Kelly promises to put Irish to work
Coach doesn’t make prediction at his launch
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Brian Kelly has his dream job. Now he has to figure out how to turn a Notre Dame program mired in mediocrity back into a national championship contender.
Quickly.
Just as did when he was introduced as the new Cincinnati coach three years ago, Kelly talked at his introductory news conference Friday about having a five-minute plan, not a five-year plan that reflects the length of his contract.
“When I refer to the challenge, it’s strictly getting to that high bar that’s been set at Notre Dame,” he told a standing-room crowd of 200 people, including his family. “We’ve got challenges, but we’ll go to work on those right away.”
Kelly left an undefeated Cincinnati team that is ranked No. 4, bound for the Sugar Bowl and may have been 1 second away from playing for the national title. The Irish are nowhere near that close and haven’t won it all in 21 years.
Kelly wouldn’t say how far away he thinks his new team is from that level, saying where the team now isn’t important.
“These young men want to win, and that’s why I’m here at Notre Dame,” he said. “I want to be around men that are committed, and we can’t trade anybody. There’s no waiver wire. We’re going to develop our players, and they’re going to play their very best for us. That to me has always been the most important principle. Let’s go. Don’t tell me what you don’t have. I don’t want to know about it. Tell me what you can do to help us win.”
Athletic director Jack Swarbrick said the 48-year-old Kelly was the first candidate he spoke to and the only one he offered the job to. Kelly wisecracked that he didn’t “doodle the ND diagram” while at his other jobs, but hoped he could one day run the Irish and called the job the “culmination” of 19 years of coaching.
Notre Dame has gone 16-21 over the past three seasons and is losing two of its best offensive players. Quarterback Jimmy Clausen and receiver Golden Tate have announced they will enter the NFL draft.
Kelly met with his players for 25 minutes and came away with the feeling they are eager to get started.
“They want to be led. They want to be developed. I could tell that immediately,” he said. “You do not come to the University of Notre Dame because you want to be average. You want to be the best of the best. That’s why I’m here.”
Kelly officially starts Monday on the job he has wanted since he was growing up in Chelsea, Mass.
He won’t have a difficult time stirring the Irish faithful, who are by now familiar with his successes at Division II Grand Valley State, Central Michigan and Cincinnati. The school said 74,026 computers were linked to the news conference through the Notre Dame Web site.