Notre Dame Football: Should the Irish move on from Brian Kelly?
By Joel W. Cade
After a tumultuous 2016 season and multiple underachieving seasons, is it time for Notre Dame football to move on from Brian Kelly?
Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly has politics in his blood. But has the time arrived where his political skills are no longer helping the Fighting Irish?
When the University of Notre Dame hired Brian Kelly, his skills as a politician were highly touted as a reason for optimism for the Fighting Irish.
During his time at the Cincinnati, Kelly had used his political skills to improve the Bearcat program. He reached out to the community and the student body successfully doubling the team’s season-ticket sales. He successfully rallied support for the program to the point where a Bearcat ticket was one of the hottest in town.
He put his political skills to work in other areas of improving his program. It was clear from the beginning of his time at UC that he was a natural recruiter. He recruited players to come to the program but he also recruited the players within the program. Kelly politically maneuvered through the locker room gaining an incredible buy-in from the players. All of which led to success on the field.
When Kelly was hired at the University of Notre Dame, it seemed like a perfect match. A highly political university hires a highly political coach. The hope was that Kelly could galvanize the Alumni, the administration, bring unity to the football team in the locker room leading to wins on the field.
True to form, Kelly has employed his political machinations uniting the administration, student body and players around the football program. Changed the culture of a flailing program under Charlie Weis bringing it back into national prominence. His coaching career reached it apex when he took the Fighting Irish to the National Championship game after the 2012 season.
But the 2016 Notre Dame season brought out a different side of Kelly’s political skills. The dark side of political skills lies in how they are employed. Will they be used to build up the community or to further a personal agenda? In an ideal world building up the community is furthering the coach’s personal agenda. But something changed in 2016.