FairwoodKing wrote: I said all along that ND would not get their first or second choice. And I doubt if Kelly will take the ND job. It is true that Kelly would get a lot more money at ND, but he will eventually get the money no matter where he goes. He might be using this interview with ND as leverage to get a better deal at UC. He will want more money, he will want a bigger stadium, and he will want all kinds of things. The likelihood is that UC will give them to him.

If the job is offered he would most likely take it. But it won't be an easy decision for him though. People close to Kelly have given him plenty of reason for concern about the job in South Bend, specifically how it would effect his wife and kids. Several members of his staff have expressed their reluctance about a potential move from Cincinnati. The offer that UC will put on the table would be for about 2 million a year, with substantial raises for the staff as well as another increase in the budget for Football operations. People don't believe it but it is really not about money for Kelly. That being said if the job is offered I would expect him to take it.

add another name to the list of people who have taken their name out of the running...

http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/christ_turns_down_3_year

rock_knutne wrote: I have to laugh at some of these posts. Yeah, Clausen and Tate are gone but Dayne Crist and Michael Floyd aren't exactly chopped liver. They have depth at Oline, running back and WR. They have a stud in Manti Te'o that Kelly can build the defense around. The program is much better shape now than what Weis was handed five years ago, there's players there to sustain ND for at least three years and by that time, I'd like to think that a charismatic personality like Kelly would have hauled in a couple of great recruiting classes.

Yeah, all this talent is what helped them go 6-6! Great accomplishment.

It was also a talented group that made the big money Hawaii bowl...

I don't think any other team in the country has the talent to compare to ND. In fact, ND is sooo good, they may be declining a bowl bid in regard to not embarrassing another opponent this season.

Class acts.

When is Stoops interviewing ?

FairwoodKing wrote: I said all along that ND would not get their first or second choice. And I doubt if Kelly will take the ND job.

I hate to have to agree with Lemio Maru (rock knutne, for those of you keeping score...) but Brian Kelly is creaming his jeans to get a chance to finally "sit at the grown-ups table" and coach at an actual big time college job. Unfortunately for him that job happens to be at an actual big time college who's success primarily exists in black & white news reels from the 1950s.

Look what Kelly has done with 2,3 and a 4 star players. When your a winner, your a winner where ever you go. I hate to see him go, but If goes to ND he will win and it wont take long. At ND you recruit from the whole USA, Cincy your lucky to get the tristate but play second and third fiddle to OSU, Michigan and ND.

CBF-Some of these ND players are Freshman and Sophomores. There's still time for guys like Te'o to pan out. He was a VERY highly touted Linebacker last season who was coveted by USC and others. Still time for him and some of the other younger defensive players and we'll have at least two years to see how these highly regarded frosh and soph recruiting classes play out.

LTrain23 wrote:Yeah, all this talent is what helped them go 6-6! Great accomplishment.

It was also a talented group that made the big money Hawaii bowl...

I don't think any other team in the country has the talent to compare to ND. In fact, ND is sooo good, they may be declining a bowl bid in regard to not embarrassing another opponent this season.

Class acts.

ccrunner609 wrote: Didnt Kelly interview for the Tennessee job last year?

As for ND talent........there it is, the mythical ND talent from all those 5* recruits.

Just stop. THey dont have depth or talent behond a few players.

Here we go again! Really, are some of you that dense? If the talent level is that low then why did most if these kids receive MULTIPLE offers from places like Florida, USC, LSU, Alabama, etc etc.?

Don't let your hatred blind you!

captvern wrote: Look what Kelly has done with 2,3 and a 4 star players. When your a winner, your a winner where ever you go. I hate to see him go, but If goes to ND he will win and it wont take long. At ND you recruit from the whole USA, Cincy your lucky to get the tristate but play second and third fiddle to OSU, Michigan and ND.

AT UC, Kelly could bring in lots of players who were questionable academically, because Cincinnati would allow him tons of leeway to do so.

That will not be the case at Notre Dame.

It's a whole different ballgame in recruiting when the school limits what you can do as far as academics go (at least that's what the ND folks tell us).

Given who he has won with at Cincinnati, if ND really does have those restrictive admissions policies, Kelly is in for a very rude awakening.

Notre Dame has talent. They didn't have the coaching.

Academics at Notre Dame are so over rated. Notre Dame isn't the only school with admission standards, and there not the only school to stretch them with athletes either.

thedynasty1998 wrote: Notre Dame has talent. They didn't have the coaching.

Academics at Notre Dame are so over rated. Notre Dame isn't the only school with admission standards, and there not the only school to stretch them with athletes either.

Agree with this.....especially the first part about talent and coaching.

thedynasty--all our differences aside,I couldn't agree with you more...I get tired of that excuse,because that's all it is---I heard Michael Floyd being interviewed last week,and if you closed your eyes,you couldn't tell if he was from the Big Ten,the SEC,the Pac 10...you get my drift

Kelly is their man...always has been.

The "academic standards" excuse is getting pretty old.

Yes, they have a great academic reputation.

But so do many other schools who have been decidedly more competitive than ND over the last ten years, and have beat the Irish on numerous occassions.

It is easy to fall back on that and "beat your chest about it" and feel superior because of it, but they're no different than numerous other schools around the country who have managed to have high academic standards as well as successful football programs.

They lost to Navy. Can't really use the whole "well, we have such tough academic standards" excuse there. They lost to Stanford. In one of the "worldwide" college ranking reports i read recently, Stanford was ranked number 2, overall.

And this isn't really directed at anyone on this board, just sick and tired of hearing about it every single time someone in the media or from Notre Dame discusses the Notre Dame coaching job. Yes, it is a factor, but it isn't as big as people make it out to be.

To be fair, I hear the academic standard brought up more often by non-ND fans as a reason that they have been losing, won't be a national title contender again, can't get a top coach, etc. That's been my experience. There are definitely some ND fans who use that as an excuse but I don't hear it that often from the mouths of ND fans.

And with Navy, Duke, Northwestern and in some recent years Vanderbilt fielding decent-to-very good teams......I don't see how anyone can use that excuse.

killer_ewok wrote: To be fair, I hear the academic standard brought up more often by non-ND fans as a reason that they have been losing, won't be a national title contender again, can't get a top coach, etc. That's been my experience. There are definitely some ND fans who use that as an excuse but I don't hear it that often from the mouths of ND fans.

Good post killer! I believe that the one thing Weis proved is ND can attract great players, regardless of the admission standards, you just have to work at it.

Notre Dame can even use their academics as an advantage as well.

There are plenty of 4* and 5* guys out there who are also very good students. Well when being recruited, it's obvious they value their education because they worked at it. Notre Dame walks in the door and sells the student athlete not only on the prestige of Notre Dame as a football team, but also the high quality of education.

i agree with dynasty...

in regards to the topic, kelly has stated he is not going to interview with notre dame today. he simply in NYC for the hall of fame dinner....

http://twitter.com/CoachBrianKelly

and yes, this account is legit.

and kelly has gained double the followers he had since his notre dame *tweet* last night

no, just not interviewing today.

he is interested in what notre dame has to say...he said that yesterday.

why should he interview? IMO,it's already a done deal--he's the next coach at ND

If he takes the ND job it will be the downfall of his rep. When a ND coach is hired the clock starts for their next coach.

The same could have been said at Alabama. I think that idea ended their.

Rumor floating around national forums is that Kelly's Twitter was hacked this morning and the posts today are fake.

One of my friends was at the airport checking in beside Kelly this morning. She told him not to go. He curbstomped her.