Monday, December 14, 2009

Kelly is "One of Us"


Yeah, CW was an alum and Davie an assistant at ND; but not since Lou Holtz have we had a true Subway Alumnus at the helm at Notre Dame.
(I remember Lou relaying a story about how they sang the ND Fight Song every morning in grade school as they marched from outside into the school building.)
This is a guy who needs no training on history.
* He remembers Lindsay Nelson and ND highlights on Sunday mornings (the only way you saw most ND games back in the 60's).
* He remembers the heartbreak at SC in '64 and the game of the century in '66 and Coley O'Brien.
* He knows why Bud Wilkinson always hated Notre Dame and about "Ara, stop the snow."
These are things that the likes of Stoops, Ferenz and others would have had to catch up on in a book. A SubAlum remembers them (or for you younger ones, read about when you were 10 years old or had your father tell you about them).
Lou Holtz loved and lived ND, and had the coaching skills to make his very positive mark on ND football. Kelly looks like the same type of leader.
I have been reading a number of stories about Coach Kelly's leadership skills these past several days and am more and more impressed by his ability to lead young men.
The people in Cincinnati are sad and angry about his departure, but he had the ND clause in his contract (just like Lou at Minnesota) so it was no secret what would happen if the timing was right for him to go to his "dream job." I have no problem with the way this was done, either by ND or by Coach Kelly.
I had a UC grad say to me, "You'd feel different if he were leaving Notre Dame for another school..." I guess she was right, I would; but since it has never happened, I'll have to wait till it does to know for sure. (I love you, Anne.)

5 comments:

Anne@Kitschy Vintage said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anne@Kitschy Vintage said...

"One of Us" HA!
It's funny that you compare him to the other guy who walked out on a team and left them for ND. Just because a man has it written into his contract that he can leave for Notre Dame doesn't make it any better when he does. It's STILL breaking a contract, it's still walking out on kids he made a commitment to. I see them both as men who don't have the integrity to follow through with what they started. No matter how you sugar-coat it because you're excited that he's going to ND, it's still a betrayal and still a walk-out.
I think the fundamental disagreement here is over what a coach is -- is he a money-maker for a college, is he a career-seeker climbing a ladder or is he a leader (a role model and mentor) of 18-22 year old young men? If it's the latter, then Kelly has failed. He has modeled an it's-all-about-me attitude AND a class & prestige-based value system for the UC players.
If, SubAlumn, you acknowledge that Kelly was only thinking of himself, the "destination coaching job" of ND (your words, not mine), beefing up his career or the almighty dollar, then I guess he, like Lou before him, did just the right thing. If you were one of the kids at UC (or their parent), though, I doubt that you would agree.
Oh, yes you would -- I forgot -- he's "One of You".

JimG said...

"Waah, waah, waah...we can't be good at football without Brian Kelly."
Three things: 1) Kelly, like Lou, was up front with his employer about what his dream job was. No secrets. If Cincy wasn't willing to accept it, then they should have hired someone else. You punish this man for his honesty?
2) Kelly showed that bigtime football can be played at UC and as a result, they will be able to hire a better coach who will have alot of advantages in the program.
3) Maybe someday UC will be the one written into other coaches contracts. It would be good for football to see the balance of power tip toward the southern ppart of the state for awhile.

JimG said...

Go Bearcats!

Golf Czar said...

If the comment is made that a coach lets his players down by leaving, then a coach would never leave a job voluntarily. No matter when a coach leaves, there is always a group of kids there that he personally recruited. Do players feel bad when they leave a year early for the NFL? Are they bailing on their coach and their teammates?