OT- Brian Kelly is, always has been, and always will be, a terrible human being
In an interview on Sirius XM today, Brian Kelly openly admitted he thinks it was a mistake that DeShone Kizer left early for the NFL Draft. Regardless of how true or untrue his opinion is, I find it disingenuous for someone making millions to criticize someone for deciding not to play for free anymore. Kind of an asshole move to call out a former player in such a way.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/notre-dame/2017/04/03/bri…
What a sad, strange little man
And he has my pity.
Farewell
No one will be saying it was a mistake he left early!
Item 1: Brian Kelly is an ass.
Item 2: Players leaving a team early to go pro is a good thing.
The first item is an established fact; also, water is wet. The second item is an opinion that is of dubious veracity and can be destructive to team morale if not handled properly.
It's not good thing if they're running from the head coach or a shitty culture.
See the Michigan Hockey threads.
Whether a player leaving early is a good thing depends quite a bit on how well he does after he leaves. It makes sense to me that a QB could especially benefit from taking a lot of college snaps.
Eh. It might help the QB early in his NFL career. Theoretically, more college experience makes for a better rookie QB. But after a year or two in the NFL, your college career means almost nothing.
Brian Kelly is the "Bobby Knight" of college football. I just don't understand how he continues to accumulate fairly decent recruiting classes. I wouldn't want to play, and certainly wouldn't want my son to play for him.
Bobby Knight may have been a dick, but he never had anyone die at his practices that I know of. Kelly should have been fired the day after that young man lost his life.
I know several basketball players that played for Knight. You can't condone his methods today, but Bobby Knight truly cared for his players. He made sure they toed the line athletically and academically. They would go through a wall for him.
is beyond me
It's an exceptional, powerful network in broadcast media, sports and business. A player thinking ahead to life after his time on the field ends, which typically arrives quickly and often due to events beyond control, may very well decide that a few years of life spent in South Bend could pay off well over time. This said, I have spent three hours with Kelly, admittedly alcohol was in play, and I sincerely did not like the man at all and would not want my child to play a sport under him. Kelly is out for Kelly & Co. and that's all.
has also had several encounters with Kelly involving alcohol. He said similar things, although with more instances of "fuck that dude"
Having grown up in Metro Detroit, my initial thought was more along the lines of, "What? He liked Kelly & Company?" then I realized that was such a fine show in its time and Brian Kelly is such a shit person in any time.
Fess up. You only watched Kelly & Company because of Marilynn.
I'd be curious to know if ND's status as a premiere religious institution is a draw for many athletes. My brother was a pretty devoted catholic, which profoundly shaped his choice of college...
Not that Kelly is a paragon of virtue in this regard, but maybe some athletes chose the school despite the coach's personal failings.
I'd say with confidence that 80%+ of Notre Dame football players arent Catholic. I don't think it's a factor
does not mean they are Catholic. Private schools recruit football players. If they go to a Catholic HS they are exposed to the network that is ND. The Catholic Network don't care as long as they win......see Ray Rice at Don Bosco.
That's exactly my point... so thanks for reiterating that I suppose...
It might not be a factor for a lot of players on a personal level, but:
1. I betcha it's a factor for a lot of parents, even some of them who are not Catholic per se but believe a religious institution is inherently more moral than a secular one (ie I'll send my son to religious school X because they'll keep him out of trouble.) That's probably a naive assumption (cough cough Baylor cough) but you know some parents think like that.
2. ND being Catholic gives them an automatic leg up at Catholic high schools. The coaches at those schools are more likely to give them access in the first place, and furthermore more likely to advocate on ND's behalf to the player. We know HS coaches can have a huge influence on school choice, so brushing this off as if it's not important would be similar to suggesting a Mississippi school doesn't have an advantage recruiting a Mississippi kid. Of course they do.
Despite the fact that I am biased, I still would say that
Michigan Alumni >>> ND Alumni
Despite the fact that I am biased, I still would say that
Michigan Alumni >>> ND Alumni
Well there's a lot more that goes into the decision of where to play college football than who the head coach is. As a matter of fact, in a lot of situations there is very minimal individual contact with the head coach (most aren't as hands on as Harbaugh). So Kelly being a Grade A dickbag isn't likely to be an issue for most recruits.
This ranks awfully low on the long list of terrible things Brian Kelly has done. He's allowed to have an opinion on the matter and he's allowed to voice it.
And I'm allowed to call him a giant douchebag in the process. And just because he's done way worse things, doesn't mean we should ignore being a megadick.
He's definitely an asshole, but if all he did is say that he thinks it was a mistake for Kizer to leave early that's not really criticizing his former player that's simply voicing his honest opinion.
The thing with Kelly is that he has no tact. He says things in the absolute most asshole way possible in most cases. Not necessarily that he's wrong about what he's saying (although he's wrong a lot too).
Kelly lost me with his actions when a student manager was killed when the tower Kelly used to fil practice collapsed in a high wind. Before the collapse Kelly, in his typical asshole manner, screamed that the tower was to be used in spite of people suggesting it was unsafe. Imagine, the man might have lost high angle film of one practice. He should have been fired on the spot. He should have been criminally charged. Lot's of assholes say shitty things...this asshole does unbelievably shitty things.
Thank you for mentioning this. We often forget (or ignore) what's truly important. The "student manager" had a name and a family. Declan Sullivan would still be alive if Brian Kelly had not been the head coach at Notre Dame when Declan Sullivan was a student there.
Detail about the accident and how Declan's family responded
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/12/30/sports/ncaafootball/declan-sulliv…
The family is very classy. No adult in charge should have even given the option to a student to endanger himself and others in order to video a practice session.
"Well, he still should be in college," Kelly said. "You know, but the circumstances are such that you have to make business decisions and, you know, he felt like it was in his best interest and I’m going to support him and his decision. But the reality of it is he needs more football. He needs more time to grow in so many areas, not just on the field but off the field. He’s a great kid, he’s got great character."
I'm not a Brian Kelly fan, but really this is just faux angst over a nothing comment.
I think it is in -extremely- poor taste to say it before the draft. It comes off as Kelly being bitter and trying to hurt a kids stock for not doing what was best for his college coach.
Agreed. It's a bad look and serves no purpose... And definitely doesn't help out Kizer. If he cared at all for Kizer, he would have stayed mute/positive to neutral on his response. No harm in trying to help the kid get drafted, you know, if you care about him at all......
dude calm down. all he said was he didnt agree with his decision. i would hate to see your reaction if someone messes up your order at burger king.
One can call Brian Kelly a giant douchebag and a megadick while being completely calm. That may be the saddest thing about Kelly. We've just come to accept his giant doucebaggery and megadickness as par for the course.
I guess I don't see the problem here...he's probably right, for one thing, but beyond that, I'm not sure that being honest with your players over something like this is a bad thing.
have voiced about players on our own teams going pro early (both before and after they've left), even though they know little or nothing about their situation, far less than Kelly knew about Kizer's. So do fans of every big time college sports program, and pundits of all stripes. It's just one of the many things that sports fans opine and argue about. Why single Brian Kelly out for this?
no fans opinion on radio will potentially cost a player millions.
See what you just did? You made Lexi Thompson cry all over again.
Give her a handkerchief and send her to my room for comforting.
As has been pointed out multiple times on this thread. NFL GMs have better ways to judge a player's ability than a radio interview from his former coach.
Brian Kelly saying what he said isn't going to cost DeShone Kizer millions.
If he's got the goods, the NFL won't care what Brian Kelly thinks, any more than they cared what Pete Carroll thought of Mark Sanchez.
I was going to say pete carroll pulled the same shit himself.
The title of your thread is accurate, but this honestly doesn't seem like the best example. He was asked his honest opinion about a kid he coached. He gave an honest answer. It was fairly even-handed as he gave out praise but pointed out things he needs to work on. Kelly has literally presided over people dying. Relative to that this is pretty innocuous.
I don't think money is the issue here. And a lot of people thought Kizer would be best served to play another year.
Because a kid's former coach saying he's not ready for the NFL hurts his draft stock. There's nothing to gain for Kelly to say it other than to soothe his own ego.
Or because he is expected by GM's of football teams to give accurate honest opinions of the prospects he produces. If he doesn't he runs the risk of hurting evey other players draft stock in the future because no GM is going to trust his analysis.
There's a big difference between privately giving GMs honest assessments of a player's strengths and weaknesses versus going on a radio show and issuing a blanket statement that he isn't ready for the NFL.
Edit: He also seemed to question his character off the field, which... what a dick.