A Cincinnatian's Take on Kelly/ND

[DT/BobClasby]

Notre Dame Fans I feel your pain. Been a ND football fan since the days of Hanratty, Clements, Montana,Gladieaux, Gatewood,Haines, Clasby, Brown, Browner...
First of all, as a UC fan we hated the way Kelly left on the eve of the Florida Sugar Bowl. That will sting UC fans forever like your lifelong girlfriend is a no show at your wedding. Kelly left on the eve of the biggest game in Kelly's career and UC's...It stings because Kelly brought the UC into the national spotlight for the 1st time in school history. It stings because Cincy's a great sports supporting City with really knowledgable fans. We got spoiled by Kelly's success. Brian Kelly owned Cincinnati literally---every organization from Procter & Gamble to the Cincy Bengals had Brian Kelly as a featured speaker at their events.
That is a tough one to swallow and ask any Cincy fan right now and they'll tell you how much they hate Brian Kelly for leaving the school and players the way he did.
.
But, I'm still a ND fan. Have been for 40 years. So I root for the team...and Kelly.
I read on this site that fans said Kelly's body of work and successes @ UC were "smoke & mirrors" and not the "real thing" so to speak...
Kelly got it done @ UC because he came into a program that had unknown players ready to win and do whatever it took to win. That was built largely from Mark Dontonio, now the Mich State coach. Kelly IS a good motivator. Kelly likes the 3 star recruits who'll push a blocking sled 50 yards because they want to prove themselves. Kelly likes the challenges of getting a 3 star or No star recruit with a chip on their back and a bunch of HOOWAH. Let the 5 stars go to Florida, OH St or Alabama...
And really the star system is a publicity thing, not every 4,5 star recruit pans out. The true qualities of a coach rests in his ability to tell a player he has enough talent to make a difference and can play at Div 1 levels. Kelly is great at geting inside the heads of his players. "You can do it" kind of attitude. And that psychology worked tremendously at UC.
Give Kelly a chance. I agree, he needs more defensive players. At UC Kelly got the 3, 2 and No star recruits===Mardy Gilyard for example, who now gets a lot of playing time with the St Louis Rams. Conner Barwin, a solid DE for the Houston Texans. Brent Celek, the new star TE for the Phil Eagles, and so on.
As frustrating as it to watch and wonder if ND will beat a gimme game verse Army or Tulsa or Utah or Nevada..give the coach some time. I'd give him a full 2011 season. If the Irish have more than 4 losses, I'd bailout on Kelly and start a new search for a coach.

 

[tankjeep]

Notre Dame Fans I feel your pain. Been a ND football fan since the days of Hanratty, Clements, Montana,Gladieaux, Gatewood,Haines, Clasby, Brown, Browner...
First of all, as a UC fan we hated the way Kelly left on the eve of the Florida Sugar Bowl. That will sting UC fans forever like your lifelong girlfriend is a no show at your wedding. Kelly left on the eve of the biggest game in Kelly's career and UC's...It stings because Kelly brought the UC into the national spotlight for the 1st time in school history. It stings because Cincy's a great sports supporting City with really knowledgable fans. We got spoiled by Kelly's success. Brian Kelly owned Cincinnati literally---every organization from Procter & Gamble to the Cincy Bengals had Brian Kelly as a featured speaker at their events.
That is a tough one to swallow and ask any Cincy fan right now and they'll tell you how much they hate Brian Kelly for leaving the school and players the way he did.
.
But, I'm still a ND fan. Have been for 40 years. So I root for the team...and Kelly.
I read on this site that fans said Kelly's body of work and successes @ UC were "smoke & mirrors" and not the "real thing" so to speak...
Kelly got it done @ UC because he came into a program that had unknown players ready to win and do whatever it took to win. That was built largely from Mark Dontonio, now the Mich State coach. Kelly IS a good motivator. Kelly likes the 3 star recruits who'll push a blocking sled 50 yards because they want to prove themselves. Kelly likes the challenges of getting a 3 star or No star recruit with a chip on their back and a bunch of HOOWAH. Let the 5 stars go to Florida, OH St or Alabama...
And really the star system is a publicity thing, not every 4,5 star recruit pans out. The true qualities of a coach rests in his ability to tell a player he has enough talent to make a difference and can play at Div 1 levels. Kelly is great at geting inside the heads of his players. "You can do it" kind of attitude. And that psychology worked tremendously at UC.
Give Kelly a chance. I agree, he needs more defensive players. At UC Kelly got the 3, 2 and No star recruits===Mardy Gilyard for example, who now gets a lot of playing time with the St Louis Rams. Conner Barwin, a solid DE for the Houston Texans. Brent Celek, the new star TE for the Phil Eagles, and so on.
As frustrating as it to watch and wonder if ND will beat a gimme game verse Army or Tulsa or Utah or Nevada..give the coach some time. I'd give him a full 2011 season. If the Irish have more than 4 losses, I'd bailout on Kelly and start a new search for a coach.

thanks for your insight and welcome to the forum.

go IRISH!!!

 

[irish4ever]

Notre Dame Fans I feel your pain. Been a ND football fan since the days of Hanratty, Clements, Montana,Gladieaux, Gatewood,Haines, Clasby, Brown, Browner...
First of all, as a UC fan we hated the way Kelly left on the eve of the Florida Sugar Bowl. That will sting UC fans forever like your lifelong girlfriend is a no show at your wedding. Kelly left on the eve of the biggest game in Kelly's career and UC's...It stings because Kelly brought the UC into the national spotlight for the 1st time in school history. It stings because Cincy's a great sports supporting City with really knowledgable fans. We got spoiled by Kelly's success. Brian Kelly owned Cincinnati literally---every organization from Procter & Gamble to the Cincy Bengals had Brian Kelly as a featured speaker at their events.
That is a tough one to swallow and ask any Cincy fan right now and they'll tell you how much they hate Brian Kelly for leaving the school and players the way he did.
.
But, I'm still a ND fan. Have been for 40 years. So I root for the team...and Kelly.
I read on this site that fans said Kelly's body of work and successes @ UC were "smoke & mirrors" and not the "real thing" so to speak...
Kelly got it done @ UC because he came into a program that had unknown players ready to win and do whatever it took to win. That was built largely from Mark Dontonio, now the Mich State coach. Kelly IS a good motivator. Kelly likes the 3 star recruits who'll push a blocking sled 50 yards because they want to prove themselves. Kelly likes the challenges of getting a 3 star or No star recruit with a chip on their back and a bunch of HOOWAH. Let the 5 stars go to Florida, OH St or Alabama...
And really the star system is a publicity thing, not every 4,5 star recruit pans out. The true qualities of a coach rests in his ability to tell a player he has enough talent to make a difference and can play at Div 1 levels. Kelly is great at geting inside the heads of his players. "You can do it" kind of attitude. And that psychology worked tremendously at UC.
Give Kelly a chance. I agree, he needs more defensive players. At UC Kelly got the 3, 2 and No star recruits===Mardy Gilyard for example, who now gets a lot of playing time with the St Louis Rams. Conner Barwin, a solid DE for the Houston Texans. Brent Celek, the new star TE for the Phil Eagles, and so on.
As frustrating as it to watch and wonder if ND will beat a gimme game verse Army or Tulsa or Utah or Nevada..give the coach some time. I'd give him a full 2011 season. If the Irish have more than 4 losses, I'd bailout on Kelly and start a new search for a coach.

Good insight from someone that's been around supporting the Irish that long, plus your affiliation w/ supporting UC. The point I would contest is the part about starting a new coaching search IF the Irish have more than 4 losses next year. Next yrs' schedule appears to be fairly tough. Providing that he doesn't do anything or allow anything unethical to go on within his control, then I honestly believe that he should have a minimum of 3 yrs. to 'right the ship' so to speak. Not that they aren't talented or hard workers, but he and his staff are working w/ Weis' recruits. I would suspect that several are not RKG's in his mind. It's been less than one year w/ a new staff, new system, new 'playbook', new QB and so on. I say allow him ample time (at least 3 yrs.) to get the job done.

 

[irishff1014]

Glad you could shed some light on Kelly. And i under stand why cincy fans are mad at him. But i he is a smart man he did take this job if he knew there was no way he could get them winning again. I think that once he gets a a couple of good defensive players and gets that defense use to the 3-4 everything will be ok.

 

[ChiefSecond]

I like BK a lot and honestly i would like to see him guaranteed 5 seasons..if you fire him after three the next guy isn't going to win for awhile because he'll need to clear out kelly's recruits so they can go back to old fashioned run it down their throats football. Next season will be tough with a brand new qb AGAIN and 2012 probably is the hardest schedule of anyone in the nation.

he needs a full three years to get this system in place to the point that it starts rolling. This isn't UC where he had hungry guys left over from dantonio...he has a bunch of fragile minded, no-can-do attitude, former "5 star" pansies who are mentally ruined from the CW years.

BK will be awesome.

 

[irishff1014]

i hope he is here for a long time

 

[ndcoltsfan2010]

Alot of people have been disappointed with BK and the way he has done some things. I am a believer that ND got it right when they went for him. I can totally understand UC's bitterness towards him after leaving right before their BCS bowl game. I am excited about BK and the future of ND largely in part of because of what he did at Cinncy. He had tremendous success in developing players not as highly regarded as what is on the ND roster right nowl. I think given some time, we will see dramatic improvement in our football team and give 2-3 years, we will be in a BCS game again. The bottom line is we have alot of issues but the biggest is not being able to win games. I think that will soon change and we will start winning again and things will start to look better.

 

[IrishJayhawk]

Was UC mad at Kelly when he left Central Michigan before their bowl game?

I know they aren't equivalent games, not trying to say they are. But it is how the coaching game works.

 

[irishff1014]

Thats the problem just like has been said before if we are winning no of this is an issue. However i do believe that kell will do something about this losing. I know he is itching to win.

 

[choo choo]

welcome aboard...that was an interesting read and some different insight...now ive been on kellys butt, however i dont think we dump him after just two seasons - unless hes cheating or falls in love w the golf course intsead of the recruiting trail...thats one thing i loved about cw (his work ethic) and as long as hes putting in the work to get better i think we have to give him a chance, not just two years

 

[DaLastFarleyite]

DTClasby,

I have a neighbor who is a Cincinnati alum and he expressed the same thoughts as you, namely, that Kelly was classless in his manner of exit from UC. After he expressed his distaste for Kelly, I asked him if he felt that way about Kelly when he was hired at UC. He said "absolutely not" and there was no indication that would be the way Kelly behaved when he left Cincy. At that point, I informed him that Kelly's arrival at UC was identical to his arrival at ND. He clearly didn't understand and I had to explain to him what IrishJayhawk pointed out in his post. At that point he went silent, except for a small hmmph. Bottom line, no Cincy fan has room to complain unless they opposed his hiring at UC and used his method of arrival as their rationale for opposing him.

 

[irish1958]

I am both a ND graduate and a Cincinnati graduate and I have been following both for decades.
Not only did Cincinnati get Kelly in exactly the same way, they got their new coach in exactly the same way.
Expecting a new coach to give up one year of recruiting to coach a meaningless bowl game is folly.
CW did this and lost his first year on the recruiting circuit.
Coaches are fired and hired in December (in the case of ND, once on Christmas Eve).

 

[hrc08]

Was UC mad at Kelly when he left Central Michigan before their bowl game?

Exactly, as I don't remember UC fans blasting Dantonio for leaving UC high and dry before its bowl game.

As for the OP comments: They make perfect sense to me as BK is the thinnest, tallest or most attractive looking person so it would reason that he has a chip on his shoulder vis a vis the big time recruits who doesn't give him the time of day cause they want to go to the football factories.

 

[kmoose]

First of all, as a UC fan we hated the way Kelly left on the eve of the Florida Sugar Bowl. That will sting UC fans forever like your lifelong girlfriend is a no show at your wedding.

Quit yer whining...... you still have Skyline Chili, ya ingrate.