Brian Kelly (American football coach)

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Brian Kelly
Title	Head coach
College	The University of Cincinnati
Sport	Football
Team record	34–6
Born	October 25, 1961 (1961-10-25) (age 48)
Place of birth	Everett, MA
Annual salary	$1,475,000
Career highlights
Overall	171–57–2
Bowls	2-1
Coaching stats
College Football DataWarehouse
Championships
2002, 2003 Div. II National Championships
Awards
2002, 2003 AFCA Div. II Coach of the Year 2007, 2008 Big East Coach of the Year
Playing career
1979-1982	Assumption
Position	LB
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1991–2003 2004–2006 2006–Present	Grand Valley State Central Michigan Cincinnati

Brian Kelly (born October 25, 1961(1961-10-25) in Everett, Massachusetts) is the current head football coach at the University of Cincinnati, and previously at Central Michigan University where he had a 19-16 record over 3 seasons and at Grand Valley State University where he had a record of 118-35-2 in 13 seasons, including 103-22-2 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. He led the Grand Valley State Lakers to the Division II national championships in 2002 and 2003. Coach Kelly has a wife (Paqui) and 3 children (Patrick, Grace, and Kenzel).

Kelly is considered to be the leading candidate to replace Charlie Weis as the head coach at Notre Dame.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Grand Valley State University 3 Central Michigan University 4 University of Cincinnati 5 Awards and honors 6 Coaching record 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Early years

Kelly is a native of Chelsea, Massachusetts and attended St. John's Prep School in Danvers, Massachusetts. His father was a Boston politician.^[1] 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 1983-86 at Assumption.

[edit] Grand Valley State University

Kelly joined the Grand Valley State University staff in 1987 as a graduate assistant and defensive backs coach for Coach Tom Beck and became the defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator in 1989. Coach 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 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.^[2]

[edit] Central Michigan University

2004: Coach Kelly became the 24th head coach at Central Michigan University after the departure of Mike DeBord following the 2003 season. ^[3]. Coach 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.

2005: In Coach 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.

2006: In his third season, the Chippewas posted a 9-4 record under Coach Kelly en route to winning the MAC Championship and qualifying for the Motor City Bowl. At the end of the 2006 season, Coach 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. Coach Kelly's record at Central Michigan in three seasons was 19-16.

[edit] University of Cincinnati

2006: Coach Kelly was named Cincinnati's head coach on December 3, 2006, following the departure of Mark Dantonio. Both Cincinnati and Central Michigan were preparing for bowl appearances 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 win in the Motor City Bowl, 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. Kelly had also led Central Michigan to a win over Western Michigan during the 2006 regular season. This gave him the unique distinction of being the only NCAA coach to beat the same team twice in one season while coaching two different teams.

2007: In his first full season in 2007, Coach 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 his Bearcats to a 9-3 record. [1] Coach Kelly later led the Bearcats to a victory in the PapaJohns.com Bowl over Southern Miss.

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: 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.

2009: After beginning the 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 are ranked #3 in the BCS Standings and will face off against Florida in the Sugar Bowl. Among the honors that UC football team has 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. UC, 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.

[edit] Awards and honors

• Big East Coach of the Year (2008, 2007)
• Grand Valley State Athletics Hall of Fame (June 7, 2009)[2]
• Assumption College Alumni Athletics Hall of Fame (August 22, 2006)[3]
• American Football Coaches AssociationDivision II Coach of the Year (2003)
• American Football Coaches AssociationDivision II Coach of the Year (2002)

[edit] Coaching record

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl	Coaches#	AP°
Grand Valley State Lakers (Midwest Intercollegiate Football Conference) (1991–1998)
1991	Grand Valley State	9–3
1992	Grand Valley State	8–3
1993	Grand Valley State	6–3–2
1994	Grand Valley State	8–4
1995	Grand Valley State	8–3
1996	Grand Valley State	8–3
1997	Grand Valley State	9–2
1998	Grand Valley State	9–3
Grand Valley State:		65–24–2
Grand Valley State Lakers (Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) (1999–2003)
1999	Grand Valley State	5–5
2000	Grand Valley State	7–4
2001	Grand Valley State	13–1
2002	Grand Valley State	14–0
2003	Grand Valley State	14–1
Grand Valley State:		53–11
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 (Overall)	Motor City Bowl (did not coach bowl)
Central Michigan:		19–16
Cincinnati Bearcats (Big East Conference) (2006–present)
2006	Cincinnati	1–0	0–0	NA	W International Bowl
2007	Cincinnati	10–3	4–3	3rd	W Papajohns.com Bowl	20	17
2008	Cincinnati	11–3	6–1	1st	L Orange Bowl †	17	17
2009	Cincinnati	12–0	7–0	1st	Sugar Bowl †
Cincinnati:		34–6	17–4
Total:		171–57–2
National Championship         Conference Title         Conference Division Title
†Indicates BCS bowl game. #Rankings from final Coaches Poll.

[edit] References

• Bio at gobearcats.com
• Bio at cmuchippewas.com

[edit] External links

• UC official site
• UC Press Release on Coach Kelly's hiring

Sporting positions
Preceded by Mark Dantonio	University of Cincinnati Head Football Coach 2006-Present	Succeeded by Current Coach
Preceded by Mike DeBord	Central Michigan University Head Football Coach 2004-2006	Succeeded by Butch Jones
Preceded by Tom Beck	Grand Valley State University Head Football Coach 1991-2003	Succeeded by Chuck Martin

v • d • e Cincinnati Bearcats head football coaches Berry • Reynolds • Fennell • Cavanaugh • Reed • Pratt • Chez • Foster • Foley • Inott • Burch • Dana • Little • Cortright • Marty • Chambers • McLaren • Babcock • King • Cohen • Woodworth • Meyer • Nolting • Gillman • Blackburn • Studley • Rice • Callahan • Mason • Staub • Gottfried • Brown • Currey • Murphy • Minter • Dantonio • Kelly

v • d • e Central Michigan Chippewas head football coaches McCormick • Pray • Tambling • Thacker • Sutherland • Helmer • Miller • Johnson • Nevitt • Simmons • Parker • Barnard • Nowak • Van Bibber • Yunevich • Finch • Bennett • Schmakel • Bi. Kelly • Kramer • Deromedi • Flynn • DeBord • Br. Kelly • Jones

v • d • e Grand Valley State Lakers head football coaches Collins • Harkema • Giesey • Beck • Kelly • Martin

v • d • e Current head football coaches of the Big East Conference Brian Kelly (Cincinnati) • Randy Edsall (Connecticut) • Vacant (Louisville) • Dave Wannstedt (Pittsburgh) • Greg Schiano (Rutgers) • Jim Leavitt (South Florida) • Doug Marrone (Syracuse) • Bill Stewart (West Virginia)