The South Bend Tribune first reported the hiring.
The 47-year-old Kelly is 34-6 in three seasons at Cincinnati, leading the Bearcats to back-to-back Big East titles and two straight Bowl Championship Series berths. The Bearcats set a school record last season for victories with an 11-3 record, then topped that with a 12-0 mark this season.
Notre Dame has been searching for a coach for about a week and a half since firing Charlie Weis.
Kelly has long admired Notre Dame, which seemed to be the perfect fit for an Irish Catholic coach raised in the Boston area. His name first popped up as a possible candidate last season before Notre Dame said Weis would be back for a fifth year.
Hmmm…I’ll be interested to see who they hire to replace him in 5 years.
This is bittersweet. The UC story is one of the uplifting ones of the last couple of years. But how could any up and coming college coach say not to the chance to coach Notre Dame, especially when they have not been doing well.
Notre Dame still has a football team? Really?
I think ND was a better team when we had all those nuns in habit praying the rosary during half-time. God doesn’t have a favorite team, but his Mother does, whoever remembers her!
NDs academic reputation has been climbing as its football juice has sunk. Will we see a reversal of fortune?
Coach must have passed the Pro Abortion and open commusion sniff test.
Intercessor
Commusion? S/B communion…time for bed. God’s blessings to you all.
I’m not a college football fan, but this story caught my eye. I think the behavior of both Notre Dame and Kelly is appalling. Kelly’s got an undefeated team playing in the second biggest bowl game of the year, and he can’t wait until after the game to leave? And Notre Dame couldn’t wait a few more weeks to get the coach they wanted? One of the UC players said that college football is “a business”–and Congress wants to encourage that mindset by legislating a national championship game. Disgusting.