Those kids at Cincinatti poured their hearts and souls into that team for that coach, and before the biggest game in that school's history, he QUITS on them? Those kids deserve so much better than that. If he wants to go coach at Notre Dame, that's fine. That is his business. But finish the damn season first. Show some respect to your players who gave you a PERFECT season. Show some respect to those kids who pretty much WON you the job at Notre Dame. Coach them in the Sugar Bowl, and THEN move on. He is an absolute disgrace and I wish him and Notre Dame nothing but the worst on the football field.
I was under the assumption that he was going to finish the season, but I heard about it this morning and I was surprised, he is a scumbag he should have finished the season and be a stand up guy. Are you telling me that ND would have been upset about if he stayed until the season was over? Classless on behalf of ND and him, they can't lose enough for me.
As much as I'm against coaches doing what he did, it makes sense on his part to leave. He needs to be situated at ND so he has time to recruit. Since the Sugar bowl is January 1st, he wouldnt be taking the ND job until the 2nd. That gives him exactly one month to recruit for ND before National Signing day. He needs all the extra time he can get.
I think Mardy Gilyard has the best outlook on it. Anyone who isn't a senior is going to spend the rest of their time at Cincy proving to Kelly that he was a complete idiot. http://deadspin.com/5424194/bearcats-bid-un+emotional-goodbye-to-brian-kelly
I don't blame Kelly for leaving now, it gives him 1 critical extra month for recruiting. Staying in Cincinnati and trying to prepare his kids for the toughest and most important game of the season while simultaneously setting up the rest of his career in South Bend wouldn't be fair to either side. People are sad because the Cincinnati is an underdog story, but how can you blame Kelly for leaving to take a better job for much more money?
I think it's great - I HATE ND!!! Way to start off with good karma. Does Notre Dame really need to recruit THAT hard anyway whether he begins on Jan 2nd or Dec 12th? The kids that want to go there, probably wanted to go there while Willingham was still the coach. What a joke. They look like they just hired the guy with the least class in the entire Bowl season (not that he's there). Based on his name, he'll get a 5 year pass there whether or not he wins.
if i am a fan of Cincinnati or any of the players on that team i would be pissed as hell. being a neutral observer it is what he had to do. he was going to leave one way or the other and staying around a job that you have no future in while hindering your ability to succeed at a new job is not a smart career move.
Good for Kelly. In a time and age where it is all "What have you done for me lately" with head coaches, he did what any smart man with a family would have done with a family would do and take the payraise and take the dream job. Lets face it....unless you a Belichick type of coach, there is no loyalty with head coachs and their teams. You don't win, you don't stay. Simple as that. Kelly had to make the decision quick because ND was not going to wait for him and maybe get burned by him staying with the Bearcats. If jerkoffs like Gilyard do not understand the decision, then I don't know what else to say. Shows they have no professionalism to bash the same guy who brought these kids in and were there for their highs and lows. He took a shit program pretty much to the BCS level and these kids give nothing but hate for him? Hopefully Florida destroys them and humbles that ass.
Yeah my view on Notre Dame and Brian Kelly has really changed. I thought it was classless for Kelly to lead the Cincinnati players on. I hope that Notre Dame does not win under Kelly. I find the move classless on both ND and BK. I agree with Green Lantern that Brian Kelly will get a 5 year break because of his name.
Taking a job that is going to get Brian Kelly a huge pay increase and a large amount of TV exposure is not a disgrace. Constantly telling his players that he was staying, and letting his players be the last to know that he was leaving is a disgrace. http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/2009/12/10/2009-12-10_bearcats_rip_kelly_as_he_heads_to_nd.html
And he still probably is grateful for the chance at UC and loved his time there but he has wanted this job for years and much like how some players leave junior year for more money and to play in their ultimate dream, the NFL....Kelly just moved up to the ladder of money by getting this dream job that rarely does open besides in this past decade. Its a shitty system but Kelly only had a limited time to really accept this job with the Irish trying to get this job down ASAP.
Kelly pissed on his own players by lying to them. There is no way around that. No one would have begrugded him taking a better job and I doubt his players would have played with any less effort with a chance to make it to the national championship game on the line. "Let's go out and win our conference and earn a BCS berth" would have been a better choice than lying through his teeth. Oh, and as for players leaving during their junior year, they typically make that decision after their coaches advise them to do so.
Brian Kelly made the best move for his future by leaving Cincy early. What was he supposed to tell his players? If he told them that he was heading to Notre Dame, he would've lost them before the season was over. You can't pull a Bobby Petrino and flat out lie to the media and then leave town during the night. During the awards ceremony last night, Kelly handled the situation better than most coaches - he didn't give away his future plans. Most of you that are complaining about him leaving before the bowl game have literally no idea how important getting a head start on recruiting is. Yea, it sucks for all of his players that he recruited to play there, but that happens to a lot of different programs. Whether a coach leaves for a better job, gets fired, or retires - it happens everywhere. Rich Rodriguez and Urban Meyer pulled the same stunt and no one bashed them. These guys have to treat the game like it's a business - Brian Kelly is moving on to bigger and better things and he earned that right by being successful everywhere he's coached. Brian Kelly had to lie in this situation or his team would've quit on him.
Who exactly is "Most of you"? Only the OP was complaining about that. As for me, I understand that a coach needs to be at his new job as soon as possible so he can get his recruiting class together. How the Hell do you know that they would have lost if he told them he was leaving? The Cincy players are not just there to play for Coach Kelly, they probably also wanted to win the Big East, make it to a BCS bowl, go undefeated...etc. Were you in the fucking locker room? Did you hear the players saying, "If he leaves, I'm packing it in!"? Did their scholarships include a "must include Brian Kelly" clause? Who are you to make this kind of a judgment of immaturity and pettiness on these guys with no proof? Even if they would have crapped out on him, why not just try to keep them focused on the present instead of the future? "We shouldn't look past this Pittsburgh game" seems like it would have sent the message home on both sides. Most of the players interviewed after seemed to understand that it was a business decision. What's pissing them off, and most other people, is the fact that he straight up lied to them, and then Let them be the last to know. But lying to the guys you brought in based on the major selling point that they can trust you is perfectly fine? So he continued to lead his players to thinking that he was staying during the one night that was supposed to be about them? How exactly is that handling it well? Why not tell them before the ceremony, let them at least try to get over it, and give them their night? A very heart-felt "thank you" to the players that helped to get him the ND job would have been much classier than this cloak-and-daggers shit. Everyone knew ND wanted to hire him. Everyone knew he would go if he got the offer. Why not just fucking admit it to the group of guys to whom this news would mean the most? EDIT: Didn't see this the first time around: Are you fucking kidding me? For one, Rodriguez told his players he was leaving right after his loss to Pitt. Not to mention the minor extenuating circumstances of Michael Garrison taking over as president of after Rodriguez signed his extension and with whom Rodriguez clashed since just about day one of Garrison's tenure, and who later left under nothing less than a shit storm of controversy surrounding just about every decision he made. Going back to his players crapping out on him, why would Kelly bother lying the players that he is leaving after this game? He knows he is going and that he is going to leave as soon as possible so he can start his recruiting process. After he beats Pitt, the Cincinnati players' desire to play and win games for him was a moot point. Why keep the lie going? I have no idea how Urban Meyer handled leaving Utah so I'll have to take your word when you say that he acted like a piece of shit by lying to his players until the last moment and no one cared.
He needs to at least be able to try to keep the recruiting class he has there as with coaching changes comes decommits and an awful start to his tenure there. Since the big time programs will be over that class like vultures. And as for the people "shocked" by this development, it has been pretty apparent from day 1 that he was just going to use Cincy as a stepping stone
Why don't you get it? If Brian Kelly told his players that he was leaving for Notre Dame before that Pittsburgh game, that perfect season would go up in flames. That team battled back for him in the second half. They were down in that game but battled back for their head coach...a head coach that they wanted to play for, a head coach that led them through this perfect season. You can call him a scumbag all you want, but he handled this situation the right way. Who gives a damn about the players at Cincinnati now? It's not Kelly's team anymore. His focus is on the Fighting Irish and the Fighting Irish only. He's making the big bucks to coach Notre Dame, not to make sure his former Bearcat players' feelings aren't hurt. Like I said earlier, Brian Kelly earned the right to exit Cincy the way he did. He's had success at every school he's coached. I'm absolutely sure that Kelly completely respects the players he coached at Cincy - they helped him have the success he needed to land his dream job.
Feels like what Rich Rodriguez did to WVU. How did that work out for Rich by the way? I hope Kelly fairs better than that since I like ND.
