Yes, partly that, and partly that there would understandably be some bad blood between him and the UC players now that they can see him as having dumped them. That may not be fair, but it doesn’t have to be.
There is definitely some bad blood between he and the players at UC. From what has been reported in the local papers, he handled it very poorly internally.
Kelly will not coach the Sugar because of this, and because he will have a great deal to do at ND, including recruiting, forming a coaching staff, and doing all the standard meet and greet that a major college coach has to do. Best of luck to him, he is a helluva’ salesman, enough to convinve himself that Notre Dame is still a great job.
It also might be a bit of a favor for his OC, who will now coach the big game; if he wins, he’ll probably have the inside track for the head coaching job.
I should think that once you jump ship, the old ship doesn’t want you steering any more. Remember when Bill Frieder left the Michigan basketball team to go to Arizona State? He offered to coach the team though the NCAA tourney, but AD Bo Schembechler said “A Michigan man will coach Michigan, not an Arizona State man” That led to Steve Fischer coaching the team to the title.
The local papers have the AD of Cincinnati saying that it was his decision that Kelly not coach the Sugar Bowl. Maybe its true, maybe it isn’t.
Some players walked out on him in the middle of his revelatory speech during a team banquet yesterday. Several players have called him a “liar” and a “coward” for basically maintaining that he liked coaching at UC and told his players he wasn’t going anywhere.
Here’s a quote from one of his players that I agree with, and one of the reasons I think college football is in decline (for me):
*Brian Kelly gathered his players on Thursday night and told him he was leaving the University of Cincinnati and taking the job at Notre Dame.
Senior receiver Mardy Gilyard didn’t hear anything else after that, he turned and walked out of the room, only to return after Kelly left through the downtown Westin’s kitchen and out of the hotel.
“He made a business decision, I’m old enough to accept that,” said Gilyard.
“He’s a business man, he’s always been a business man. His rap sheet shows that, he took the business aspect,” Gilyard said.
“The game of college football is starting to shy away from the football part and is becoming big coaching contracts and that shouldn’t be the way the game is played. It should be about football, but now it’s about being paid. It’s a business aspect and he had to do what he had to do for his family.”*
It’s as if the players really didn’t know that that’s just how the coaching merry-go-round works. It always has been. However, kids that age usually can still be successfully bullshat, and that may have a lot to do with how some coaches can succeed beautifully in the college game yet fail miserably in the NFL when their players are adults, and vice versa.
As Ann Landers used to say, “Wake up and smell the coffee.” I don’t know of a time when that wasn’t true. Big-time college football has been a major business wearing a figleaf of academics for over a century. This is just how the business works. Get over it.
Now THAT’s the line that irritates me every time. Somebody already making over a million has his family taken care of quite nicely already. Sure, it’s about the money, but the reason money matters at that level isn’t anything to do with family, and there’s no need for anyone to repeat that lie. It isn’t about “respect” as such either. It’s just a means of keeping score so you know your standing in the Coaches’ League or the Players’ League. These guys are competitive as a way of life, and it really matters to them how much they’re making compared to their perceived peers. But that’s all it is.
Isn’t the average tenure of coaches getting shorter and shorter due to money and a lack of patience amongst alumni and athletic departments? Will we ever see any (or many) more JoPa’s, Bear Bryants, Bobby Bowden’s, etc?
I understand the hurt feelings, I really do…
But did the Bearcats have any similar qualms about Kelly abandoning his kids at Central Michigan?
Obviously you have to start coaching somewhere to get anywhere, and I see your point. The whole system stinks. There should be some NCAA rule regarding not allowing schools to approach coaches until the current school they are with has completed its entire season, bowl games included. Recruiting bedamned.
I just have a hankering too for the “good old days” in both the collegiate and professional games where the coaches were familiar faces prowling the sidelines, they were associated by name with their teams, and they would coach with their teams for long periods of times.
Oh, and bring back the fedora.
That would just drive it underground, not eliminate it. What, you think Kelly and a bunch of others hadn’t been talking to ND, at least via their agents, for months already?
When was that ever the norm?
Before the era of multimillionaire coaches? Wasn’t the average tenure of coaches longer from the beginning of college sports until about the 1990’s? I honestly don’t know. I may be operating under false assumptions.
The people of Cincinnati should be on their fucking hands and knees thanking Kelly for taking their shitty program and turning it into a national power. They had no money, no resources and compete in recruiting with one of the best programs in the country right next door, and now they’ve had 3 incredible seasons and will finish ranked in the top ten.
It’s up to Cinci to figure out how to move forward and continue their success. But to backstab Kelly just shows an incredible lack of gratitude for what he’s done for the school.
ETA: And as a Michigan fan I’m very worried about what Kelly will do to ND. If there’s anyone who can turn it around it’s him. A superb hire IMHO.
I’m not a Cincy fan, but I think the whole thing stinks, especially because of the way ND handled it. Why not agree in principle by handshake & let him finish out the season in 3 weeks? Will getting a 3-week head start REALLY matter?!?
I get that college football is big business, but really, there should be rules in place preventing the tampering of existing college coaches while their season is still ongoing. It just undermines the credibility of the sport (not that the BCS system is doing it any favors). The bigger, more prestigious schools will always have the advantage, while the lesser schools suffer.
I also agree that Kelly did an outstanding job turning around the program at Cincy, and it’s a shame the way it ended. The university could have supported him more (with a practice facility and a larger, better stadium). I get why he left, I just have a problem with the way he decided to finally leave.
You’re being outlandish to a degree. I am not really a fan of UC, but support them because they are local, and yes, the UC fans should be happy that they got where they are…with Kelly’s HELP, but one man doesn’t an entire program make. Rick Minter did a pretty decent job starting to build up the program, getting them to four bowl games in the ten years he was here, so there was a foundation to work with.
Beyond that, I just think what you said is pretty much a crappy thing to say and very elitist. Somewhat realistic too, yes, but still.
I’m railing against the system that allows this shit to happen, not Brian Kelly personally. No coach should be allowed to conduct interviews with another team until the season is OVER COMPLETELY! The new school would just have to be understanding of that. It completely fucks over the players!
Kelly did an excellent job at UC, and did elevate their program quite a bit, but they were not a shitty program undern Minter or Mark Dantonio. The facilities there have been improving for years, and the seniors on the team now were not Brian Kelly recruits. Don’t get me wrong, BK is a very good coach who ran into a good situation at UC and capitalized on it. There is a certain amount of gratitude owed to Kelly for what he has done. However, the way he has handled the situation in the past 2 weeks was poor at best. Just another reason to wish Notre Dame’s program continues to be a Tiffany’s box with the gift long taken out of it… and that comes from a midwestern catholic school kid.
I’m really confused by this. When UC hired him away from Central Michigan, how is that different? UC poaches a coach prior to bowl game and that’s ok, but when coach leaves UC in the same way suddenly it’s handled poorly? Realistically, this is just the way it works. Rarely will a program wait until after the bowl games are over to hire a new coach.
If you are referring to the fact that he said initially he’s not leaving, well that’s the only answer a coach can give. It’s a dumb question for reporters to ask because it potentially hurts everyone if the coach answers honestly. By always saying “I’m not leaving” it keeps recruiting and championship game/bowl prep focused until there really is a concrete answer one way or another. It doesn’t help anyone to say “not sure, I’m interviewing”, that just creates ambiguity which doesn’t help.
Not that he left a team with the bowl game still to play, that’s the nature of the beast in college football, right or wrong. My bone to pick with him is the continuous talk to his players about how happy he was at UC, how his family loved it here, etc, then them being the last people to know of his decision.
And no, you don’t have to put up that front to keep people focused, but it is a real convenient excuse for every coach to have in his back pocket. Oh well, done and over with now.
I do hope that in the coming years there will be greater reform regarding contractual commitments of coaches being equal to the commitment standards a student athlete faces, such as being locked into letters of intent, and one year sitout periods for transfers.