Two people confirmed to The
Associated Press on Thursday that the Cincinnati coach and Notre Dame
had reached a deal for Kelly to replace Charlie Weis. The two people
spoke on condition of anonymity because an official announcement had
not been made.
Notre Dame has been searching for a
coach for about a week and a half since firing Weis, who failed to lift
the Irish out of mediocrity, much like his two predecessors.
Now, it's up to the man who turned
Cincinnati into a national championship contender to revive the
fortunes of a team that just completed the worst decade of football in
the history of the storied program with a 70-52 record and three losing
seasons.
Bearcats players still hadn't heard
anything official when they showed up for their annual football banquet
at a downtown hotel on Thursday night. Kelly arrived at the banquet
after most players, accompanied by police officers. He didn't stop to
talk to reporters, saying, "No word. We're here to celebrate out
seniors."
Members of the University of
Cincinnati's board of trustees, however, already had been told of
Kelly's decision, a person in the school's administration told the AP
on condition of anonymity because the school had not announced Kelly's
departure.
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.
There was no immediate word on who would coach the No. 4 Bearcats in their first Sugar Bowl game against Florida.
Receiver Mardy Gilyard, one of the
last players to arrive at the banquet, said in an interview that he was
upset Kelly had accepted the Notre Dame job after telling him and other
players before their last game that he was staying.
"I don't like it," said Gilyard, the
Big East's top receiver and kick returner. "I feel there was a little
lying in the thing. I feel like he'd known this the whole time.
Everybody knows Notre Dame's got the money. I kind of had a gut feeling
he was going to stay just because he told me he was going to be here."
Kelly informed the team last Monday
that Notre Dame had contacted him and he would listen. He was expected
to tell the team of his decision to leave later Thursday at the
banquet, which was closed to the media.
Quarterback Tony Pike said Kelly
told them last week, before their title-clinching win over Pittsburgh,
that he was happy in Cincinnati.
"The Tuesday when we were practicing
for Pittsburgh, he said he loves it here and he loves this team and
loves coaching here and his family loves it here," Pike said.
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.
When Kelly arrived in Cincinnati
three years ago, then-university president Nancy Zimpher told Kelly she
expected him to turn the football program into a Top 25 mainstay, win a
Big East title right away and make sure his players graduate. He'll
face even higher expectations at Notre Dame.
It won't be easy; the Irish have a
16-21 record over the past three seasons. And he'll have to do it
without two of Notre Dame's best players.
Quarterback Jimmy Clausen and his
favorite receiver, Golden Tate, announced Monday they will bypass their
senior seasons and enter the NFL draft.
Kelly grew up in Chelsea, Mass., and
went to Assumption College, a Catholic school in Worcester where he
played linebacker while getting his degree in political science. The
son of an alderman, he intended to go into politics after college and
he even worked on Gary Hart's 1984 presidential campaign in the Boston
area.
But football won out.
He learned how to be a head coach at
Division II Grand Valley State in Michigan, where he won back-to-back
national titles and 32 consecutive games over one stretch. Working with
a limited roster taught him how to be creative, finding a niche for
each player.
He moved on to the Mid-American
Conference and turned Central Michigan into a winning program in only
three years. He also gained confidence in his coaching philosophies and
his preference for a wide-open offense.
Kelly was criticized in September
2004 for remarks he made to the Detroit Free Press about perjury
charges filed against two former Central Michigan players after other
CMU players were charged with second-degree murder in the fatal beating
of a man. The death happened shortly after Kelly was named Central's
coach.
"A number of them were
African-Americans that had been in that culture of violence, and
they're taught to look away," Kelly said. "You don't want anything to
do with it. Get out of there. You don't say anything to anybody."
Then-university president Michael
Rao called Kelly's remarks "completely unacceptable" and Kelly
apologized in an e-mail to students, faculty and staff. Rao then came
out in support of the coach, saying he has a good heart and a record
that showed a commitment to diversity.
In 2006, when Mark Dantonio left
Cincinnati for Michigan State, UC decided that Kelly and his no-huddle,
spread offense would bring a spark not just to the program but to the
town, where college football ranked behind high school games in fan
interest.
The Bearcats won 10 games his first
season, set a school record with 11 wins and a Big East title the
second and this season he had the high-scoring Bearcats (12-0)
contending for a national title.
Gilyard said some players were angry that Kelly's leaving just as the program had become nationally prominent.
"Just blindsided by the fact that
it's a business," Gilyard said. "People lose sight of that. At the end
of the day, NCAA football is a business. People have got to make
business decisions."