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The Observer � IN FOCUSpage 2 Saturday, December 12, 2009

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After weeks of rumors and specula-tion, Brian Kelly was officially intro-duced as Notre Dame’s 29th headcoach Friday.Kelly has signed a five-year deal to

coach the Ir ish af ter leadingCinc innat i to consecut ive BCSappearances. The 47-year old Kellywent 34-6 in three years with theBearcats, and was named Big EastCoach of the Year all three seasons.Kelly also won the national HomeDepot Coach of the Year awardThursday night.“Nobody does it like Notre Dame,”

Kelly said. “There’s a chapel in everydorm, and there’s a leader aroundevery corner, and we will cultivatethat leadership here at Notre Dame,and we wi l l cont inue to movetowards excellence both in the class-room and on the football field.”A veteran with 19 years of head

coaching experience, Kelly will notcoach Cincinnati’s Sugar Bowl gameagainst Florida. He informed theBearcats team of h is dec is ionThursday afternoon before the team’sbanquet.“I’m forever grateful to the players

at the University of Cincinnati forwhat they gave me. They gave methis opportunity here at Notre Dame.Their work on the field gave me agreat opportunity for my family, andfor that I’m forever grateful,” Kellysaid. “But transi t ion is d i f f icul t .Emotion gets involved, and I onlywish all of them the very, very best.”Director o f Athlet ics Jack

Swarbrick said he had a timelinewith the goal of hiring a new coachby this weekend, and was excited tofinalize the agreement with KellyThursday.“We followed our criteria, we stuck

to it, and at every step along the way,it kept taking me back to the sameplace. It kept taking me back to the

conclusion that Brian Kelly was theright person to lead this program,”Swarbrick said. “He was the firstperson I talked to. He was the onlyperson I offered this opportunity to.And i t was a compel l ing casethroughout.”The news of Kelly’s hiring broke

Thursday afternoon and was official-ly announced through a universityrelease that night.“Growing up as an Irish Catholic in

Boston, Massachuset ts , I ’d comehome from church after driving myparents crazy and listen to the rerunsor the replays of Notre Dame foot-ball, and indelibly etched in my mind,in my vision was thegreat Lindsey Nelsonta lk ing about as wemove further into thethird quarter, theact ion, and NotreDame play ing thatday,” Kelly said. “Thatwas all that was on theTV in the Kelly house.”Kelly said the Notre

Dame job has been a dream of his foryears.“The story is like this: You come

home as a parent and you’re going totell your kids that they’re moving andthey love the friends and they lovethe community, and as we started totell them, tears began to well up intheir eyes, and Gracie came up tome, grabbed me, hugged me andsaid, ‘Dad, I’m so happy for you. Iknow this has been your dream. AndI’m sad for me just for a little bit. Isthat okay?’ And I kissed her, and Isaid, ‘You know what, that’s what isso magical about this is that my kidsknow that this was a dream for me,’”Kelly said.Kelly also met with the Notre Dame

team before his press conferenceFriday, and had a s trong in i t ia limpression.“They want to win,” Kelly said.

“They’re like any other football pro-gram that I ’ve been around; they

want to win football games, and theywant to be led. They want to bedeveloped. I could tell that immedi-ately.“You do not come to the University

of Notre Dame because you want tobe average. You want to be the bestof the best. And that’s why I’m here.It inspires me to be around youngmen like I had in front of me today.”Swarbrick said that throughout theprocess he sought the advice of sev-eral members o f the team, whohelped the director of athletics withthe search.“I read a lot of things about people

saying that this was a less attractivejob than it used to be,or the interest was notwhat it used to be. Youweren’t in my shoes,”Swarbrick said. “Theinterest in being theleader of this programwas extraordinary, andI was so buoyed by thelevel of that interestand the way many of

the best coaches in the country werereally interested in being part of ourprogram.”One trait that stood out to Swarbrick

was Kelly’s appreciation for the tradi-tions of Notre Dame, and he honoredthe new coach with a unique gift.“There’s a tradition that we didn’t

discuss that you may or may not befamiliar with. The last element of thatteam Mass frequently as celebrated byFr. Doyle, who’s with us today, is toidentify a saint that we’re honoringthat day, and every player as theyleave the mass and head across thewalk or get on the bus for an awaygame, gets a medal to take with them.Many of our players figure out a wayto affix that to their uniforms or other-wise have it with them. And yes, we dokeep of the saints’ won loss records.We’re careful about that,” Swarbricksaid.

Brian Kelly ‘the right man’ for ND

IAN GAVLICK/The Observer

Brian Kelly addresses the media Friday at the Guglielmino Athletics Complex as Director of Athletics JackSwarbrick looks on. Kelly was announced as the new Irish head coach Thursday night.

By MICHAEL BRYANAssociate Sports Editor

Contact Michael Bryan at mbryan@nd.edu

“They want to winfootball games, andthey want to be led.”

Brian KellyIrish coach

Kerry Coombs

Associate HC,Def. Backs

Mike Elston

Special Teams,Defensive Line

The Observer � IN FOCUSSaturday, December 12, 2009 page 3

Lorenzo Guess

Tight Ends

Greg Forest

Quarterbacks

Jeff Quinn

Off. Coordinator,Offensive Line

Bob Diaco

DefensiveCoordinator

Tim Hinton

Recruiting,Running Backs

William Inge

Linebackers

Charley Molnar

Passing Game,Receivers

Charlie Weis is gone, Brian Kellyis here, but there are two groupsof assistants and coordinatorswhose job situation remainsuncertain. Some Irish assistants led their

departments to success this sea-son and coached their players todrastic improvement, but otherposition groups took steps back.Kelly has not yet announced whohe would bring with him and who,if any, of Notre Dame’s assistantshe will retain, but did say hewould interview all of NotreDame’s assistants.“I’ve got a plan in place. I clearly

know where I want to go,” he said.“I want to make sure I talk toeveryone involved in the process.”Kelly said he would begin the

process Monday.“That’s a process that won’t take

very much time,” he said. “I’ve gota lot of those pieces already puttogether.”Some seem like logical choices

to keep; others seem as thoughtheir jobs might be in jeopardy.

Interim head coach Rob Ianellohas taken the head coaching job atAkron, leaving the positions ofreceivers coach and recruitingcoordinator open.Bearcats offensive coordinator

Jeff Quinn has been with Kelly thelongest, back to Kelly’s days atGrand Valley State. Quinn playedfootball and wrestled at ElmhurstCollege and was a third-team All-America selection in football in1993. He coached football andwrestling at DePauw starting in1984 and moved to Ohio Northernin 1986. Quinn has coached alongside

Kelly for 19 years and joinedCincinnati’s staff for the 2007 sea-son. He also served as the offen-sive line coach. Weis functioned asNotre Dame’s offensive coordina-tor. Quinn’s offensive line counter-

part, Frank Verducci, joined thestaff this season and helped theline’s play, keeping junior quarter-back Jimmy Clausen off his backand allowing the running game toimprove. The Irish rushed for 3.8yards per carry this year.Quarterbacks coach Greg Forest

has also spent a long time with

Kelly. He was a sports manage-ment intern in 1991 at GrandValley State, Kelly’s first year.Forest has had great success thisyear with both quarterbacks TonyPike and Zach Collaros. NotreDame’s quarterbacks coach, RonPowlus, has helped developClausen into one of the nation’stop passers.Charley Molnar has run the

Bearcats passing game for thepast four years and worked withKelly while he was at CentralMichigan, where he coached DanLeFevour during his freshmanyear. At Cincinnati, along with thesuccess of Pike and Collaros,Molnar coached receiver MardyGilyard to a great season. The closest parallel at Notre

Dame is Ianello, who previouslyserved under Weis as receiverscoach and recruiting coordinator.Ianello helped receivers MichaelFloyd and Golden Tate flourishduring his tenure and also knowsNotre Dame’s recruiting insideand out, giving him a strong caseto stay around.Cincinnati’s recruiting coordina-

tor, Tim Hinton, also serves as therunning backs coach. Given the

success of Notre Dame’s runningbacks coach, Tony Alford, inimproving the run game and thefact that Hinton was the onlycoach Kelly inherited atCincinnati, Hinton is less likelythan others to make the jump. Hehas coached multiple positions,however, which adds to hisappeal.Lorenzo Guess, Cincinnati’s tight

ends coach, has a background instrength and conditioning in bothfootball and basketball. He has notcoached with Kelly long. BernieParmalee, Notre Dame’s tight endscoach, helped Anthony Fasanoand John Carlson reach the NFL.Given Notre Dame’s struggles on

defense, Kelly will likely makechanges to the defensive staff. BobDiaco took over as the Bearcats’offensive coordinator before thisseason. Previously he served asdefensive coordinator at Virginiaand as linebacker and specialteams coach before that. Kerry Coombs, Kelly’s associate

head coach and defensive backscoach at Cincinnati, may make thetrip with him. Coombs started inthe high school ranks and hascoached with Kelly for the past

three seasons.Coombs would replace Corwin

Brown, the associate head coachand defensive backs coach. NotreDame’s defensive backs underper-formed this season based on pre-vious performance and perceivedlevel of talent. Cincinnati’s linebackers coach,

William Inge, has coached atCincinnati for two years but in2008 three of the team’s top fourtacklers were linebackers — notthe case at Notre Dame. NotreDame’s linebackers coach JonTenuta has enjoyed great successelsewhere, but his blitz-happystyle of defense hasn’t producedresults during his tenure at NotreDame.Defensive line coach Mike Elston

spent his first year coaching thelinemen after two years as thetight ends coach. Elston wouldreplace Notre Dame defensive linecoach Randy Hart, who has 39years of college coaching experi-ence, 21 of them at Washington. Notre Dame recorded 20 sacks

and 73 tackles for loss this season.

Kelly has ‘plan in place’ for coaching staffTHE CINCINNATI STAFF

One word emanated fromthe players and resonatedthroughout the GuglielminoAthlet ics Complex Fr idayafternoon.The word s temmed from

new coach Brian Kelly’s meet-ing wi th the p layers thatmorning and came to l ightwhen Kelly started speaking. The word was energetic. The players echoed it and

Kelly broadcastit , reminiscingabout listeningto Notre Damefootball as a kidin Boston, h isvoice crescen-doing as heanswered ques-tions.“Coach Kel ly

is a lo t moreenerget ic and outgoing,”sophomore defensive linemanKapron Lewis-Moore sa idwhen asked about the com-parison between Kelly andformer coach Charlie Weis.Kelly met the team Friday

morning to introduce himselfand allow the team to get toknow him, he said. “Basically, it was getting to

know him and how he doesthings,” Lewis-Moore said.Sophomore tight end Kyle

Rudolph, who is fromCincinnat i , where Kel lycoached prior to coming to

Notre Dame, said he’s talkedto fr iends of h is on theBearcats and even a managerof the team throughout theprocess. He’s heard nothingbut posit ive responses andsaw it himself Friday morn-ing.“The way he carried him-

self, very passionate, he has alove for the game,” Rudolphsaid. Rudolph said the Cincinnati

basketball team used to bethe main attraction in town,but Kelly had turned the foot-

bal l programinto a front-runner. Hehopes Kelly cando the same forNotre Dame.“When we

were beingrecruited it wasb a c k - t o - b a c kBCS bowls ,”Rudolph sa id .

“That’s where we want to getback to.”Sophomore receiver Michael

Floyd said Kelly conveyed hisexpectations to the team andthey weren’t much differentfrom his behavior.“Just him coming in, just

wanting to talk about what hewanted in the team, us beinga high-energize team andbeing passionate about thegame,” he said. The attitude, Floyd said, can

carry over to the team.“New coach coming in here,

different mentality, guys will

be more upbeat, more excit-ed,” he said.That high-energy style also

carr ies over to the f ie ld .Sophomore quarterbackDayne Crist said although hehadn’t watched tape ofCincinnati, he saw enough ofthe Bearcats to get excitedabout the fast, quick-strikeoffense.“ I t ’ l l be a l i t t le b i t o f a

change but I think we havethe guys on the team to do it,”he said . “Everyone’s moreexcited than anything about

getting to work and making agreat impression.”Kelly’s ability to motivate

players, Crist said, will bene-fit the Irish.“I feel that everyone fed off

o f h is energy in the teammeeting,” he said. His passionwas very contagious, his com-petitiveness tow in was verycontagious. I think it will havesome great e f fects on theteam and we’re just excitedabout the whole situation.”Sophomore defensive line-

man Ethan Johnson said

Kelly’s energy shone through,but that wasn’t what reallycaught his ear. “It’s really something else to

hear a coach that’s been win-ning all these games to sayit’s been his dream to coachNotre Dame,” Johnson said. “Iguess I ’ l l be a part of thatrealization of his dream.”Johnson said he knew, how-

ever, that Kelly’s energy wasonly part of the equation.

Irish players impressed by new coach’s energy, passionPLAYER REACTION

By BILL BRINKSports Writer

Contact Bill Brink atwbrink@nd.edu

By BILL BRINKSports Writer

Contact Bill Brink atwbrink@nd.edu

PAT COVENEY/The Observer

Sophomore quarterback Dayne Crist speaks to the media Friday after Brian Kelly was introduced as NotreDame’s new head football coach. Crist is expected to be the team’s starting quarterback next season.

“Coach Kelly is a lotmore energetic and

outgoing.”

Kapron Lewis-MooreIrish defensive lineman

“He has won at everylevel with every kind ofteam. He is a winner.”

Jack Swarbrickdirector of athletics

“You do not come to theUniversity of Notre Damebecause you want to be

average. You want to be the best of the best.”

Brian KellyIrish coach

The Observer � IN FOCUSpage 4 Saturday, December 12, 2009

“We can’t trade anybody. There’s no waiverwire. We’re going to develop

our players, and they’regoing to play their very

best for us.”

Brian KellyIrish coach

“I want tough gentlemen.”

Brian KellyIrish coach

Photos by !

IAN GAVLICK

The Observer ! IN FOCUSSaturday, December 12, 2009 page 5

The Observer � IN FOCUSpage 6 Saturday, December 12, 2009

Notre Dame messageboards have been a free-for-all for the past month, andperhaps none more than NDNation — the final destina-tion for dis-gruntled andof ten bo i s -terous Irishfans to voicethe i r op in-ions , espe-c ia l l y int imes o fc o a c h i n gtransit ion.And wi thF r i d a y ’ sf o r m a lannounce-ment tha tBrian Kelly would man theNotre Dame sidel ines nextyear, the boards went hay-wire. In sifting through the rub-

ble o f quest ions and com-ments on the Kel ly h ire , Istumbled across one nostal-g i c pos t tha t l inked to anarchived Sports I l lustratedcover story that ran after theNo. 2 I r i sh topp led top-ranked F lor ida S ta te in aco lossa l c lashof unbeatens atNotre DameStad ium in1993.I was on ly

four years o ldthen, and whileI’ve read plentyabout the ‘93Ir i sh ge t t ingrobbed o f anat iona l t i t l e ,th i s Aus t inMurphy articlef rom 16 yearsago was myfirst real forayin to the wayLou Holtz’s team played thatyear.It was eye-opening.The cover headline — “WE

DID IT ! J im F lan igan andNotre Dame outmusc leFlorida State” — and the tri-umphant photo of the Irishstud defensive tackle turnedme on to that ‘93 squad andconvinced me that the nextNotre Dame head coachshould look to that team, andthat game, as his model.Holtz was the last success-

ful Irish coach, at least byNotre Dame’s lofty standards.And while every coach hashis own strengths, his ownstyle and his own approach,Kelly would be well-served tomake note of what Holtz’s ‘93team did, especially in that“Game o f the Century”against the Seminoles.The offense dominated the

line of scrimmage, startingwith All-American left tackleAaron Tay lor, a phys ica lspec imen who hus t led a l lover the f ie ld, sold out onevery play and helped spreadthat approach to his team-mates. They punched peoplein the mouth and would grindteams out with a power run-ning game for four quarters.They didn’t turn the ball overor suffer mental lapses.The defense played funda-

mentally sound football, did-n’t allow big plays and forcedturnovers. I t rel ied not oncompl i ca ted s tunts and

bl i tzes , but on l inemen togenerate pressure up front,l inebackers to contain therun and defensive backs tokeep plays in front of themand go after balls in the air.The coaches pub l i c l y

respected their gifted oppo-nent but privately exuded thekind of contagious confidencethat sparks players and winsgames in co l lege footba l l .They challenged their playersto succeed “what though theodds ,” and then they putthem in posit ion, mental lyand physically, to succeed.And they did it despite losingseveral stars to the NFL andother key players to injury.In that epic showdown, it

was the Seminoles’ offensethat mysteriously abandoneda successful running gameand inexplicably disappearedfor two quarters after utterlydominating on their openingdrive. It was the Seminoles’defense that lamented count-less missed tack les andcouldn’t muster an answerfor a downhill ground attack.It was the Seminoles’ coach-ing s ta f f whose poor t ime

m a n a g em e n tresulted in notimeouts for al a s t - d i t c hc o m e b a c kat tempt tha teventually fellshor t . And asS e m i n o l e scoach BobbyBowden put i tat the t ime, i twas F lor idaSta te tha t l e t“ the b ig one”get away.Stop. Reread

that last para-graph , but

replace Seminoles with Irish,F lor ida S ta te wi th NotreDame and Bobby Bowdenwi th Bob Dav ie , TyroneWillingham or Charlie Weis— no o f fense to the jus t -retired Bowden, whose 388wins at the Division I levelrank second all-time. Now, how o f ten have we

heard that over the last 12years? Too many, and that’swhy Kelly is here now.He’ll do it his own way, as

well he should, and I hope itworks. For the record, I thinkit will, considering the way inwhich Kel ly bui l t and sus-tained successful programsat Grand Valley State, CentralMichigan and Cincinnati.This is Notre Dame, and

there’s no denying that Kelly’snew job presents anunmatched set of challengesand a glaring national spot-light that only his predeces-sors can fully comprehend.But it also presents an incred-ible array of opportunities,from elite resources to thepromise of legendary statusthat accompanies all thosewho bring success to SouthBend.Holtz was the last man to

accomplish that feat, and, intruth, it’s no real secret how.The blueprint is right there inthat Sports Illustrated article. I ’ l l g ive you the l ink — I

wouldn’t want you to have tos i f t through the messageboards for it.

Wi th in minutes o f newsbreaking that Brian Kel lywould become Notre Dame’s29th football coach, studentsstarted talking about how theformer Cincinnati coach rep-resents a new hope for theIrish.“After suffering three years

of mediocre footbal l , I ’mhopeful that Coach Kelly canrestore Notre Dame’s win-ning tradi t ion ,” juniorRichard Paul ius sa id . “ Iguess this means the shirtnext year wi l l be Kel lygreen.”Whi le watching Kel ly ’s

introductory press confer-ence, junior Scott McIntoshsaid he was really impressedwith how the coach handledthe media’s questions calmlyand politely — a departurefrom former coach CharlieWeis’ gruff handling of themedia.“ E v e n

though he’sjust takenover the pro-gram, Kel lyhas rea l lyimpressed mewith the pas-s ion that hehas forcoaching atNotre Dame,”he said. “Fornot hav inggone here ,Br ian Kel lyfits the NotreDame type. He’s very affa-ble.”McIntosh sa id he hopes

Kelly’s passion for the Irishcan he lp land top- f l ight

recruits to build a winningfootball team.“I only hope that this pas-

sion will translate into land-ing recrui ts and winninggames over thenext fewyears ,” hesaid.Junior Ri ley

Orloff was par-t i c u l a r l yimpressed withthe h igh-octane offenseKel ly ran atCincinnati, andsaid he hopesthe new coachcan deve lopNotre Dame’stalented play-ers into national award-win-ning stars.“If he can turn [Cincinnati

quarterback] Tony Pike intoa BCS quarterback, [ Ir ishquarterback] Dayne Crist isgoing to win the Heisman,”Orloff said.

F r e s h m a nAdam Schmitzsa id a l thoughhis f i rs t NotreDame footbal lseason was dis-appoint ing , hethinks Kelly pos-sesses the quali-t ies o f a suc-cess fu l NotreDame coach.“He’s very

charismatic andhe’s pumped upabout our foot-bal l team,” hesaid. “Plus , he

knows the tradition.”Schmitz said Kelly’s record

of quickly turning aroundhistorically losing programssuch as C inc innat i and

Central Michigan is a strongindicator that he can snapNotre Dame football out ofits decade-long malaise.“Ultimately, I’d like to see

them build to achampionshipby my senioryear,” he said“He’s built pro-grams very fastin the past, so Idon’t think it’sunreasonableto win in threeyears.”H o w e v e r ,

junior MarcusPerez i s notc o n v i n c e dKel ly may bethe per fect

coach for Notre Dame, notingthat Kel ly is known as anof fens ive guru whi le theIrish’s biggest problem underWeis was an anemic defense.“I would have liked to see a

more defens ive-mindedcoach, but I trust that Kellywill be able to lead the teamto a great season next year,”Perez said.For the Class of 2011, next

year represents their lastopportunity to see a winningregular season whi le atNotre Dame. Junior MikeDelach said he would like tosee Kelly have a successfulfirst year to help heal someof the worst scars of the Weisera, including avenging loss-es to Navy.“I just hope Kelly can turn

the program around nextyear before I graduate ,”Delach said. “I’d like to seeat least one winning regularseason.”

Holtz’s ‘93 squada model for success

Students hopeful with Kelly hireSTUDENT REACTION

Matt Gamber

Sports Editor

TOM LA/The Observer

Students perform their own variations of the salute to the coach during the ‘1812 Overture’ in betweenthe third and fourth quarter of Notre Dame’s 33-30 overtime loss to Connecticut.

By JOSEPH McMAHONAssociate News Editor

Contact Joe McMahon at jmcmaho6@nd.edu

COMMENTARY

“I just hope Kelly canturn the programaround before I

graduate. I’d like tosee at least one winning regular

season.”

Mike Delachjunior

“I only hope that thispassion will translateinto landing recruitsand winning gamesover the next few

years.”

Scott McIntoshjunior

This is Notre Dame,and there’s no

denying that Kelly’snew job presents anunmatched set ofchallenges and aglaring national

spotlight that only hispredecessors canfully comprehend.

The Observer � IN FOCUSSaturday, December 12, 2009 page 7

Brian Kelly comes to NotreDame with more collegiateaccolades and achievementsthan any other Notre Damecoach in recent history — atleast in the last decade.From Grand Valley State to

Central Michigan to Cincinnati,Kelly has blazed a trail of foot-ball success al l the way toSouth Bend.After four years playing line-

backer, Kelly graduated fromAssumption College in 1983.Four years later, he joined thecoaching staff at Grand ValleyState as a graduate assistantand defensive backs coach. Hewas promoted to defensivecoordinator in 1989, and thento head coach in 1991.Kelly led the Lakers to win-

ning seasons in each of his 13years at Grand Valley State,compiling a 118-35-2 overallrecord. In his final three sea-sons in Grand Rapids, theLakers went 41-2, at one pointwinning 20 games in a row.Kelly’s 2001 team set aDivision II record by averaging58.4 points per game.In 2002 and 2003, Kelly led

Grand Valley State to back-to-back Divis ion II nationalchampionships, and wasnamed AFCA Division II Coachof the Year in both seasons.Kelly was hired by Central

Michigan in 2004, and imme-diately turned around a pro-gram that had won more thanthree games only once in the

previous four seasons.After a 4-7 record in his first

year, Kelly led the Chippewasto a 6-5 mark in 2005, CentralMichigan’s first winning sea-son in seven years.The next year, Central

Michigan went 9-4, won theMAC and quali f ied for theMotor City Bowl. Before Kellycould coach the team in thebowl game, though, he accept-ed an offer from Cincinnati totake its head coaching posi-tion.In his first full season with

the Bearcats, Kelly led theteam to their first 10-win sea-son since 1949, and wasnamed Big East Coach of theYear.“[Mark] Dantonio left, and

everyone was kind of l ike,‘What’s going to happen now?’Are they going to go back tojust mediocrity?’” GarrettSabelhaus, Sports Editor of theCincinnati News-Record stu-dent newspaper, said earlierthis week. “Then Brian Kellycame along, picked up rightwhere Dantonio left off andjust took it to heights nobodyhad ever imagined could hap-pen at UC.”Sabelhaus said a big part of

the transition was getting theteam used to Kelly’s potentspread offensive scheme.“He just installed his system

over the offseason, and thenthe next year they started tobe that machine on offensethat you see now as pretty pol-ished,” Sabelhaus said.In 2008, Kel ly led the

Bearcats to their first ever Big

East title and BCS berth. Thisyear, Cincinnati is currentlyundefeated and wil l playFlorida in the Sugar Bowl.Sabelhaus said that Kelly’sdecision to not coach theBearcats in arguably thebiggest game in their historycould irk some in the QueenCity.“I think what people might

be a little concerned with, andmaybe turn on B.K. a little bit,is if he leaves before the bowlgame,” Sabelhaus said.While Kelly brings a potent

offensive attack to NotreDame, Sabelhaus also saidthat the defense was likely toimprove under the newregime.“The thing is, [Cincinnati’s

defense] is a motivated groupof guys,” Sabelhaus said.“You’ve got to think that ifBrian Kelly gets the kind ofrecruits that Notre Dame gets,he’s going to do somethingwith them, whether i t ’s onoffense or defense.”Sabelhaus added that Kelly

was savvy enough with themedia to handle the intensespotlight in South Bend.“The way he handles the

media is almost kind of agenius way,” Sabelhaus said.“He gets everybody on hisside.”Kel ly wil l get to face the

media scrutiny right away, asa talented roster has manyIrish fans hoping for a BCSberth in 2010.

Coach brings winning history to Notre DameBRIAN KELLY PROFILE

Résumé highlighted by 19 years of head coaching experience at Grand Valley State, Central Michigan, Cincinnati

By SAM WERNERAssociate Sports Editor

Contact Sam Werner at swerner@nd.edu

Photo courtesy of COULTER LOEB/Cincinnati News-Record

Irish coach Brian Kelly talks to his players on the sideline dur-ing Cincinnati’s 47-45 win over Connecticut Nov. 7.

The Observer � PAID ADVERTISEMENTSpage 8 Saturday, December 12, 2009