(Correction): Brian Kelly Named Notre Dame Coach

[GTripp0012]

Full Disclosure: I am not unbiased here. Many of my teachers and student life co-workers at my college are very close to Brian Kelly, because they worked with him for a decade. I am also a Notre Dame fan, and rooted heavily for Cincinnati these past three years. It was pretty well known that, as long as Notre Dame still had interest in him (because they inquired on Kelly at the end of 2008), this move was inevitable. I will still be pulling for them to take the Sugar Bowl, unlike GMScud.

Both Kelly and Swarbrick would have absolutely preferred to have waited until January to get this done, but at those major schools like Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio State, USC, Florida, Va. Tech..etc, that's just not realistic. It's the athletic director's job to fill the position as quickly as possible, and once you've started the interviewing candidates, you can't ice everyone while you wait for the Sugar Bowl to get played so we can commence the inevitable.

The alternative would have been even worse, IMO: keep Weis as a lame duck coach and go to a bowl game, and then do the contract behind the backs of everyone and under the table, and then fire Weis after Christmas, run a quasi interview process, and hire Kelly the day after the Sugar Bowl.

That's not any more fair to the Cincinnati players, and it wouldn't be fair at all to Brian Kelly. This was done in the best way possible, IMO. If he's going to take the job, take it, and root for Cincinnati to complete their season, but don't waste their time coaching them while also calling recruits to come to ND.