Irish Blogger Gathering: Insert Spring Cliche Here

So, I've not really been with the posting this year so far. The offseason is a dead period, and there wasn't much news out of campus as well. However, with Spring Practice starting under the new regime, there is now no shortage of excitement or questions. The Irish Blogger Gathering is back and better than ever, with the year's first IBG post being hosted by the founder of IBG, Subway Domer.

So, without further ado, here goes:

1. Notre Dame is looking at vast changes on both sides of the ball. Kelly will implement his version of the "Spread," which is run at an excruciating pace, and the Irish defense will, once again, make the transition from the 4-3 to the 3-4. Asking to pick one side of the ball that intrigues you the most would be a disservice to us all. Instead, list your biggest hope and your biggest fear for both the offense and the defense.

Offense biggest hope: Getting playmakers on the field. Coach Weis certainly was no slouch at recruiting offensive talent. And although I would love to have seen Golden Tate's speed and athleticism in this offense, there is plenty of talent remaining. Michael Floyd has dropped some weight to make him a little quicker, and he'll certainly be the #1 target as he hopefully can stay healthy and make a push for his own Biletnikoff award. To relieve the logjam at running back, Theo Riddick is now lining up at the slot, leaving Armando Allen as the man at running back. However, all-everything 5-star recruit Cierre Wood will be pushing for time as well, along with Jonas Gray and Robert Hughes. At receiver, we also have ridiculous depth, with John Goodman and Duval Kamara trying to make their mark as veterans, and youngsters Shaquelle Evans, Deion Walker, and Tai-ler Jones trying to learn the fundamentals to take advantage of their natural athleticism. And don't forget that we still have arguably the nation's best tight end in Kyle Rudolph who will be on the field pretty much all the time.

With all of that talent on the field, and the wide-open style of this offense, opposing defensive coordinators are going to have their heads spinning trying to find enough people to cover them all.

Offense biggest fear: Dayne Crist's knee. I know he's rehabbing, and way ahead of schedule. He's running around in practice, and in the limited video coverage available, he certainly looks nimble enough. However, this is an option offense, which means that his mobility is crucial to the success of this offense.

When undersized Nate Montana and a couple of true freshman are our backup options, of course I'm going to be worried about the health of our #1 QB. Not since Brady Quinn in 2005 have I been so concerned with the health of our quarterback. I know that Coach Kelly went through 5 QBs en route to a 10 win season a couple years ago, but with EVERYONE learning the new offense, we need the veteran presence, leadership, and athleticism of Dayne Crist to keep things together while we work through this learning curve.

Defense biggest hope: Linebacker dominance. With Manti Te'o growing as a player and Brain Smith in his senior year, we have two top caliber linebackers to build the 3-4 defense around. There is a lot of unproven talent at the other positions. Coach Kelly talked about putting Smith and Te'o on the outside, where they can take advantage of their athleticism, and try to get more size and physicality inside. If we can find some toughness and intensity inside at the linebacker position, we will be tough to move the ball against. It does give me hope that our defensive coordinator is also tasked with the inside linebacker position coaching job. With the athleticism sealing the outside, and physicality stuffing the gaps inside, the only option for opposing offenses will be to beat us through the air.

Defense biggest fear: Which of course leads to my biggest fear on defense - the secondary. I really hope Chuck Martin knows what he's doing. The Corwin/Tenuta experiment took some of the best pure talent we've had in the secondary in decades and made them look like the Keystone Cops. Now, we have some serious concerns about the talent at safety, and while we are still insanely talented at corner, those kids need to be re-taught how to play the position. If we can't stop people from throwing against us, we are going to be in for some high scoring games this year.

2. The mainstream media, and ESPN in particular, have been riding Brian Kelly's jock for about a year now, and were collectively praying for Notre Dame to fire Weis and hire Kelly. Do you agree, or disagree with this statement? What changes in media coverage do you think we will see in 2010 and beyond?

I can't argue with the fact that the national media is in love with Kelly. They are in love with Kelly. But that's partly why I'm so excited about this hire.

Think back a few years to one of the low points in Irish football, when we made the O'Leary hire and subsequent firing. At that press conference, Kevin White call Coach O'Leary "straight from central casting." At the time, I was lukewarm at best about the O'Leary hire, and extremely skeptical about the Willingham hire.

This time around, though, I think we really DID hire the guy straight from central casting. Get ready for a lot of "Kelly Green" headlines and comments. An Irish Catholic from Boston, Kelly was of course a Notre Dame guy growing up. More importantly, I couldn't have written a script for the career trajectory of a coach better than Kelly's. Over 20 years of head coaching experience, with proof that he knows what it takes to win a championship at every level. Indeed, he left an undefeated BCS school when a battered Notre Dame cam calling, simply because it was Notre Dame. He's a politician, too - he knows how to manage not just the operation and teaching of his football team, but also the media and public perception. There are no skeletons in the closet, no worries about fat jokes, resume padding, or golfing addictions. Just a football coach that gets it.

I think that the media this year will treat Notre Dame much like their own fanbase - cautiously optimistic. Much like Tom Crean at Indiana University basketball, EVERYONE wants him to get this right, believes that he's the right guy to get it done, and will do whatever they can to support the rebuilding of the program.

If we struggle out of the gate, the media will be forgiving and talk about learning curves and culture change. As soon as we start winning, everyone will remember why Notre Dame is the most loved and hated team in sport - it will be as bad as the coverage of UConn in women's basketball. Maybe worse.

3. With new regime changes, players that were once lost in the muck sometimes find themselves in a situation to become key members of the team- or even starters. Identify one of those players that will be that "sleeper." Explain, in brief detail, why your guy will rise above and become the proverbial; CREAM. Oh yeah... it must be a junior or older to qualify.

Kapron Lewis-Moore. Ever since he showed up on campus, everyone has been talking about his athleticism. All of a sudden, Coach Kelly is now talking about his leadership. I think that this year, he will develop into a beast outside rushing the passer. Indeed, I think that he is in a position to have one of those synergistic seasons that could make him an All-American and get him some consideration for major post-season awards.

4. If you could change the Blue-Gold Game experience in any way- what would it be? Some years, the game can be quite boring and offer no real insight for the upcoming season. Are we all doomed to be underwhelmed every year, or can you make the change that makes spring ball slick like Rick on a pogo stick?

I don't know about the logistics involved, but I'd like to see us take advantage of the unique relationship with the Naval Academy, and have an inter-squad scrimmage at the end of the Spring. The only way to get a sense of where we stand is to see our players go against a quality opponent.

Short of bringing in another team to practice against, there isn't a whole lot I'd change about the Spring Game. The format is tough, because there is no good way to score when you have one team playing themselves. Was that pass touchdown a function of the awesomeness of our pass offense, or the sucktitude of our pass defense? Who knows?

5. EVERY coach talks about the importance of special teams, and says that they are a major priority for the team. Is there anything that Coach Kelly has done to back him up on his own statements? What phase of special teams would you like to see more improvement from?

Unlike most coaches, who focus the first few practices on installing the offense and defense, Coach Kelly started in on special teams from day 1. So, that's one tangible way that he's showing a commitment to special teams.

I'd like to see the most improvement in our field goal units. We have been up and down in that area for quite some time. The ability to consistently hit a field goal from distance opens up the playbook in the redzone, allowing you to take some risks when you know you can count on getting at least 3.

6. Last topics are a bit, off topic... A)With the arrival of Spring Football, comes a lot of "color" discussion. "The Shirt," is always a favorite subject of debate for Irish fans. What is your opinion of "The Shirt," and if you were in charge of it all- what would it look like? B) There is a lot of talk about the Notre Dame uniforms possibly being altered. What would you like to see, even if they aren't changed?

A) I love the shirt, and I collect one each year. When I pull one out, it instantly reminds me of that season, with all of its ups and downs. As far as this year's shirt, you'd have to be a complete dumbass to have anything but a Kelly Green shirt for the first year of a coach named Kelly. And what I'd also do is try to go back to our roots and traditions in preparing this year's shirt. No talk of "Return to Glory". No silly made up sayings. Indeed, what I'd probably do is something simple like "We Are N D." Notre Dame Football 2010 on the front, with a picture of the current stadium facade. And another "We Are N D." on the back, with a picture of the old stadium, or the Four Horsemen or something old-school on the back.

B) Notre Dame's uniforms are pretty good the way they are. I have always been a big fan of the traditional uniform, and I'm not a huge fan of changing them.

However, I admit that I also really like the green jerseys (I own two of them). I wouldn't be entirely opposed to making our jerseys Kelly green for the entire season, as a nod to the new regime. But mostly, I think we should just keep them simple and traditional.

If I were to make any changes to the current uniform, I think that the traditional blue jerseys with shiny GOLD numbers would be pretty cool looking, too.

*****

Well, there you have it. Hope you all are as excited about the new regime as I am. Can't wait to get this season underway. Go Irish!

Coaching Staff Finalized

Brian Kelly has finished assembling his coaching staff. At first glance, I'm pretty happy with the staff he put together. Let's take a look at the roles each coach will play on this staff.

Position responsibilities

Bob Diaco will be coming with Kelly from Cincinnati, where he was the defensive coordinator, and he will continue in that role. He did an outstanding job this year getting 10 new starters to come together and play well. However, this to me is the most controversial hire, as he has limited experience as a defensive coordinator, and that's the one area where we need the biggest improvement. I had hoped Kelly would look for a bigger name to put in charge of the defense, but clearly he is confident in Diaco's ability to handle the job.

Charley Molnar is also coming from Cincinnati to be the offensive coordinator. In one of those "if it ain't broke don't fix it" type of moves, I think this is a great idea. While Coach Kelly will call the plays, they've clearly come to an arrangement that they are happy with, and I'm excited to see our new offense with better talent than Cincy ever had.

Tony Alford was retained from Coach Weis' staff. He will be moved from running backs to wide receivers, which I'm excited about. Rob Ianello was a great receivers coach, and Alford should be able pick up where he left off, and bring a bit more toughness to the position.

Tim Hinton is coming from Cincinnati, and will take Alford's running back job, which was his position with the Bearcats.

Kelly also borught Mike Elston with him from Cincy to coach the defensive line, and Paul Longo, the strength and conditioning coach.

A familiar face was brought back to the University as well, as Mike Denbrock was named the tight ends coach. A long time member of Ty Willingham's staff, he came with Willingham from Stanford and followed him to Washington. He spent last year at Indiana State as associate head coach, linebackers coach, and special teams coordinator. Although not officially announced yet, my money is on Denbrook being announced as the special teams coordinator, due to his previous experience in that position for Indiana State.

Kelly also hired his old buddy Chuck Martin, who was Kelly's assistant that took over GVSU when Kelly left, and who has won several national titles as the head coach of the Lakers. Martin will coach the defensive backs. Due to the fact that he was a head coach last year, Martin may get the edge over Denbrock as special teams coordinator.

The final piece of the staff is Ed Warinner, who was the offensive coordinator for the potent Kansas office the last few years. He'll be coaching the offensive line.

Recruiting responsibilities

The following picture shows the past coaching stints for every member of Kelly's staff.



As you can see, with only a couple of exceptions, this is a midwest coaching staff. To a certain extent, this makes sense considering Kelly himself has only coached in the Midwest. But, not one coach on the roster has coached in Texas or Florida. However, Kelly has managed to take that into account in assembling this staff.

Diaco and Molnar, the coordinators, are both native New Jerseyites, so they should be able to maintain the stranglehold Coach Weis put on the northeast, and continue developing the Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania pipelines.

Mike Denbrock, with his experience on the west coast at Stanford and Washington, is clearly a perfect fit for west coast recruiting.

It appears that Mike Elston and Tony Alford will work together in Florida. Alford has a year of experience recruiting for Notre Dame already, and as he was responsible for pulling Louis Nix out of Florida, when we didn't even have a head coach, I think we'll be fine there.

Chuck Martin will cover the Chicago area, and as a native Chicagoan, he should do well.

Kerry Cooks, despite only coaching in the midwest, is a native Texan. Therefore, he will be our Texas recruiter. This is probably the weakest coach from a recruiting standpoint, and Texas is a big responsibility.

Hinton will probably be the lead in recruiting Ohio - he's actually coached at three different high school in Ohio, and all of his experience has come from coaching in Ohio. He apparently has some experience recruiting Florida as well, so he'll have some role there as well.

I'm not sure what role Warriner will take in recruiting, but he does have a lot of experience at Kansas in the Big 12, so I'm hoping he'll work with Cooks in Texas and the plains states. I'm sure he'll recruit Colorado along with Denbrock, as he had a stint at Air Force.

My guess is that Alford will be named the recruiting coordinator, as he has already learned the ropes of recruiting at Notre Dame, and is clearly very good at it.

Analysis

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the staff. They are all college coaches with lots of experience developing players. I think Alford is a great recruiter, and I've heard good things about Tim Hinton's recruiting ability as well.

I wish we had at least one more guy with some experience recruiting nationally, and I also wish we would have gotten a big name coach for defensive coordinator. Other than that, though, there's a lot to get excited about.

Several of the staff members took what would essentially be considered demotions to come work on this staff - Martin went from head coach to position coach and Warinner went from coordinator to position coach. Although I think Denbrock will get bumped up when he's named special teams coordinator, he took the job without knowing that for sure, a small step down from his job at Indiana State.

Most importantly, there isn't anyone who will be essentially learning on the job. It may take Alford a while to adjust to coaching the receivers instead of the running backs, but everyone else has done their job somewhere else at a high level.

I think Warinner and Martin are the best hires, while I'm a little shaky on Elston and Cooks.

Now, it will be fun to watch as the coaches hit the road and close out this recruiting season.

Brian Kelly is new Irish Head Football Coach

Received the following e-mail from the Alumni Association. Good and detailed writeup of Kelly's resume. The more I read, the more I like this hire.

The University has named Brian Kelly as Notre Dame’s new head football coach. Please see the press release below. A press conference is scheduled for Friday, December 11, at 1:30 pm EST, and can be viewed live at www.und.com.

GO IRISH!
For Notre Dame,

Chuck Lennon ’61, ’62 M.A.
Executive Director, Notre Dame Alumni Association
Associate Vice President, University Relations


###

December 10, 2009

Brian Kelly Named 29th Head Football Coach at Notre Dame

Brian Kelly, a veteran of 19 seasons as a collegiate head coach -- and most recently the architect of two consecutive Bowl Championship Series appearances at the University of Cincinnati, including a perfect 12-0 regular season in 2009 that earned him national-coach-of-the-year honors – tonight has been named the 29th head football coach at the University of Notre Dame.

Currently the ninth-winningest active coach in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision in terms of victories, Kelly has signed a five-year contract to coach the Irish. He will be introduced at a 1:30 p.m. EST Friday press conference at the Guglielmino Athletics Center. Kelly officially takes over at Notre Dame on Monday; he will not coach the Bearcats in their Sugar Bowl date against Florida.

Kelly’s head coaching resume includes:

Three seasons at Cincinnati from 2007-09, including a 34-6 record (.850) and two straight outright BIG EAST Conference title teams that earned BCS appearances in 2008 (Orange Bowl) and ’09 (Sugar Bowl).
Three seasons at Central Michigan University from 2004-06, including a 19-16 overall record (.542) that featured a 9-4 mark and Mid-American Conference title in 2006.
Thirteen seasons at Grand Valley State University from 1991-2003, including a 118-35-2 record (.767) that was highlighted by NCAA Division II national championships in 2002 (14-0) and 2003 (14-1).
An overall record of 171-57-2 (.747) in those 19 seasons as a head coach.
“I am very pleased that a thorough and extensive search has led us to a new head coach in Brian Kelly, who I am confident will help us accomplish our goal of competing for national championships,” said Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick.

“I am absolutely delighted to welcome Brian and his family to the Notre Dame family,” said Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., Notre Dame’s president. “He brings to us a long and successful career as a head coach, and I am confident that he will have even greater success here. I’m also very pleased that he has put considerable emphasis on excellence in the classroom and that his student-athletes graduate at a rate well above the norm.”

Kelly earned the Home Depot National Coach of the Year Award in 2009, was the BIG EAST Conference Coach of the Year in 2007, 2008 and 2009 (the first time a BIG EAST football coach has won the award three straight years) -- and was the American Football Coaches Association Division II Coach of the Year in both 2002 and 2003. Kelly currently ranks ninth among active FBS head coaches in victories with 171. He is the winningest active BIG EAST football coach and the only league coach with more than 150 wins.



He boasted a 2-1 record at Cincinnati in postseason bowl games – including a 27-24 win over Western Michigan in the International Bowl after the 2006 season (he coached in that game immediately after taking the job at Cincinnati), a 31-21 win over Southern Mississippi in the Papajohns.com Bowl after the ’07 season and a 20-7 loss to Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl after the ’08 campaign. Kelly’s ’06 Central Michigan team finished 9-4 and qualified for the Motor City Bowl (Central Michigan defeated Middle Tennessee 31-14, though he did not coach after accepting the head coaching position at Cincinnati) – and his 12-0 team in ’09 earned a Sugar Bowl assignment against Florida.

In six NCAA Division II playoff appearances at Grand Valley State, Kelly’s teams combined for an 11-4 (.733) postseason record – including four straight victories in winning both the ’02 and ’03 NCAA titles. His ’01 Grand Valley State team fell 17-14 to North Dakota in the Division II national title game.

Kelly’s ’09 team at Cincinnati finished third in the final BCS standings and fourth in both the final regular-season Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN polls. His ’08 team ended up 11-3 and 17th in both polls – and his ‘07 Bearcat squad finished 10-3 and 17th (AP) and 20th (USA Today/ESPN) in the final polls.

His 2009 Cincinnati team won all 12 of its regular-season games, led the nation in passing efficiency (166.19), ranked second in kickoff returns (29.2 each) and sixth in total offense (464.25 yards per game), passing yardage (320.33) and scoring (39.83 points). Meanwhile, Kelly’s Bearcat defense rated third nationally in tackles for losses (8.42 per game) and eighth in sacks (2.92). Among the standouts he coached on the ’09 Bearcat roster are first-team All-America receiver Mardy Gilyard (he ranks second nationally in all-purpose yards at 203.5 per game) and quarterback Tony Pike (ninth in passing efficiency at 155.36). Eleven Cincinnati players merited all-BIG EAST honors for ’09 (five first-team selections), including Gilyard, the league’s Special Teams Player of the Year for the second straight season.

In three years at the helm of the program, Kelly put together a 34-6 record and led the Bearcats to their first two BIG EAST Conference championships in 2008 and ‘09.

 Cincinnati achieved a then-school-record 11 victories in 2008, followed that up with a dozen wins in ’09, and had back-to-back-to-back 10-win seasons for the first time in school history. Kelly’s Bearcats in ’08 won the school's first outright conference championship since 1964, and earned the school's first berth in a BCS game, playing against Virginia Tech in the 75th FedEx Orange Bowl. 

In ’08 Cincinnati achieved its then-highest ranking to close the regular season – 12th in the AP and USA Today/ESPN polls and the BCS standings entering the Orange Bowl. The Bearcats held down a postseason ranking of 17th in both polls, tying the top postseason ranking in school history and marking the first time Cincinnati was ranked in the end-of-season polls in school history.



Following the close of the ’08 regular season, Kelly was named the BIG EAST Coach of the Year for the second straight season. He also was named the American Football Monthly Schutt Sports FBS Coach of the Year, earned AFCA Region 1 Coach of the Year honors and was named BIG EAST Coach of the Year by Sporting News.



Cincinnati placed 10 players on the 2008 all-BIG EAST teams (including first-team selection Connor Barwin) – with kick returner Gilyard named the BIG EAST Special Teams Player of the Year and punter Kevin Huber earning the first AFCA All-America nod in program history. Huber became the first two-time AP first-team All-America selection in Bearcat football history.

The Bearcats' 27-24 bowl victory over Western Michigan in 2006 came just 34 days after his hiring.

 Then, in his first full season at the helm in ‘07, Kelly put the Bearcats on the national radar by jumping out to a 6-0 start and earning the Bearcats their first appearance in the polls in more than 30 years. By winning 10 games for the first time since 1951, the Bearcats earned their 10th bowl appearance in program history and sixth bowl appearance in eight years. Cincinnati finished 17th in the AP poll, earning its first appearance in a final poll.



Along the way to the 2007 Papajohns.com Bowl victory, the Bearcats’ third straight bowl win, Kelly earned BIG EAST Coach of the Year honors. Cincinnati listed seven individuals on the all-BIG EAST teams, including BIG EAST Special Teams Player of the Year and consensus All-America punter Huber. The national leader in punting, Huber was one of three Bearcats to be named to an All-America team.

 Cincinnati ranked second in the BIG EAST and 24th nationally in passing offense (254.1), and was also second in the league and 27th nationally in passing efficiency (139.4). At the same time, the Bearcat defense led the BIG EAST in sacks (2.9) and tackles for a loss (6.5).

 Kelly’s Bearcats led the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) in net punting with an average of 41.5 yards per punt. Cincinnati also led the BIG EAST in kickoff returns (24.2).



During his three years at Central Michigan, he transformed a Chippewa program that had won more than three games only once in the past four seasons into a conference champion. Central Michigan posted a 9-4 record in 2006 en route to winning the MAC title and qualifying for its first bowl game in 12 years.

 Kelly inherited a program that had produced a mere 12 wins over its previous four seasons when he took the helm at Central Michigan in 2004. He guided the Chippewas to a 4-7 record in 2004 and a 6-5 slate -- the school's first winning season in seven years -- in 2005.



The Chippewas in 2005 defeated both defending MAC divisional champions, Miami and Toledo, and also knocked off eventual ‘05 league champ Akron. Central Michigan was ranked 35th nationally in total offense and 26th in passing offense while the team's rushing defense was ranked 20th (while leading the MAC at 113.7 yards per game, compared to 245.8 in ’03 -- the year before Kelly arrived). 

Kelly's 2006 Chippewas lost non-conference contests to bowl-bound Boston College and Kentucky by a combined 16 points. Central Michigan rolled up a 7-1 record in conference play to win the MAC West, then dominated Ohio 31-10 in the league championship game. Central Michigan boasted the 19th-most prolific passing attack in the nation, averaging 252.4 yards per game, and was ranked 31st in total offense (380.2 yards per game) and 24th in scoring offense (29.6 points). Quarterback Dan LeFevour, a freshman who passed for 2,869 yards and 25 touchdowns, was ranked 20th in passing efficiency and 14th in total offense. 

Kelly had 12 of his players achieve first-team all-conference honors over his three years at Central Michigan (including ’05 MAC Defensive Player of the Year Daniel Bazuin) -- and three advanced to the NFL (including 2005 draftees Eric Ghiacuic and Adam Kieft and free agent Tory Humphrey). 



Kelly arrived at Central Michigan after winning the back-to-back NCAA Division II national titles at Grand Valley State. The Lakers were 41-2 in Kelly's final three seasons, at one point winning 32 consecutive games. Grand Valley State went 14-0 in 2002 en route to its first national title and was 14-1 in 2003 when it claimed its second crown. Kelly was named the AFCA Division II Coach of the Year after both seasons. 

Kelly led the Lakers to five conference titles and six Division II playoff appearances in his 13 seasons at Grand Valley. The Lakers never finished lower than third in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference. 



Kelly mentored a pair of finalists for the Harlon Hill Award, presented annually to the top player in Division II. Curt Anes won the award in 2002 after finishing as runner-up in 2001, while Jeff Fox was third in the balloting in 1998. Both players were quarterbacks in Kelly's system. 

Kelly's Grand Valley State players earned 77 All-America awards (11 in 2002 alone). Four players moved on to the NFL and another three to the Canadian Football League.

His 2001 national runner-up squad set 77 NCAA, GLIAC and school records, including the all-time Division II scoring record by averaging 58.4 points per game. The 2001 team also became the first Division II unit in 53 years to average more than 600 yards per game in total offense (600.8). 

Grand Valley State followed up its record-shattering 2001 season by averaging 497.5 yards and 47.0 points during its undefeated 2002 national championship run (that ended with a 31-24 championship game win over Valdosta State) The 2003 team, meanwhile, was more noted for its defense. The Lakers defeated North Dakota 10-3 in the 2003 national title game.

 In 10 of his 13 seasons at Grand Valley State, Kelly’s teams won eight or more games – and he finished with a 103-22-2 mark in GLIAC contests.

Born Oct. 25, 1961, in Everett, Mass., and raised in Chelsea, Mass., Kelly attended St. John's Prep School in Danvers, Mass. He was a four-year letter-winner at Assumption College (Worchester, Mass.) as a linebacker, captaining the squad in both ’81 and ’82 under coach Paul Cantiani on teams that finished 8-3 and 7-1-1. After graduating from Assumption in 1983 with a bachelor's degree in political science, he served as linebacker coach, defensive coordinator and softball coach from 1983-86 at Assumption under head football coach Bernie Gaughan.



Kelly joined the Grand Valley State staff in 1987 as a graduate assistant and defensive backs coach. He became the defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator in 1989 and took over as head coach in 1991 (replacing Tom Beck, who left to become running backs coach at Notre Dame under Lou Holtz). His very first team Laker team finished 9-3 and qualified for the NCAA playoffs. In 2009 Kelly was inducted into the Grand Valley State Athletics Hall of Fame.

Kelly has served on the AFCA Ethics Committee – and he’s currently one of 59 FBS head coaches who vote in the USA Today poll.

Kelly and his wife Paqui are parents of three children – Patrick, Grace and Kenzel.

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Year by Year with Brian Kelly

Year School Position Record/Postseason
1983 Assumption Defensive Coordinator/
Linebackers 4-5
1984 Assumption Defensive Coordinator/
Linebackers
4-4
1985 Assumption Defensive Coordinator/
Linebackers 5-3
1986 Assumption Defensive Coordinator/
Linebackers 1-8
1987 Grand Valley State Graduate Assistant/
Defensive Backs
7-4
1988 Grand Valley State Graduate Assistant/
Defensive Backs 7-4
1989 Grand Valley State Defensive Coordinator/
Recruiting Coordinator 11-1/NCAA Division II playoffs (0-1)
1990 Grand Valley State Defensive Coordinator/
Recruiting Coordinator 10-2/NCAA Division II playoffs (0-1)

1991 Grand Valley State Head Coach NCAA Division II playoffs (0-1)
1992 Grand Valley State Head Coach 8-3
1993 Grand Valley State Head Coach 6-3-2
1994 Grand Valley State Head Coach 8-4/NCAA Division II playoffs (0-1)
1995 Grand Valley State Head Coach 8-3
1996 Grand Valley State Head Coach 8-3
1997 Grand Valley State Head Coach 9-2
1998 Grand Valley State Head Coach 9-3/NCAA Division II playoffs (0-1)
1999 Grand Valley State Head Coach 5-5
2000 Grand Valley State Head Coach 7-4
2001 Grand Valley State Head Coach 13-1/NCAA Division II runner-up (3-1)
2002 Grand Valley State Head Coach 14-0/NCAA Division II champion (4-0)
2003 Grand Valley State Head Coach 14-1/NCAA Division II champion (4-0)
2004 Central Michigan Head Coach 4-7
2005 Central Michigan Head Coach 6-5
2006 Central Michigan Head Coach 9-4/qualified for Motor City Bowl
2006 Cincinnati Head Coach 1-0/International Bowl:
W 27-24 vs. Western Michigan
2007 Cincinnati Head Coach 10-3/Papajohns.com Bowl:
W 31-21 vs. Southern Mississippi
2008 Cincinnati Head Coach 11-3/Orange Bowl:
L 7-20 vs. Virginia Tech
2009 Cincinnati Head Coach 12-0/qualified for Sugar Bowl vs. Florida


Grand Valley State Totals (13 seasons) 118-35-2 .767
Central Michigan Totals (3 seasons) 19-16 .542
Cincinnati Totals (3 seasons) 34-6 .850
Overall Totals (19 seasons) 171-57-2 .747

Get used to Kelly Green!

It's not quite official, but Brian Kelly announced to his football team today that he will be accepting the head football coaching position at the University of Notre Dame. An official announcement should be coming tomorrow.

I like the hire, and while it's not the "home run" hire that Meyer or Stoops would have been, it's certainly at least a lead off triple.

If you want to know more about Kelly's background, please read my post earlier this week.

The thing that gives me the most hope about Brian Kelly is that he has a strong history of coaching kids to perform above their athletic ability. He's taken a Cincinnati team that had a bunch of unheralded kids,a nd has led them to an undefeated season and a #3 ranking in his third season on campus.

That tells me that this guy knows how to teach kids fundamentals, which is the one thing that has been sorely lacking under Weis' regime. Weis relied too much on athletic talent and didn't spend enough time drilling fundamentals.

There are many concerns about Kelly being bandied about on message boards, but most of them, near as I can tell, are misinformed.

First, let's look at the "Kelly can't recruit nationally" argument. Here are the last 6 years worth of rankings of recruiting classes on Rivals.com for Cincinnati:

2005: 94
2006: 102
2007: 89
*Kelly hired*
2008: 67
2009: 60
2010: 44

Before Kelly: average 98th recruiting class
During Kelly: average 58th recruiting class
Change: +40

That means that Kelly has built Cincy's talent base from a program that couldn't get anyone to come to campus into the top third in the country in recruiting.

Also, much has been made about Kelly's lack of experience at a major program. People apparently feel that the Big East is somehow not a big time conference, despite their automatic BCS bid. He doesn't have any idea what's coming under the spotlights at Notre Dame.

Now, to be fair, I don't think even Urban Meyer and Bob Stoops have any idea what it's like to work under the microscope that is the Notre Dame fan base. But, I hardly think that Utah and Bowling Green were better preparation the spotlight for Urban Meyer than Central Michigan and Cincinatti were for Kelly. And nobody seemed to complain about Meyer's ability to handle the spotlight four years ago. And I have never heard of anything controversial linked to Brian Kelly - no crazy comments, no off the field issues, nothing. Not even a hint of NCAA violations. Please, someone correct me if I'm wrong.

A lot of people complained about the "tweeting" issue when Kelly announced that he would listen to Notre Dame, and again when he said he wouldn't be interviewing on Tuesday. That it was somehow amateurish. I disagree. He was very careful in stating that he would listen, rather than issuing vague denials or outright lies like Saban did. He was open and honest about the process, and I'm certain he had a conversation with Notre Dame about controlling the flow of information and in making the decision to release those tweets.

Too many people are so quick to read ulterior motives in the absence of real information.

In fact, I must say that Jack Swarbrick really impressed me with the way this search was handled. I have no idea whether he contacted anyone else but Brian Kelly. And that's a good thing. There was no egg on our face from being left standing at the altar by Stoops or Meyer. There was no public outing of his whereabouts or that of the Notre Dame plane. In fact, the lid on this search was as tight as any I've ever seen at a major program.

Remember when Alabama hired Saban, they were publicly rebuffed by Rich Rodriguez first. And Florida, while they did wrap up the deal with Urban Meyer, could have been just as publicly humiliated as Notre Dame had we managed to pull Meyer to South Bend.

The news "leaks" from the media were all from unnamed sources, and all appeared to ultimately be from unreliable sources. Indeed, the whole "rumor" about Bielema (a total hoax) came from the fact that there was no other information out there, and so the media was forced to rely on whatever it could scrape together to drive readership onto their site.

I think Kelly is a great hire for Notre Dame, and with all of the talent stocked up by Coach Weis, he should be able to get this team performing at a top level in short order.

And if any of those fair weather malcontent posters on NDNation that don't want to support the new coach have extra tickets, I'll gladly take them off your hands. Just shoot me an e-mail at nwaechter@hotmail.com.

Reality check: Brian Kelly

So, I've been perusing the NDNation boards, and I'm absolutely amazed at the level of arrogance being put forth by the posters over there, especially the BoardOps, who seem to view the hiring of any person not named Meyer, Stoops, Saban or Gruden as a sign that Notre Dame will shortly fold up football operations and become the next University of Chicago.

So, I thought I would attempt to provide some of the facts on Kelly's background, and why I think that he is the best possible hire the Fightin' Irish could make right now. I'm not saying that the Irish are definitely going to hire Kelly, but based on the fact that his interview with the Irish tomorrow has been leaked, I have to believe that there is much more than just passing interest - there is no way that either side leaks the "interview" unless both sides have already gotten past the getting to know you phase, and are just trying to finish the details to tie the knot.

First, I think that the Notre Dame fan base needs to realize that they are not head and shoulders above everyone else, that they can just swoop into any school, wave around a bunch of money, and hire away a coach from another top tier football program. Alabama, Oklahoma, and yes, even Florida, are not "below" the Irish such that a coach would necessarily look at taking the Irish job as a step up. At best, it would be a lateral move. I thought we had a shot at Stoops because he had a rough season, and is a midwest Catholic boy - I thought maybe his upbringing might sway him to try something new.

But, he decided to stay put at Oklahoma, and I can't say that I blame him.

And once you take those names off the board, you put yourself in a position to look at the best "up-and-coming" coaches out there. And when you look at Kelly's resume objectively, it looks very similar to the resumes of the likes of Meyer and Tressel when they took over their current positions at top-tier programs.

So let's take a look at Kelly's resume:

Brian Kelly
Current Position: Head Coach, University of Cincinnati

Work Experience

Grand Valley State University
Graduate Assistant & Defensive Backs Coach, 1987-1988
Defensive Coordinator 1989-1990
Head Coach 1991 - 2003
Record (Head Coach): 118-35-2 (0.767 winning percentage)
2 Division II National Titles, 5 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference titles

He had a pretty quick rise from position coach to coordinator to head coach, but he did have two seasons at each, meaning that he understands what it takes to be a position coach and coordinator, unlike Willingham or the Redskins' Jim Zorn.

As head coach, he built GVSU into a championship team. He won Division II National Championships in 2002 and 2003, also earning Coach of the Year honors in both of those seasons. In 13 seasons, he won 5 conference titles, and appeared in 6 Division II playoffs. He never finished lower than third in his conference.

He set numerous records for offensive production as head coach, despite his defensive background.

Central Michigan University
Head Coach, 2004 - 2006
Record (Head Coach): 19-16 (0.543 winning percentage)
1 Mid-American Conference title

Taking over for an awful Central Michigan team, Kelly coached the Chippewas to only a 4 win season in his first year (on par or slightly above the perennial win total for the Chippewas).

In his second season, he coached the Chippewas to their first winning season in 7 years.

In his third (and final) season, he led the Chippewas to the MAC Championship (their first since 1994). He then left to coach at Cincinnati.

University of Cincinnati
Head Coach, 2006 - present
Record (Head Coach): 34-6 (0.850 winning percentage)
2 Big East Conference titles, 1 undefeated regular season

Taking over for Mark Dantonio who left Cincinnati to go to Michigan State, Kelly coached the Bearcats in their bowl game, leading them to a win over Western Michigan - making him the first coach ever to beat a team twice in the same season with two different teams.

In his first year at the helm, he improved on Dantonio's 7 win total from the previous season, eventually going 10-3, including a victory in the PapaJohns.com bowl and a 3rd place finish in the Big East conference.

His second year saw the Bearcats' first ever Big East Conference Championship and BCS appearance, a 20-7 loss to Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl.

This year saw the Bearcats' second straight Big East Conference Championship, an undefeated regular season, and a chance to play Florida in the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

*****

For comparison purposes, here's a quick rundown of Urban Meyer's and Jim Tressel's resumes prior to their current positions:

Jim Tressel
1975 - 1985 - Various assistant positions
1986 - 2000 - Head Coach, Youngstown State (Div. I-AA)Record: 135-57-2 (0.701 winning percentage), 4 Div. I-AA National Titles

Urban Meyer
1986 - 2000 - Various assistant positions
2001 - 2002 - Head Coach, Bowling Green (Div. 1-A, MAC) Record: 17-6 (0.739 winning percentage), o Mid-American Conference Championships
2003 - 2004 - Head Coach, Utah (Div. 1-A, MWC) Record: 22-2 (0.917 winning percentage), 2 Mountain West Conference Championships, 1 BCS appearance (Win over Pitt)

Clearly, Brian Kelly's resume is not all that different from Tressel and Meyer, both of whom went on to win championships at their next stops. Indeed, Meyer was a big risk, big reward type of candidate when he came to Florida (and was clearly our #1 choice 5 years ago). Kelly has been coaching longer, had sustained success for longer, played in arguably a better (or at least equal) conference than Meyer did at Utah, and had a similar level of success.

With all of the negativity on the NDNation boards, you'd think that Kelly was the worst possible hire and an unproven coach. That's ridiculous, as everything he's ever touched has turned to gold. Indeed, if not for undefeated seasons by the preseason hype machines Texas and Alabama, he'd be right in the heart of the National Championship talk.

And he did that at Cincinnati in three years.

My advice - let this interview process play itself out, and take off those ridiculous blinders. Kelly would be a very good, very safe hire for this program, and should be able to take the talent that Weis has assembled and do some pretty amazing things with it.

That said, with the interview scheduled tomorrow having been leaked, if we whiff on Brian Kelly, then there are some serious problems. There are other candidates out there with decent resumes, but missing on Kelly means that there is something wrong with our hiring process. Four years ago, Florida had already wrapped up the deal with Urban Meyer, so that provided enough cover to move down our list. This year, there is no other elite team pursuing Kelly - if he turns us down, it will be to stay at Cincinnati. Notre Dame should still be a clear step up from Cincy, and if Kelly doesn't view it that way, then we may have another embarrassing trip down our list of targets before completing another underwhelming hire.

Stoops is out of the discussion

"For the third, and hopefully final time, let me again state that I will continue to be the coach at Oklahoma. I appreciate the history and tradition of Notre Dame. I also appreciate the history and tradition of Oklahoma, and I have been part of building that tradition here.

"I work for a wonderful president (David Boren) and athletic director (Joe Castiglione), who have created an incredible work environment at OU. There haven't been any plans for a meeting or negotiations with Notre Dame and there will not be. Any reporting to that fact is completely erroneous. I will not be the next coach at Notre Dame."

-Bob Stoops

Weis fired. Rumor mill churning full speed.

So, Weis was officially fired today, immediately launching the media frenzy that will be the search for his replacement.

Within minutes of the announcement, I saw conflicting reports on the internet regarding my favorite (Bob Stoops).

KTUL.com (Tulsa, OK) is reporting that the Irish and Bob Stoops have verbally agreed on contract terms.

OU Insider is reporting that Bob Stoops was quoted this afternoon as saying he would be back next year as the head coach of the Sooners.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, Meyer is absolutely not interested in the job, quoting Tebow, Urban, and his wife Shelley this week as stating he's not interested.

I haven't found anything yet on Brian Kelly rumors.

I'll try to update events as they unfold.

There will be a press conference at 6 p.m. today at the University of Notre Dame. I will try to sneak away from work to watch and post an update shortly after.

UPDATE: Stoops saying he will stay at Oklahoma story gaining steam, being reported on multiple outlets, including ESPN, AP, etc. Looks like my top dog has fallen out of the race. :(

UPDATE: Here's the transcript of Stoops' comments. Taken as a whole, this doesn't sound like a guy that is definitely staying put.


(Stoops): "The questions come up and like I always say I fully intend to be at Oklahoma, hopefully for a good while. You never know what the good lord brings you, but in the end I couldn't be more excited about, even through a tough year, the good quality kids we're working with and the great people here that I work with daily in our administration and you know I can't help with all that's said, but in the end, the players I'm recruiting understand that that's what I'm excited about and that's what I intend to do."

(Reporter): "There is officially an opening at Notre Dame. So, you're not going there?"

(Stoops): "What I am saying is I intend to be at Oklahoma, that's the only place that right now, yes that I am, what I'm looking to do. I will never confirm or deny whether I talk or not talk to anybody. And, I won't be interviewing for any jobs."

(Reporter): "I'm not asking if you talked to anybody."

(Stoops): "Well I just said all that."

(Reporter): "What I'm asking is can you tell me right now that you won't go to Notre Dame?"

(Stoops): "What I'm saying is that I'm going to be at Oklahoma next year. So I can't be in two places at once."

(Reporter): "Well then why not just say no?"

(Stoops): "Because I don't like the way you worded it. So, in the end, I told you what I intend to do. If Joe (Castiglione) and President Boren will have me, that's what I'm going to do. And that's where it's at."

(Reporter): "How would you have worded it?"

(Stoops): "Not like you, obviously."

--For my money, I think Stoops is ready to take the ND job after reading that. He is tap dancing all over the place.