OT-Kelly shaking up Notre Dame (DetNews/AP article)
I, for one, totally buy into this type of stuff. My initial reaction (after reading the article) is that ND will be a vastly improved program solely based on the WAY Kelly is doing things (and the "tone" he's setting).
(PS...This is simply my observation of ND after reading the article. I am not trying to correlate anything that's going on in South Bend with what we have going on here in A2.)
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Tom Coyne / Associated Press
South Bend, Ind. --The morning before spring break at Notre Dame, the football team got a 5 a.m. wake-up call from coach Brian Kelly. It was time to start.
The Fighting Irish players gathered at a practice field surrounded by snow and began what the new coach affectionately calls Camp Kelly. Players won't say exactly what went on during the 90-minute workout, except that there were no footballs or football drills involved. Mostly it was intense, team-building exercises and an eye-opening signal to players that Kelly wants to change the atmosphere at Notre Dame -- breathing new life into a once-elite program that's struggled through a series of mediocre coaching tenures.
Kelly is aiming to put Notre Dame first, in the minds of its players and in the polls. He wants to persuade the Irish to start worrying more about their teammates than where they'll be drafted. Gone are the days of Charlie Weis, with his ostentatious Super Bowl rings and talk of how Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady did things. Gone are the two-hour daily meetings and the walkthroughs at practices. Gone is the NFL approach.
Kelly, who spent 13 years coaching Division II Grand Valley State in western Michigan, wants the Irish giving it the old college try. That means a team first attitude. That means uptempo practices and a focus on ending a national championship drought that stretches back to 1988.
"I want to hear about Notre Dame. I want to hear about restoring the glory to a university that has a great tradition," Kelly said. "What I want them talking about is, 'It's me that gets that first national championship,' not 'I want to be the No. 1 draft pick.' That's what we're reshaping."
Kelly is not only transforming Notre Dame's offensive and defensive schemes, but everything from how the Irish practice, to how they eat, to how they spend their free time. The goal, as Kelly describes it, is to "get the fight back in the Fighting Irish."
The most obvious difference under Kelly is the practices. Everything is done at a frenetic pace. Even stretching is done uptempo, with players leaping while running back and forth. Scrimmages are chaotic, often with several coaches yelling out at the same time in the same area.
"We're trying to create an atmosphere that is difficult for them in the practice. I believe if you can get through practice, you're going to be prepared for Saturday," Kelly said.
One way the coaches measure how players are doing is to grade each play to see if any players are loafing. One of the team's top players already has 20 loafs, Kelly said.
"Now that's not because he wants to loaf. It's just the expectation of what we want him to do for that entire play is so different from what he was allowed to do in the past," Kelly said. "We're trying to set a new standard and demanding something different."
Kelly believes he is responsible for developing players in five areas: skill on the field, physically, intellectually, socially and spiritually.
Irish coaches teach football skills at practice. The physical improvements come through things like Camp Kelly, offseason workouts and the first training table at Notre Dame since Lou Holtz was there. Players eat dinner together Monday through Friday, a practice Weis tried to reinstate when he was coach.
Athletic director Jack Swarbrick said the need to make sure players were eating right, instead of letting them eat at dining halls, became apparent when players, especially linemen, had trouble keeping weight on. The Irish were just 3-10 in November the past three seasons.
"It's tough for you to be in great form in the last third of the season if you haven't maintained weight," Swarbrick said.
Kelly's also given the players what he calls the Irish creed, covenant and commandments, which basically outlines how he expects them to act on and off the field.
When Kelly arrived on campus he was appalled to see how disheveled the locker room was, how players were sleeping in the players' lounge, which had pillows and sleeping bags strewn about, and how players were parking illegally next to the football offices.
One of the first things Kelly did was put a sign in the locker room diagramming how he wanted players to store their equipment in lockers. He then posted a sign warning that illegally parked cars would be towed. He then changed the players lounge into a game room, complete with pool table, ping pong table, air hockey table and other games. The idea, Kelly said, was to build camaraderie.
"It's just like at the student union. You have a break in your classes it's a chance to blow off some steam, relax a little bit and get a chance to build relationships with coaches and players," Kelly said.
He also doesn't allow players to wear hats or earrings in any team meetings, practices or football-related buildings. They also aren't allowed to take their helmets off at practice.
"When you're here, you're here to play football and you do it with a helmet," he said.
He also wants to build the team spiritually, an area where he said the team was lacking. Players have begun having Bible readings on Thursday night. He also is encouraging players to perform community service.
"We need to be thinking about others," he said.
Kelly has made other changes. He has been making the rounds on campus, including at various sporting events. While Weis would attend basketball games, he would generally sit in his seat and leave quickly afterward. Kelly walks around at halftime shaking hands and talking to people. He even did an Irish jig at halftime of a women's game.
The mood at the football offices are different, also. Visitors used to have to get through two locked doors to get to the coaches offices. During a recent spring day the doors were not only unlocked but wide open. Kelly said he wants others on campus to feel welcome.
He also has shortened the amount of time players spend on football by 75 minutes. Because players eat and study in the building housing the football offices, players' essentially spend two hours less a day on football.
"I thought their day was too long for a college football player. It got close to being a job, and I don't want it being a job," Kelly said.
The goal of it all is to get the Irish back to focusing on winning that next national championship.
"I would hope that every player we recruit to the University of Notre Dame has the dream still in heart that he's going to play in the NFL," Kelly said. "Having said that, I hope he chooses Notre Dame because he wants to be at Notre Dame. Not because it's a launching point for his NFL career."
From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100416/SPORTS0201/4160423/1462/SPORTS/…
Just for the record, it is considered poor form to paste the full text of an article, even if you provided the link. In the future you'll want to summarize the article, add a few thoughts of your own should you have any, and then provide the link.
:)
You're probably one of the few who believe the fluff article. Most of us around here have seen that movie recently.
April 16th, 2010 at 11:10 PM ^
And didn't like the sequel.
As for the article, Kelly scares me. He's won everywhere, and he knows how to change cultures. I know Rich Rodriguez like to go up tempo, but Kelly's slow down is like most teams' fast.
Let's hope our defense is VERY well conditioned.
RR won everywhere he went before UM too.
If I were RichRod, I'd put that article on the bulletin board, so that the players know how hard ND is working right now. I know our team is working hard, but it would be good motivation for the players to know they're not the only ones...
There's a classic story about productivity and change. Some giant behemoth company is looking to increase productivity in the plant. So they decide to put in brighter lights. It makes for a nicer environment! They put in the lights and productivity goes up 15 percent. A few years go by and productivity is lagging and some manager says, "It's too bright! Let's dim the lights!" and productivity goes up 15 percent. The moral is that change for change's sake is sometimes the answer. Just shake things up a bit.
You ever get the feeling that college football is the same way?
A new coach will come in and pretty soon you start hearing stories about how "things are going to change around here!" The previous coach was always too sloppy, too tight, too strict, too loose.
99 times out of 100, when a coach gets fired, it's because he didn't recruit very well. It wasn't like the school had hired someone who didn't know what a football was.
Weiss didn't land enough impact players on defense. His teams gave up 294, 310, 345, 288, and 311 points a year. That's more than any pre-Rich Rodriguez Michigan team ever gave up. And they didn't give up 300 points a year because they illegally parked their car or because they took their helmets off at practice.
next coach:
new doors to the coach's offices have been installed. new coach says "i am in here to work on winning and i don't just want any yokel from campus walking in and bothering me."
While Weis would attend basketball games, he would generally sit in his seat and leave quickly afterward.maybe he couldn't get out of his seat - did they ever think of that? (I wonder if they charged him for two like the airlines do?)
I knew there was a joke in there somewhere, but you beat me to it. Nice work.
i am definitely going to play football at notre dame because i like ping pong, hate wearing hats, love doing volunteer service and reading the bible!
Fuck Notre Dame. I hate ping pong, love wearing hats, hate volunteer service and I'm an atheist. I also like eating dinner alone and my first goal is to play in the NFL.
We'll see how "united" they are as a team on September 11th.
I wish we didn't have to play in South Bend on September 11. We'll probably have another pre-game "Patriotism with an ND touch!" ceremony to sit through.
i hate to say it but i think Kelly will do great things at ND, just hope its not vs Michigan
To Hell with Brian Kelly!
Great things? I thought only Detroit Mercy grads went on to do great things.
"(PS...This is simply my observation of ND after reading the article. I am not trying to correlate anything that's going on in South Bend with what we have going on here in A2.)"
Then why is this being posted here? Sounds like this belongs on a ND blog.
It has OT in front of the title, it's football related, and it's about one of our rivals.
From reading every team's spring practice reviews, I'm convinced that every team in the country will post a winning season this year. (The math will work itself out.)
ND will start out the season well like they always do when they've got a new coach ... About 1/2 way through the season, talk of a BCS appearance will be openly debated by reporters and talking heads not named Lou Holtz, (who will have started talking about a national championship immediately following the spring game).
The last half the season will see key losses, a limp to the finish line, a ho-hum bowl game, and talk of next year.
The more things change ....
But I'll be elated when we kick their ass in September.
Everything always look awesomely great when a new coach takes over. The old guy totally sucked and the new guy is such a refreshing change. On that basis personally I would not buy into this stuff, which is not to say he won't be a great coach.
If things don't go well to start a lot of these new policies regarding hats, earrings, parking etc. are not going to look so great, not to mention Camp Kelly. On the other hand it all could work out - time will tell.
Despite all the negative hoopla regarding RR he didn't show up with a bunch of these trivial rules and regulations and to his credit I believe the players have bought into his system despite the record of the last two years. That bodes well for our future.
Sounds like Notre Dame will have a decided foosball advantage. I am quaking in my boots, sir!
I really don't want to hear anything good about Notre Dame. Ever. Fluff pieces are for fans of that team and no one else. Get this garbage out of here. Brian Kelly sucks and ND will lose all their games.
Golden Tate pretty much got them all their wins last year. Interesting to see them without Tate, Floyd, and Jimmy "The Princess" Clausen.
where did floyd go?
duh. Oh wait, were talking about ND? NVM. Carry on then.
Notre Dame has been "Returning to Glory" since 1990.
April 16th, 2010 at 11:51 PM ^
Take comfort in the fact that RR beat Kelly in 2007 in the one game they coached against each other in the Big East.
That was Kelly's second year at Cinci, when he went 10-3.
WV won the conference that year and finished 11-2 (RR was 10-2 since he left before the Fiesta Bowl).
Also, that game was played IN CINCINNATI.
Kelly is a successful coach, but I don't know that I can subscribe to this general feeling that the game on September 11th this year is going to be this enormous coaching mismatch in favor of Notre Dame.
We'll certainly have the advantage of experience and player/staff familiarity by far at that point, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that Kelly at ND scares me -- he's won everywhere he's gone, and he was my first choice during our coaching search for FWIW.