Kelly, but I think his defense is getting a worse rap than it should. First 8 games of the year no team put up more than 20 on them. The last 4 they gave up much more, maybe they were worn down.
December 10th, 2009 at 6:28 PM ^
Those stats are meaningless because Cincy played exactly ZERO top flight opponents. Oregon St. is a stretch and they relinquished 40+ to UConn and Pitt. They relinquished 36 to Illinois, the one common opponent.
I will be more convinced if they stop Florida's somewhat anemic but still dangerous offense. If that does not happen, it's going to be good for us in the coming years.
December 10th, 2009 at 7:03 PM ^
They're not "meaningless." They should be taken in context, of course. Some of that context is the Big East competition and you're right, that competition is not great.
Additional context is just as important. For example, that ~25th ranked defense is made up of very lowly-ranked guys, most of whom (10 of 11) are new starters. It's not like Kelly took a defense full of 5star players and only mustered a ~25th ranked defense against the crappy Big East. The competition was pretty equal.
So taken together, the stats and the context basically tell you that Cincy had a pretty solid defense.
December 10th, 2009 at 7:17 PM ^
Strength of Schedule: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt09.htm
Cincinnati is 63rd
Michigan is 87th
So Cincy's defense looked decidedly better than UM's while playing a stronger schedule.
And no matter what happens in their Bowl game it will mean nothing without Kelly there, he isn't running the practices, isn't setting up the game plan and isn't coaching the team during it.
December 11th, 2009 at 1:55 AM ^
You aren't degrading Kelly's coaching because of where he came from--and dominated--because, you know, that's where Our Savior came from.
December 10th, 2009 at 5:19 PM ^
in other news
the h is o
December 10th, 2009 at 5:35 PM ^
No matter how good they get or how far the program rises, it's still just a stepping stone job where the coach lies to his players before bolting.
It's a free world; everyone's free to seek greener pastures. But man up and say, hey, I'm looking. Add Kelly to the group that includes Saban and Dantonio, among others.
A good quote from a couple days ago:
"I didn't take [what Kelly said] seriously to be honest because the same thing was told to us by coach Dantonio," Gilyard said. "He told all of us, he wasn't going anywhere and then he turned around and left. Coach Kelly said that [and] we were like, 'we've been there, done that.' And he came in front of the team: 'I'm telling you guys, I'm not going anywhere.'"That would suck balls to have not one, but two coaches lie to your face like this in a four-year career. But hey, this is why U-M didn't want Kelly, right? /sarcasm P.S. Why doesn't the comment preview feature work anymore?
December 10th, 2009 at 5:38 PM ^
I've found it doesn't work when inserting HTML into the post.
December 10th, 2009 at 5:40 PM ^
Abortion views, rumors of drinking problems, etc etc etc. He was suggesting Edsall would be the more acceptable choice.
December 10th, 2009 at 5:48 PM ^
Looks like they believe it's true in South Bend, too:
http://southbendtribune.com/article/20091210/SPORTS13/912109927/1137
December 10th, 2009 at 5:48 PM ^
http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/10/notre-dame-hires-kelly-as-n…
Just to lend a little more credibility to this.
December 10th, 2009 at 6:08 PM ^
Eh... I'd say that detracts from the credibility a bit since it's the NYT...
December 10th, 2009 at 5:56 PM ^
If only Colt McCoy's pass stayed in the air a second or two longer, maybe the media is invited to the Cincinnati banquet tonight and Brian Kelly, choking back tears, talks about how he loves his "damn fine" football team and will be their coach as long as they'll have him.
Curious if Kelly gets the RRod multi-anti-faction treatment at ND. Winning, of course, solves all ills.
ESPN's Schefter was the one who said Stoops was soon to be named; maybe Mort has more luck.
December 10th, 2009 at 6:06 PM ^
"Curious if Kelly gets the RRod multi-anti-faction treatment at ND. Winning, of course, solves all ills."
I would have to imagine that he'll get a better reception at ND just due to the pure frustration that is their alumni base after the better part of a decade.
That said, it will be an interesting comparison to see if Kelly has as much initial trouble as RR with implementing his system and having early success. He's going to inherit a pretty inexperienced team with little talent that resembles what his system requires, just like RR. Lots of comparisons to be made. My inclination is that Kelly will struggle just as much, and may win about as many games as RR did in his first year here sheerly because Notre Dame actually plays some more competent teams than usual next year.
Sept. 4 PURDUE
Sept. 11 MICHIGAN
Sept. 18 at Michigan State
Sept. 25 STANFORD
Oct. 2 at Boston College
Oct. 9 PITTSBURGH
Oct. 16 WESTERN MICHIGAN
Oct. 23 at Navy (E. Rutherford, NJ)
Oct. 30 TULSA
Nov. 13 UTAH
Nov. 20 Army (at Bronx, NY)
Nov. 27 at USC
I see 7-9 losses on that schedule even without a new coach and new system, so we'll see.
December 10th, 2009 at 6:21 PM ^
and we lose down in South Bend next year, Ann Arbor Torch & Pitchfork will have to open up a megastore and open a second factory in Mexico. What's "Torch & Pitchfork" in Spanish?
December 10th, 2009 at 6:29 PM ^
Notre Dame obviously is losing a ton of offensive players. And we don't even know who their DCo will be yet.
Michigan, on the other hand, will be in its third year under RichRod. Rich will have approximately 60+ of "his players" on the roster, and returns his starting QB.
RichRod should be far enough along that he doesn't lose to Kelly in Kelly's second game.
December 10th, 2009 at 6:37 PM ^
Or was that a rhetorical question?
December 10th, 2009 at 8:34 PM ^
Losing would be tough for UM, but I have my doubts it will happen next year. Even if ND's offense plays above its head (which will be tough since they are starting a new QB, at least one new wide-receiver, and 2/3 of the line), that defense would have to make a dramatic improvement. Their defense is about as bad as UM's (81st overall for UM vs. 87th for ND), and it's not like they were playing hoards of freshmen. Maybe 2011 ND will be back, but next year UM should have an advantage even if the game is in ND.
December 10th, 2009 at 6:21 PM ^
is that he inherits more talent overall than what RR inherited at UM. Unless there is widespread attrition at ND as there was here.
December 10th, 2009 at 6:34 PM ^
Your post would be more accurate if Kelly needed certain types of players, but he doesn't run a spread option offense, he runs a passing spread. I think Kelly will win right away, unfortunately. I've seen him since he was at GVSU and he even turned CMU around which Butch Jones has done an elite job of maintaining.
December 10th, 2009 at 6:02 PM ^
The over/under on ZOMG Brian Kelly threads (if he gets the gig) has been firmly extablished at 59--by the end of December.
December 10th, 2009 at 6:05 PM ^
haha thanks, +1. stupid image tags
December 10th, 2009 at 6:15 PM ^
mgoblog uses straight up HTML, so to imbed an image you want:
[img src="link to image goes here"[/img]
except use instead of [
December 10th, 2009 at 6:31 PM ^
Is my preferred version.December 10th, 2009 at 6:03 PM ^
This is a flat out great hire. I’ve been watching Kelly for the past 12 years (six in person and six from a distance). The man can scheme with the best, matures talent, is straight forward with the media (as seen in the search), and does less with more (see GVSU and Central Michigan). I wanted him at Michigan but am fully confident in our coaching staff and expect great things in the next few years.
Congats to ND, they got one heck of a coach.
December 11th, 2009 at 12:03 PM ^
that he does "more with less?" Doing less with more is what Weis did.
December 10th, 2009 at 6:06 PM ^
It is as official as it will be until the press conference tomorrow (I assume)
December 10th, 2009 at 6:13 PM ^
Damn. My only thoughts are that I was really hoping to see more tears on TT's face after a beating by Cinci. Not likely now.
Oh, and congrats to ND. Something tells me this one will stick.
December 10th, 2009 at 6:13 PM ^
ND is getting a good coach, but his track record for switching jobs is well established. How long before he considers bolting to the NFL?
December 10th, 2009 at 6:28 PM ^
Kelly stayed at GVSU for 13 years, hardly the mark of a job hopper. He then took jobs at two D1A schools, spending four years at CMU and now four at Cincy.
For comparison, Urban Meyer spent only two years each at Bowling Green and Utah before getting the Florida job. By comparison, I'd say Kelly looks less of a job hopper than Meyer.
I don't begrudge either guy their moves. They've all been moves upward that made perfect sense in career terms. If you want job hoppers, look at guys like Franchione, Holtz, and Saban.
December 10th, 2009 at 6:18 PM ^
This is definitely something that Irish fans were waiting for last year to happen, but it's a good hire for the Domers.
It really doesn't surprise me he put up a show in front of the media, cause he did that with Central as well. It just puts him in the same lot as creeps like Saban and co.
It's a damn good thing Jimmah and Tate are leaving cause even in a new system, they'd be one scary team to mess with.
December 10th, 2009 at 6:24 PM ^
What are you referencing by this, "It really doesn't surprise me he put up a show in front of the media"? I'm not aware of any statements or actions that make Kelly look like a jerk/creep in this situation. Actually, it seems like he's been completely straight forward and done the best in a tough spot. Anyway, flush this out a bit if you’re so inclined.
December 10th, 2009 at 6:35 PM ^
"I didn't take [what Kelly said] seriously to be honest because the same thing was told to us by coach Dantonio," Gilyard said. "He told all of us, he wasn't going anywhere and then he turned around and left. Coach Kelly said that [and] we were like, 'we've been there, done that.' And he came in front of the team: 'I'm telling you guys, I'm not going anywhere.'"
December 10th, 2009 at 6:40 PM ^
Post #6 and MH20 reference what Kelly told his players.
I simply don't understand why a coach, any coach, with a bowl game, in this case a BCS game, would leave three weeks early to go to another program. I understand why Kelly might want to go to ND. I understand recruiting when you have regime change. His players are still young kids who have busted their butts for their program and for their coach.
Sometimes, when good things happen at college football games, and I get swept up in the moment, it almost makes me forget how big a business college football has become.
December 11th, 2009 at 2:04 AM ^
"I simply don't understand why a coach, any coach, with a bowl game, in this case a BCS game, would leave three weeks early to go to another program"
I have to admit--and I don't like it--but I might be missing something here.
Just so I can trust myself: You DO know Rodriguez left WVU about 3 weeks before THEIR BCS bowl game, right?
December 10th, 2009 at 7:54 PM ^
I heard Kelly say on ESPN that he had a great group of kids, loved UC and wasn't going anywhere. In my opinion, he's a prick for doing that.
I don't hate on a coach who takes a better job that he's offered, we all do that. But be honest about it, say you're interviewing, or say you're not sure what you're going to do or say "no comment." But going out of your way to ease the minds of your players and their families only to burn them a week later, a month before they all play the biggest game they will likely ever play in their lives is comeplete bullshit.
I think Brian Kelly is a good coach, but I lost a lot of respect for him as person through this situation.
December 10th, 2009 at 9:34 PM ^
Just informed our team that Notre Dame has contacted me and I will listen to what they have to say.(from the weekend) http://twitter.com/CoachBrianKelly
December 10th, 2009 at 10:38 PM ^
You're right, instead, those "creeps" should have told their teams "Look, I don't really care for this place anymore, my mind is on (ND/Bama), good luck with the back end of your season." That's good for team morale.
December 10th, 2009 at 6:19 PM ^
If Kelly is going to be successful, however, he will need to focus much of his energy on improving Notre Dame's defense. We know they'll put up lots of points but will the defense improve? Coach Rod is in the same boat right now. Defense wins championships!
December 10th, 2009 at 6:19 PM ^
What a great hire - Congrats to ND. Too bad they don't have that decided schematic advantage anymore.
December 10th, 2009 at 6:26 PM ^
I know that Michigan and Notre Dame will be linked in perpetuity because of tradition, proximity, and now, new hires. This will be deepened because of the belief/reality that Kelly was passed over by Michigan for Coach Rod. (I have my doubts about this because he was only in Year 1 at Cincinnati and while he did very well there that year, it would have been tough to see him move on, but I digress.)
The weirder thing: Is it just me, or when you hear Brian Kelly speak (especially if you don't see him on screen), doesn't his cadence, syntax, and voice sound like a less nasal Mike Krzyzewski?
December 10th, 2009 at 6:33 PM ^
I will be honest this is the only board I have seen that "link" ever mentioned. Is there really that much to it?