Tag: Brian Kelly (Page 5 of 6)

      Will Kelly ditch Cincinnati for Notre Dame before bowl games?

      December 2, 2009 /

      The Chicago Sun Times is speculating that Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly could leave the Bearcats in the dust and coach Notre Dame in a bowl game if the two parties come to a contract agreement following the firing of Charlie Weis.

      Backstage speculation is brewing that Kelly might resurrect an old trick and forsake whatever venue the bowl-bound Bearcats earn and instead drop shillelagh to stay through the holidays and beyond in South Bend.

      That means Kelly could stage- manage his first game for the Fighting Irish later this month if they accept a minor bowl bid. The short list of interested committees reportedly includes those from the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl in Detroit on Dec. 26, the EagleBank Bowl in Washington on Dec. 29, the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho, on Dec. 30 and the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala., on Jan. 6.

      ‘I think it could happen again,” said Tom Beck, the longtime Midwestern coach (Notre Dame, Illinois, Marv Levy’s Chicago Blitz) who gave Kelly his first significant college football job at Grand Valley (Mich.) State in 1987. ”There is no question Brian could be facing a real conflict. If Cincinnati beats Pittsburgh this weekend, they go to a BCS game. But Notre Dame, I’m sure, wants to hire and implement as quickly as possible.

      ”The Notre Dame job would be his new long-term challenge. Then there’s the fact he’d be moving to an 80,000-seat stadium from one that seats somewhere around 38,000. And the budgets at the two schools are in no way comparable.”

      This is all just speculation but as the article points out, Kelly has already left one program (Central Michigan) right before its bowl game in order to join a bigger, better job (Cincinnati), so what’s from stopping him from doing it again this year? (Especially now that the bigger, better job is Notre Dame.)

      If Kelly ditched Cincinnati for Notre Dame, he would spawn from the Bobby Petrino and Rich Rodriguez school of thinking in that loyalty means absolutely nothing in college football. He would once again look like the deserter he is, but mid-level schools are always aware that their head coach will be sought after by bigger programs.

      Putting that aside, I would be intrigued by what Kelly could do for the Irish over the next couple years. The guy has a proven track record of turning programs around (Grand Valley State, CMU, Cincinnati) in a short period of time and he understands how to build a winner on the college level. His offensive system is perfect for college football and he could re-introduce Notre Dame to the fundamentals of the game, which have been lacking over the past couple years.


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      College Football

      Is Notre Dame still an elite coaching job?

      November 23, 2009 /

      Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports thinks so:

      Anyone who thinks Notre Dame isn’t still an elite job doesn’t know anything about how college football works. By beating USC, Florida and Texas for more than his fair share of coveted prospects the last few years, Weis dispelled the theory that top talent no longer want to play at a tradition-rich, academically strong school that’s on national television every week.
      He had enough players to go 10-2 this year. He just couldn’t coach them.

      Weis’ recruiting work is why this is actually a better job today than five years ago.

      I don’t think there’s any question that Notre Dame is still an elite job. The program is always in the national spotlight and a head coach could become one of the kings of college football if he wins in South Bend.

      But the problem is that the job has become a black hole for failure and the microscope that head coaches are constantly under while coaching at Notre Dame can certainly wear on someone. (Although maybe that was only true for Weis given the way Tyrone Willingham was ushered out before him.)

      Wetzel references Cincinnati’s Brian Kelly as the perfect replacement for Weis. Given how Kelly has won everyone he’s gone, that certainly wouldn’t be a bad fit – especially if Jimmy Clausen (who could put up even better numbers in Kelly’s offense) sticks around another season. Plus, considering the way Kelly had no qualms about leaving Central Michigan in the lurch to join Cincinnati, I’m sure he’d have no issues about pulling the ripcord on the Bearcats in order to coach in South Bend.

      College Football

      Cincinnati keeps BCS bowl bid alive

      November 14, 2009 /

      For those of you that didn’t see the broadcast, Brian Kelly ate this guy’s lunch on Friday…

      For the first time in school history, Cincinnati has started a season 10-0 and is also the first FBS team to 10 wins in 2009.

      The Bearcats beat Big East rivals West Virginia 24-21 on Friday night. The game wasn’t as close as the final score indicated, although that’s not to suggest that Cincinnati blew the Mountaineers out either.

      Senior quarterback Tony Pike attempted four passes on the night and completed two of them…for touchdowns. Pike had been dealing with a forearm injury the past couple weeks and head coach Brian Kelly (when he wasn’t yelling at one of his assistants) wanted him to see some game action against West Virginia. Pike obviously made the most of his limited opportunities as he helped Cincinnati score two of its three touchdowns on the night.

      Sophomore Zach Collaros ran the show for most of the night and used his arm and his legs to keep drives going for the Bearcats. Fellow sophomore Isaiah Pead had a fantastic night, rushing for 175 yards with a touchdown on 18 carries.

      Not everything was positive for the Bearcats, however. Their run defense was gashed for 202 yards by the Mountaineers, some of which came right up the gut. The Bearcat defense also struggled getting a hold of West Virginia QB Jarrett Brown, who was able to keep the came close with his scrambling ability.

      A team with a power running game will beat Cincinnati by wearing down its front seven and keeping its potent offense off the field. That said, with this win they set up a huge game with No. 12 Pittsburgh on December 5 for the Big East title. (Assuming the Panthers isn’t upset before then.)


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      College Football

      College Football Week 11 Point Spreads

      November 11, 2009 /

      Along with a complete list of point spreads for the top 25 action in college football, here is a quick-hit look at some of the marquee matchups in Week 11.

      No. 25 West Virginia at No. 5 Cincinnati, Friday, November 13
      This is the first of three important games left on the Bearcats’ schedule. After playing the Mountaineers on Friday night, Brian Kelly’s squad will take on Big Ten foe Illinois on November 27 and then have a marquee Big East showdown with No. 12 PITT on December 5. Kelly won’t have starting quarterback Tony Pike again this week as the senior continues to nurse a forearm injury. That means impressive sophomore Zach Collaros will once again be counted on to keep Cincinnati’s BCS hopes alive. After ratting off four straight wins to get to 6-1 on the season, West Virginia has struggled the past two weeks. They were defeated by South Florida two weeks ago and then struggled generating offense against a below-average Louisville team last Saturday. Will Collaros and the rest of Cincy’s backfield be too much for the Mountaineers to handle?
      Odds: Cincinnati –9.

      No. 16 Utah at No. 4 TCU, 7:30PM ET, Saturday
      Now that the Horned Frogs have leapt into the No. 4 spot in the rankings, they have one more hurdle to overcome on their schedule before they let fate take the wheel for the rest of the season. Utah will do everything in its power to knock off its Mountain West foe and gain the inside edge for a second straight conference title. But the Utes’ task is a daunting one. TCU has the sixth best rushing attack in the nation and are ranked eighth in total offense. They also rank third in total defense and fifth in scoring defense. The Frogs look like a small-school juggernaut right now but if they will be challenged this weekend in Fort Worth.
      Odds: TCU –19.5.

      No. 10 Iowa at No. 11 Ohio State, 3:30PM ET, Saturday
      In the blink of an eye, the Hawkeyes saw their national title hopes and quarterback go down in one fall swoop last Saturday as Northwestern shocked them at home. Now Iowa can only hope for a Big Ten title, but even that looks dim considering it has to go into Columbus this week in attempts to beat a confident Ohio State team. The Buckeyes knocked off Penn State last Saturday in Happy Valley and now has the inside track to winning the Big Ten again this season. The Hawkeyes will start redshirt freshman James Vanderberg, who struggled last week after Ricky Stanzi suffered an injury in the first half. Asking a redshirt freshman to beat the Buckeyes in Columbus is no small order and it appears that Iowa’s magical 2009 season won’t have a fairytale ending.
      Odds: Ohio State –17.

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      College Football

      BC fires Jagodzinski – ridiculous or breath of fresh air?

      January 8, 2009 /

      Jeff JagodzinskiBoston College A.D. Gene DiFilippo warned head coach Jeff Jagodzinski that if he interviewed for the New York Jets’ head coaching vacancy, he would be fired. Jagodzinski did interview with the Jets and DiFilippo went through with his word, firing his head coach after only two seasons.

      There seems to be two schools of thought on this situation. On one hand, it’s pretty ridiculous to fire someone trying to advance his career. Every man has the right to move up the corporate latter and in the cases of college head coaches, they have to interview for NFL positions when they become open.

      On the flip side, this is exactly the wake up message that college coaches need to adhere to. Athletic directors have a hard enough time trying to build a consistent winner without worrying about whether or not their coach is going to fly the coup on them after just one or two years.

      Jagodzinski did a hell of a job in his two years at BC. In his first season, the Eagles went 11-3, won the ACC Atlantic Division Championship and finished No. 10 in the polls after beating Michigan State in the Champs Sports Bowl. Not much was expected of the program this year after they lost Matt Ryan to the NFL, but Jags led a young Eagle team to a 9-5 record, another first place finish in their division and an appearance in the Music City Bowl (a 16-14 loss to Vanderbilt).

      Considering he went 20-8 with a 1-1 bowl record and won two ACC Atlantic Division Championships, maybe Jags didn’t deserve to be fired for trying to further his career in the NFL. Maybe he deserved more respect and DiFilippo should have been more courteous to the man who got BC’s program back off the ground again.

      But the problem is that when he was hired two years ago, he gave DiFilippo his word that he would stick around at least three seasons. He went back on his word like so many college football coaches normally do, and DiFilippo went through with his. Whether the situation was fair or not, DiFilippo sent a message to head coaches that maybe more A.D.’s should try and follow: try to leave this program after not fulfilling your commitment to it and you’ll be let go.

      Jagodzinski will wind up somewhere. If he doesn’t land another position in the NFL (he used to work as an assistant coach for the Packers and Falcons), he’ll certainly take another college football head coaching position somewhere. And it’s sad that such a fine young coach had to be made an example of, but for those who think DiFilippo was in the wrong, try and look at the situation from his perspective. Maybe this was just the first step in ending the way Nick Saban, Bobby Petrino and all the other egotistical college coaches think they can go about things.

      Related side note: Defensive coordinator Frank Spaziani is the leading candidate to replace Jagodzinski, but keep an eye on Cincinnati head coach Brian Kelly. Kelly is from the Massachusetts area and rumor has it that BC is his dream job. Of course, Kelly was the one that left Central Michigan before his contract was up for the Cincinnati job, so maybe he’s the last guy DiFilippo wants to work considering the situation he just went through with Jagodzinski.

      College Football

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