Brian Kelly (coach)

Brian Kelly
Sport(s)	Football
Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	Notre Dame
Conference	16–10
Biographical details
Born	October 25, 1961 (1961-10-25) Everett, Massachusetts
Playing career
1979–1982	Assumption
Position(s)	Linebacker
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1983–1986 1987–1990 1991–2003 2004–2006 2006–2009 2010–present	Assumption (assistant) Grand Valley State (assistant) Grand Valley State Central Michigan Cincinnati Notre Dame
Head coaching record
Overall	187–66–2
Bowls	3–2
Tournaments	11–4 (Division II playoffs)
Statistics College Football Data Warehouse
Accomplishments and honors
Championships 2 Division II (2002–2003) 3 MIFC (1992, 1997–1998) 3 GLIAC (2001–2003) 1 MAC (2006) 2 Big East (2008–2009)
Awards 2x AFCA Division II Coach of the Year (2002–2003) Home Depot Coach of the Year Award (2009) 3x Big East Coach of the Year (2007–2009)

Brian Keith Kelly (born October 25, 1961) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at the University of Notre Dame, a position he has held since the 2010 season. Kelly was previously head coach at the Grand Valley State University (1991–2003), Central Michigan University (2004–2006), and the University of Cincinnati (2006–2009).

Early years

Kelly was born in Everett, Massachusetts, and was raised in an Irish American Catholic family in Chelsea, Massachusetts. He attended St. John's Preparatory School in Danvers, Massachusetts. His father was a Boston politician. He was a four-year letter winner at Assumption College as a linebacker. After graduating from Assumption in 1983 with a bachelor's degree in political science he served as linebackers coach, defensive coordinator, and softball coach from 1983 to 1986 at Assumption.

Grand Valley State

Kelly joined the Grand Valley State University staff in 1987 as a graduate assistant and defensive backs coach for Tom Beck and became the defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator in 1989. Kelly took over as head coach in 1991. In his final three seasons the Lakers went 41–2, at one point winning 20 consecutive games. The Lakers went 14–0 in 2002 en route to their first national title and went 14–1 in 2003 when they claimed their second National Championship. Kelly was named the AFCA Division II Coach of the Year after each of these championship years.

In his 13 years as head coach at Grand Valley State, the Lakers won five conference titles and made six Division II Playoff appearances. Grand Valley State never finished lower than third in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference under Kelly.

The 2001 team set 77 NCAA, GLIAC, and school records, including setting the all-time Division II scoring record, averaging 58.4 points per game.

His record in 13 years at Grand Valley State University was 118–35–2.

Central Michigan

Kelly became the 24th head coach at Central Michigan University after the departure of Mike DeBord following the 2003 season. Kelly inherited a team with limited success. Central Michigan had won more than 3 games only once in the previous four seasons. CMU finished with a 4–7 record in 2004. In Kelly's second year at Central Michigan he coached the team to a 6–5 record, the first winning season in seven years for the Chippewas. In his third season, the Chippewas posted a 9–4 record under Kelly en route to winning the MAC Championship and qualifying for the Motor City Bowl. At the end of the 2006 season, Kelly left to accept the Cincinnati coaching vacancy three days after CMU won the 2006 MAC Championship. He did not coach CMU in their bowl game. Kelly's record at Central Michigan in three seasons was 19–16.

Cincinnati

Kelly was named Cincinnati's head coach on December 3, 2006, following the departure of Mark Dantonio. In an unusual move, Cincinnati elected not to appoint an interim coach and asked Kelly to assume his duties immediately by coaching the Bearcats in their bowl game. Central Michigan was also preparing for a bowl appearance, so while Kelly was in Cincinnati preparing the Bearcats, much of his staff remained at Central Michigan to coach the Chippewas. Following Central Michigan's 31–14 win in the Motor City Bowl on December 26, most of his staff joined him in Cincinnati, where they went on to coach Cincinnati to a 27–24 victory over Western Michigan University in that year's International Bowl on January 6. Cincinnati's victory gave Kelly the unique distinction of having defeated the same team twice in a season as coach of two different teams (Central Michigan had defeated Western Michigan 31-7 earlier that season).

In his first full season, Kelly led Cincinnati to a competitive position in the Big East; the Bearcats' second ever 10-win season (its first since 1949); and a Top 25 ranking. On December 5, 2007, Kelly was named Big East Coach of the Year after leading the Bearcats to a 9–3 record. Coach Kelly later led the Bearcats to a 31–21 victory in the PapaJohns.com Bowl over Southern Miss.

In 2008, Kelly led Cincinnati to its first ever outright Big East title with key wins over West Virginia and Pittsburgh. The Bearcats had never defeated either team in Big East conference play. Kelly also became the first coach to win all three of the Bearcats' traveling trophies:^{[citation needed]} the Victory Bell (Miami, OH), the Keg of Nails (Louisville), and the River City Rivalry Trophy (Pitt). The Bearcats played in the Orange Bowl versus the ACC champion, Virginia Tech on January 1, 2009 but lost 20–7.

After beginning the 2009 season unranked in all polls, Kelly's Bearcats reeled off 12 straight victories and finished the regular season undefeated. Going into the bowl season, they were ranked #3 in the BCS Standings and faced the Florida Gators in the Sugar Bowl. Kelly did not coach the team in the loss to the Florida Gators because of his departure to Notre Dame.

Among the honors that Cincinnati football achieved in 2009 is the highest academic rating among teams in the top 10 of the current BCS standings, according to the latest Graduation Success Rates, released Wednesday by the NCAA.^{[citation needed]} Cincinnati, which is fifth in the BCS standings, checked in with a 75 percent NCAA graduation rate and a 71 percent federal government rate, the only team in the BCS top 10 to surpass the 70 percent plateau in both.^{[citation needed]}

Kelly finished his tenure at Cincinnati with a 34–6 record.

Notre Dame

Pepsi display setup in August 2010 at the Martin's Supermarket in Granger, IN in anticipation of Kelly's first home game with Notre Dame.

In December 2009, Kelly agreed to replace Charlie Weis as Notre Dame's head coach. On December 10, Kelly announced that he had taken the position at Notre Dame. He also made the decision to not coach the Bearcats in the 2010 Sugar Bowl on January 1, 2010 despite statements to his players to do so and an outside chance at a national championship.

2010 season

In 2010, Brian Kelly beat Purdue 23-12 in his first game at Notre Dame but lost to Michigan 28-24 the following week and then the following week on a fake field goal in overtime against Michigan State 34-31. His team lost again at home against Stanford before beating Boston College to put the Irish at 2-3. On October 9, Kelly led the Fighting Irish to a 23-17 win over University of Pittsburgh, snapping Notre Dame's 2-game losing streak to the Panthers taking the Irish to a 3-3 record on the season. Kelly led Notre Dame to a 44-20 win over Western Michigan to extend the Irish's winning streak to three games. The next week they faced Navy, losing 35-17 to drop to 4-4 overall.

When the Irish faced Tulsa, they were upset 28-27. They sent out second string QB Tommy Rees who threw an interception with 30 seconds left in the game as the Irish had driven to the Tulsa 28 yard line and a potential game-winning field goal attempt. Two weeks later Notre Dame played against No. 14 Utah, who was heavily favored. Utah was leading 3-0 early, but a special teams touchdown after a deflected punt and three Rees TD passes lifted the Notre Dame lead to 28-3. The victory over Utah gave Kelly a 5-5 record. Notre Dame followed that win up with a 27-3 victory over Army to make Kelly and Irish bowl eligible. In the final game of the season, Notre Dame snapped an 8 game losing streak against its rival USC, winning 20-16 on strong defense and despite 4 Irish turnovers. Kelly's first Irish team was invited to play in the Sun Bowl, where they beat Miami 33—17.

2011 season

In 2011, Brian Kelly opened his second season with a loss at home to South Florida. Notre Dame turned the ball over 5 times in a 23-20 loss. The Irish started with Dayne Crist at quarterback, but after Crist threw an interception, Tommy Rees replaced him. Rees accounted for 3 more turnovers . Kelly then took the Fighting Irish to Michigan, again losing with 5 turnovers behind QB Rees, as the Irish defense surrendered a touchdown to the Wolverines with seconds left in the game, finally losing 35—31. The Irish bounced back with a win over Michigan State, handling the Spartans in South Bend 31-13. The Irish picked up wins in their next 3 games, defeating Pitt, Purdue, and Air Force. The Irish returned home to face USC but turned the ball over 3 times and lost 31-17. The Irish returned by winning their next 4 games against Navy, Wake Forest, Maryland, and Boston College. Notre Dame lost its last game against Stanford, 28-14. Kelly's second Notre Dame squad played in the Champs Sports Bowl, where they lost to Florida State 18-14.

Personal life

Kelly has a wife, Paqui, and three children, Patrick, Grace, and Kenzel.

Awards and honors

• Home Depot National Coach of the Year 2009
• Big East Coach of the Year (2007, 2008, 2009)
• Grand Valley State Athletics Hall of Fame (June 7, 2009)
• Assumption College Alumni Athletics Hall of Fame (August 22, 2006)
• American Football Coaches Association Division II Coach of the Year (2003)^{[citation needed]}
• American Football Coaches Association Division II Coach of the Year (2002)^{[citation needed]}

Head coaching record

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs	Coaches#	AP°
Grand Valley State Lakers (Midwest Intercollegiate Football Conference) (1991–1998)
1991	Grand Valley State	9–3	8–2	T–2nd	NCAA Division II First Round
1992	Grand Valley State	8–3	8–2	T–1st
1993	Grand Valley State	6–3–2	6–2–2	3rd
1994	Grand Valley State	8–4	8–2	2nd	NCAA Division II First Round
1995	Grand Valley State	8–3	8–2	2nd
1996	Grand Valley State	8–3	8–2	2nd
1997	Grand Valley State	9–2	9–1	T–1st
1998	Grand Valley State	9–3	9–1	1st	NCAA Division II First Round
Grand Valley State Lakers (Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) (1999–2003)
1999	Grand Valley State	5–5	5–4	7th
2000	Grand Valley State	7–4	7–3	3rd
2001	Grand Valley State	13–1	9–0	1st	NCAA Division II Runner-up	2
2002	Grand Valley State	14–0	9–0	1st	NCAA Division II Champions	1
2003	Grand Valley State	14–1	9–1	2nd	NCAA Division II Champions	1
Grand Valley State:		118–35–2	103–22–2
Central Michigan Chippewas (Mid-American Conference) (2004–2006)
2004	Central Michigan	4–7	3–5	5th (West)
2005	Central Michigan	6–5	5–3	4th (West)
2006	Central Michigan	9–4	7–1	1st (West)	Motor City
Central Michigan:		19–16	15–9
Cincinnati Bearcats (Big East Conference) (2006–2009)
2006	Cincinnati	1–0	0–0		W International
2007	Cincinnati	10–3	4–3	3rd	W Papajohns.com	20	17
2008	Cincinnati	11–3	6–1	1st	L Orange†	17	17
2009	Cincinnati	12–0	7–0	1st	Sugar†	4	4
Cincinnati:		34–6	17–4
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (NCAA Division I FBS Independent) (2010–present)
2010	Notre Dame	8–5			W Sun
2011	Notre Dame	8–5			L Champs Sports
Notre Dame:		16–10
Total:		187–66–2
National championship         Conference title         Conference division title
†Indicates BCS bowl game. #Rankings from final Coaches' Poll.

External links

• Notre Dame profile
• Cincinnati profile
• Central Michigan profile
• Brian Kelly at the College Football Data Warehouse