Coach Kelly Situation

[qsilvr2531]

Actually, I've heard they do have much higher academic standards than the football factories - some of the same limitations as Northwestern. They've not been able to get the DBs, RBs, etc. that they've needed to be an elite program. Nationally, "experts" have indicated that this is due to tougher academic standards. Its not something i have first hand experience with, but it is fairly well accepted. Further, O$U, Texas, and Michigan have well more basket weaving type courses to keep kids not interested in an education able to play football, than does ND. ND does not have the reputation of making it easy for a kid who's not interested in class to be there solely to play football, as many big schools do.

Their schedule is typically very tough.

I've heard this as well, but it's all garbage. Which players has ND gone after that it couldn't get cleared, but got cleared at other non-SEC institutions? I know people that go to ND, they have the same kind of blow off courses other colleges do, and ND also practices the standard practice of having large groups of football players all join the same "athlete friendly" majors (OSU and UM do this as well).

As far as tougher academic standards go, ND is all reputation but the actual practice works basically the same as anywhere outside the SEC.

This year, ND's schedule ranks #24 according to Sagarin. Last year it was #50. It has basically sat between 20 and 50 for the entire Weiss era. That makes it comparable to all of the BCS conference schedules except the Pac 10 (it is easier than the typical Pac-10 schedule). They don't play an easy schedule, but their schedule doesn't preclude them from having success anymore than USC's does.

[#41]

Totally agree. People who see this tweet as meaning anything are people desperate for reasurance.

Hard to fault anyone -- not many schools survive a high-profile coaching departure without at least some stretch of "lost in the woods" years (even mighty Florida looked awful when Spurrier was replaced by Zook). For a school like UC, which is in the middle of attempting to build a program, such a loss in casual fan interest that would result could be disasterous.

Kelly's departure has a real chance of collapsing the momentum of the last decade. This type of thing is tough to re-capture.

I know most people will scoff, say that it's doom and gloom, but it's hard to ignore the idea that this (#5, chance to be in the national title game with 1 Texas loss) might be the highest point UC Football reaches for quite some time (possibly ever).

[colocat]

ND does have slightly higher standards. From what I understand, they fall somewhere between the more prestigious universities - Duke, Rice, Stanford, Northwestern, etc. - and the Big Ten. The Big Ten and ACC, aside from individual exceptions in other conferences, generally have the highest academic standards in the BCS. Regardless, there are plenty of elite players who still qualify for Notre Dame, so that won't be an issue for whoever is chosen as their next coach.

Actually, I've heard they do have much higher academic standards than the football factories - some of the same limitations as Northwestern. They've not been able to get the DBs, RBs, etc. that they've needed to be an elite program. Nationally, "experts" have indicated that this is due to tougher academic standards. Its not something i have first hand experience with, but it is fairly well accepted. Further, O$U, Texas, and Michigan have well more basket weaving type courses to keep kids not interested in an education able to play football, than does ND. ND does not have the reputation of making it easy for a kid who's not interested in class to be there solely to play football, as many big schools do.

Their schedule is typically very tough.

[BearcatBentley]

Well here we go. Here's the latest from the footballcoachscoop.com:

Notre Dame:
Sources tell us that the center of the search for Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick is with Skip Holtz (East Carolina Head Coach), Randy Edsall (UConn Head
Coach) and Jim Harbaugh (Stanford Head Coach).

Unfortunately, this site seems to contradict itself quite a bit. Also, look at the post under the Notre Dame one for Louisville:

Louisville:
FootballCoachScoop has confirmed that Head Coach Charlie Strong is the front runner to fill the vacancy and if the meeting on Sunday goes well, it very well could be his job.

Charlie Strong isn't a head coach anywhere. Is he?

[FL_Bearcat]

This is all getting tired. Will he stay, will he go. I feel that BK's lack of making any statement on the situation tells you all that there is to know. If he wanted to stay and build the future here, why not officially say so? IMO he is gone, plain & simple. UC should use this time to look at other options and begin to move forward. I would even be in favor of not allowing him to coach the team in the bowl game after the win on Saturday. No rewards when as the captain you abandon the ship and leave your crew behind to deal with the mess....

[nolte50uc]

Will he stay, will he go. I feel that BK's lack of making any statement on the situation tells you all that there is to know. If he wanted to stay and build the future here, why not officially say so?

he was pretty tight-lipped last year as well. i'm not saying that he'll stay or go based on his vagueness; that's how he operates - not too different the way he danced around addressing pike's playing time. from the first game, how many people thought he would be playing every week.

again, i wouldn't necessarily take his 'silence' as meaning anything.

[youngandrestless]

This is all getting tired. Will he stay, will he go. I feel that BK's lack of making any statement on the situation tells you all that there is to know. If he wanted to stay and build the future here, why not officially say so? IMO he is gone, plain & simple. UC should use this time to look at other options and begin to move forward. I would even be in favor of not allowing him to coach the team in the bowl game after the win on Saturday. No rewards when as the captain you abandon the ship and leave your crew behind to deal with the mess....

He did make a statement on the situation, he said on WEBN he was staying at UC, ESPN reported it all day yesterday on Sportscenter. The problem is no one seems to want to believe what he says, so why should he bother making any further statements. BK has said many times he has not been contacted by Notre Dame. Notre Dame's AD stated via the Chicago Tribune today that he has not contacted any coach about the job. No one seems to want to believe either one of them. Everyone seems to have their own agenda or their own report/inside sources in the matter. That is why people post airplane citings at Lunken Airport, etc., etc. etc. Bob Stoops said he would be at Oklahoma next year yet most still believe if ND goes after him with the right amount of cash he will go the ND.

[Forsure21]

I agree. How come every other coach but Kelly has so no publicly? Whether he thinks so or not this is a big distraction. The players are hearing from their family and friends all about it everyday. Underclassman are thinking if they are going to return or not etc... Not saying anything is a bad move.

This is all getting tired. Will he stay, will he go. I feel that BK's lack of making any statement on the situation tells you all that there is to know. If he wanted to stay and build the future here, why not officially say so? IMO he is gone, plain & simple. UC should use this time to look at other options and begin to move forward. I would even be in favor of not allowing him to coach the team in the bowl game after the win on Saturday. No rewards when as the captain you abandon the ship and leave your crew behind to deal with the mess....

[BearcatJoe]

I agree. How come every other coach but Kelly has so no publicly? Whether he thinks so or not this is a big distraction. The players are hearing from their family and friends all about it everyday. Underclassman are thinking if they are going to return or not etc... Not saying anything is a bad move.

It is all about leverage to get the things accomplished at UC that he wants to accomplish, including a bigger payday for him and his assistants. Seemed to work for him last year, and this is a much bigger carrot being dangled for him to use as leverage in his contract negotiations with UC.

[FL_Bearcat]

he was pretty tight-lipped last year as well. i'm not saying that he'll stay or go based on his vagueness; that's how he operates - not too different the way he danced around addressing pike's playing time. from the first game, how many people thought he would be playing every week.

again, i wouldn't necessarily take his 'silence' as meaning anything.

Normally I would agree, but then again the ND job was not open for the taking last year. I can't make the leap to how BK addressing the playing time of the team is the same as his own future. This may be his overall demeanor for dealing with the media & fans. If you really want to have a focused team however, you will remove any areas of doubt. Has he already told the team? Maybe, but I find it hard to believe you could inform 75-100 people of a decision and it does not leak out.

[youngandrestless]

Here is another angle discussed by McShey and Kiper on Sportscenter today. Kelly has the "big game" vs Pitt on Saturday. A knock on Kelly is he cannot win the "big game", lost the Orange Bowl last year. Notre Dame just fired a guy who lost to Pitt. If UC loses to Pitt, Kelly will not be offered the ND job, if he beats Pitt he will be offered. Would it be worth a UC loss to Pitt to keep Kelly at UC?

[Dannyboy]

BK said on air that he is staying and I believe him. He has given us no reason to doubt his word yet. I am willing to withdraw this statement however if he pulls a Dantonio...then he will put in the category of coaches that I cannot stand because they are not honest.

If he came out and said, "If ND calls, I'm gone. Screw Cincinnati" he would:

-1- Ruin recruiting at UC, whether he stays or goes
-2- Ruin his bargaining position with ND and UC

He MUST lie, whether he's talking about staying or going. Not to mention that anyone is free to change jobs if they want (so long as the contract is bought out). If I quit my job, I'm not a "traitor" to my company.

If BK leaves, I will wish him well, and hope UC gets a good replacement.

[BearcatSig]

Would it be worth a UC loss to Pitt to keep Kelly at UC?

No, for at least two reasons:

1- I would hope that the program is bigger than a player or a coach. The Bearcats can survive if Kelly leaves, they just need to find the right guy to take over from here, and

2- There is no guarentee the the outcome of the game will make the decision go one way or the other. They could win and he stays or lose and he goes, too. Since we don't know what the plans are, there's no sense in looking forward to a UC loss.


Go Bearcats!

[#41]

1- I would hope that the program is bigger than a player or a coach. The Bearcats can survive if Kelly leaves, they just need to find the right guy to take over from here

The program is bigger than any given player, but it isn't bigger than Brian Kelly. The program is woefully underfunded, plays in inadequate facilities, has too small a season ticket base, and no traditional fan support of note. I think most people are kidding themselves if they think UC Football can continue to be relevant in Cincinnati without either Brian Kelly on the sidelines or someone equally as talented (read: top-20 coach).

Just my opinion, but a whiff on the head coaching choice to replace Brian Kelly will set the program back a decade, easily. A string of 2 or 3 bad years will kill casual fan interest in the UC brand (the same casual fan interest that the school needs to go buy season tickets for 2010 and beyond) and there simply isn't the alumni and traditional fan support to keep even Nippert Stadium full -- to say nothing of expansion plans. Building back the casual fan interest is difficult enough in the best of conditions, and fickle-Cincinnati (of the "what have you done for me lately" sports crowd) makes it 10 times harder.

And, when you look at the schedule UC has already picked out for itself (including @Miami, FL - @OSU - @VT in 2012), they're going to need a great hire just to keep above water.

[Levittation]

Ok - I've been reading way to much of this stuff and just had to chime in. Please everyone take a deep breath and for those of you who have been Bearcat football fans for more than just this season let us reminisce.

Last Year with Tennesse:

http://forums.bearcatnews.com/showthread.php?t=2881

2007 with Michigan

http://forums.bearcatnews.com/showthread.php?t=1093

I had some fun researching this - I would encourage others to go back and read some of the other stuff on previous forum pages. Specifically Nov. 2007 & Nov. 2008. Sounds oddly familiar. I like how the credibility of "Footballscoop.com" was being question when they said in 2007 that Kelly 'WILL' be named the head coach of Michigan. I think the credibility question had already been answered yesterday, if not 2007.

Also - please let us remember.... Coach Kelly handles his business about coaching changes like this every year. Going back through the 'archives' you will also see 2 threads (2007 & 2008) regarding his contract extenstions. The way he handles things is he does not talk about them. Right, wrong, or indifferent - that is how he does things and we should get used to it. He is really in a no win situation here - no matter what he says - think about both sides and the implications.

Remember this comment:

"I was so busy, because I was interviewing in Nebraska and Michigan," Kelly joked. "It's been so busy, I haven't gotten a chance to think about it. After my wife wore me out, raking leaves and chopping wood, I've gotten a chance to get the news, and we're excited about being in a bowl game."

http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=1144&CID=745282

I know part of the fun of message boards is to specualte - but please just take a deep breath.