Blog Focus: Notre Dame Hires Brian Kelly as Football Coach
Notre Dame fired coach Charlie Weis as soon as the season ended, and immediately looked to find a replacement.
Brian Kelly was a top candidate early on, and the Irish hired him Thursday. Bloggers had quick reactions to the choice:
Dr. Saturday: "Kelly is inheriting the weirdest, toughest job in sports, one that's swallowed up three straight coaches who all left with winning records and BCS bowl games on the resumés and brings with it labyrinthine social and political obligations. But when you've won championships at Grand Valley State, Central Michigan and Cincinnati, of all places — a basketball school that had never finished in the final polls before Kelly's arrival, and has finished there three years in a row since in a rocket ascent into the top five — a stinking rich spot like Notre Dame is going to seem like the Valley of the Kings."
The Big Lead: "Two pieces of advice, Mr. Kelly. Say nothing of a “decided schematic advantage” and don’t brag about how well you prepared a quarterback for the NFL until he proves he is worth a damn. Kelly coached in the State of Michigan from 1991 to 2006, did Michigan make the wrong hire two years ago?"
Foul Balls: "It's been somewhat apparent throughout the day that this was going to happen. Kelly had called for a private meeting with his team an hour before tonight's banquet, and then shortly after that, it was announced that the Cincinnati banquet would be closed to the media."
Trojan Wire: "Kelly coached Cincinnati to a 12-0 record this year. The Bear Cats are set to play in the Sugar Bowl against Florida on New Years day."
Fire Jay Mariotti: "Say what you want about the hire (blah), it bears mentioning that Notre Dame won the Cotton Bowl in 1993. I think it's just laziness."
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