College Football Stuff

OK ... the Brian Kelly character issues resurface.

A decade ago Kelly left his Cincinnati players high and dry days before their biggest game in the Sugar Bowl promptly after he was hired by a new employer, now we read that Mr. Kelly informed his ND players yesterday of his departure by text message.  

Yep, Kelly informed his player they  by text message as head to a Bowl Game.

Here is his text:
“Men… Let me first apologize for the late night text and, more importantly, for not being able to share the news with you in person that I will be leaving Notre Dame,” the message read. “I am flying back to South Bend tonight to be able to meet with you in the morning but the news broke late today and I am sorry you found out through social media or news reports.  I will have more to share when we meet tomorrow at 7 a.m. but for now, just know that my love for you is limitless and I am so proud of all that you have accomplished. … I will share more in the morning when we meet,” the message continued. “Again, my sincere apologies for not being able to be the one to share the news directly with you.”
 
 
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otis post=444642 said:
OK ... the Brian Kelly character issues resurface.

A decade ago Kelly left his Cincinnati players high and dry days before their biggest game in the Sugar Bowl promptly after he was hired by a new employer, now we read that Mr. Kelly informed his ND players yesterday of his departure by text message.  

Yep, Kelly informed his player they  by text message as head to a Bowl Game.

Here is his text:
“Men… Let me first apologize for the late night text and, more importantly, for not being able to share the news with you in person that I will be leaving Notre Dame,” the message read. “I am flying back to South Bend tonight to be able to meet with you in the morning but the news broke late today and I am sorry you found out through social media or news reports.  I will have more to share when we meet tomorrow at 7 a.m. but for now, just know that my love for you is limitless and I am so proud of all that you have accomplished. … I will share more in the morning when we meet,” the message continued. “Again, my sincere apologies for not being able to be the one to share the news directly with you.”

 
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Kelly has a face you want to punch.

But all college football coaches do this.  They leave players real dirty and end up not finishing out bowl games etc.  It's not just Kelly.
 
Kelly leaving ND for LSU doesn't surprise me.  And the news did break before he had a chance to meet with his players so what was he supposed to do in that case (not talking about leaving the players high and dry just about the way he broke it to the players via text which again was after the news broke so he didn't have a chance to meet with them face to face). He also "ghosted" his assistance, some who were on the road recruiting only to find out after leaving a recruit, Kelly was leaving ND.

Riley is the one that surprises me more.

And as mentioned by Bamafan, this happens in football because of the recruiting early signing period for football.  

While rare it does occasionally happen in basketball.  This goes back 30 plus years but the one of the more famous (infamous) of these was when just before the NCAA Basketball Tournament, Michigan's Basketball Coach, Bill Frieder announced he had accepted the Arizona State job and he would leave Michigan at the end of the season. Bo Schembechler, who besides being the Michigan's Head Football Coach was also its AD, fired Frieder on the spot and named Steve Fisher as the interim coach for the tournament. Schembechler  was quoted as saying "A Michigan man will coach Michigan, not an Arizona State man."  Michigan wound up winning the NCAA Tournament over Seton Hall in OT.  Fisher was then named the Head Coach and wound up going 1 and 2 in Final Fours.
 
I was brought up by a family that believed that ND football was the college team that Catholics rooted for.  When they joined the BE, I was very happy but when they left the BE, ND was dead to me.  Now I don't watch their games and I am happy when they lose.  Kelly walking out makes me happy because I consider it Shadenfreude!!!

And Kelly won't beat Bama! 
 
Moose post=444643 said:
otis post=444642 said:
OK ... the Brian Kelly character issues resurface.

 
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But all college football coaches do this.  They leave players real dirty and end up not finishing out bowl games etc.  It's not just Kelly.
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And it's not just coaches.  You'll read over the next month about probably a dozen first rounders who will choose not to play in their bowl game to avoid injury and/or performance that effects their draft stock.  It's about money.

PS be prepared for Kelly to ND v2.0 with Luke Fickell.  ND is not going to wait for bowl season to be over to start making offers.  What happens if ND offers Fickell double his salary.  Is he supposed to turn it down over bad timing?  Would any of you turn down a 100%  jump right before a product launch or important trial or big IPO?  What if your performance at the big event reduces your leverage or marketability?  Gotta take the money and run if you want the money.

Was a discussion point on a show I was watching while getting ready for work this morning.  If you don't understand or don't want to believe it's all about money that's fine, but that's also delusional.

PPS not saying I endorse any of this in sport or life, just that I'm not delusional.  Trust me, I'm the least ambitious guy on this board. 
 
austour post=444666 said:
Moose post=444643 said:
otis post=444642 said:
OK ... the Brian Kelly character issues resurface.


 
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But all college football coaches do this.  They leave players real dirty and end up not finishing out bowl games etc.  It's not just Kelly.
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And it's not just coaches.  You'll read over the next month about probably a dozen first rounders who will choose not to play in their bowl game to avoid injury and/or performance that effects their draft stock.  It's about money.

PS be prepared for Kelly to ND v2.0 with Luke Fickell.  ND is not going to wait for bowl season to be over to start making offers.  What happens if ND offers Fickell double his salary.  Is he supposed to turn it down over bad timing?  Would any of you turn down a 100%  jump right before a product launch or important trial or big IPO?  What if your performance at the big event reduces your leverage or marketability?  Gotta take the money and run if you want the money.

Was a discussion point on a show I was watching while getting ready for work this morning.  If you don't understand or don't want to believe it's all about money that's fine, but that's also delusional.

PPS not saying I endorse any of this in sport or life, just that I'm not delusional.  Trust me, I'm the least ambitious guy on this board. 
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Of course it is about the money, it usually is.  I don't think anyone is claiming it isn't.  Its the timing that stinks.

And if Notre Dame does go after and hire's a coach now (say Fickell since you astutely brought his name up and I could see that being a possibility) from a program who has a big bowl, Conference Championship game or National Playoffs coming up.  Let's see how the ND fans crying about how LSU and Kelly did this under the cloak of darkness at this time of year change their tune and justify ND doing the same thing to another program.

The thing that really stings ND also is the fact no one ever leaves their HC Football job for another college or a pro gig unless they were asked to move on or fired.

Never been an ND fan and even less so on how they treated Tyrone Willingham firing him after three seasons when they kept other coaches with either similar (his predecessor Bob Davie)  or worst (his successor Charlie Weiss) winning percentages.

As far as potential first rounders who will choose not to play in their bowl game to avoid injury and/or performance that effects their draft stock, while not college, I have a friend whose son played the NY-NJ Allstar football game that Boomer Esiason's foundation sponsors.  Kid blew out his knee.  The Esiason foundation took care of all his medical bills but he couldn't play his freshman year and wound up not going to the school he was supposed to go to.  It all eventually worked out for him but through a circuitous route of two Jucos before landing at a top notch D1 Program.  Basically saying, while I might not be happy about it, I understand their decision and it is their decision to make.  With the four team playoffs, bowl games don't mean as much as they did in the past and it is more of a rarity to see players in the playoffs opt out (remember last year Jaylen Waddle of Alabama came back from a broken ankle suffered earlier in the year to play in the Championship game and he was a first round pick)
 
The sooner we accept that bigtime college sports is nothing more than a business with a strong marketing arm in nostalgia, loyalty, spirit, student athletes, etc, the sooner we'll all stop clutching our pearls when a coach leaves for a better job.
 
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SJU85 post=444715 said:
And if Notre Dame does go after and hire's a coach now (say Fickell since you astutely brought his name up and I could see that being a possibility) from a program who has a big bowl, Conference Championship game or National Playoffs coming up.  Let's see how the ND fans crying about how LSU and Kelly did this under the cloak of darkness at this time of year change their tune and justify ND doing the same thing to another program.

The thing that really stings ND also is the fact no one ever leaves their HC Football job for another college or a pro gig unless they were asked to move on or fired.

 
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Well your last point here is ancient history now, right?  Fact is  you can't win a national title at ND and coaches want to win a national title.  SO maybe ND is again going to hire someone who is able to get them in or close to the playoffs (probably due to a weak schedule like this year and others) and then lose.  Getting close will look good so then ND will lose them to a team where the coach can recruit the full ESPN Top300 and this will happen again, or they'll churn through a bunch of coaches who can't achieve such success.

Re how ND or LSU or OU or USC fans or Cincy fans feel about this is one thing.  They're fans, they're not supposed to be rational about it.  I was more talking to how objective observers should feel about it. 

 
 
austour post=444750 said:
SJU85 post=444715 said:
And if Notre Dame does go after and hire's a coach now (say Fickell since you astutely brought his name up and I could see that being a possibility) from a program who has a big bowl, Conference Championship game or National Playoffs coming up.  Let's see how the ND fans crying about how LSU and Kelly did this under the cloak of darkness at this time of year change their tune and justify ND doing the same thing to another program.

The thing that really stings ND also is the fact no one ever leaves their HC Football job for another college or a pro gig unless they were asked to move on or fired.


 
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Well your last point here is ancient history now, right?  Fact is  you can't win a national title at ND and coaches want to win a national title.  SO maybe ND is again going to hire someone who is able to get them in or close to the playoffs (probably due to a weak schedule like this year and others) and then lose.  Getting close will look good so then ND will lose them to a team where the coach can recruit the full ESPN Top300 and this will happen again, or they'll churn through a bunch of coaches who can't achieve such success.

Re how ND or LSU or OU or USC fans or Cincy fans feel about this is one thing.  They're fans, they're not supposed to be rational about it.  I was more talking to how objective observers should feel about it. 


 
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" They're fans, they're not supposed to be rational about it.".  I'm a fan of teams I like but I also like to think I'm rational about them but I totally get what you mean.

College Football has been big business for a very long time.  That is why they kept adding bowl games  (some ridiculous ones at that) and teams only need a .500 record to be "bowl eligible".  I believe the number is about 40 bowl games (including the three playoff games for the National Championship).
 
 
SJU85 post=444753 said:
austour post=444750 said:
SJU85 post=444715 said:
And if Notre Dame does go after and hire's a coach now (say Fickell since you astutely brought his name up and I could see that being a possibility) from a program who has a big bowl, Conference Championship game or National Playoffs coming up.  Let's see how the ND fans crying about how LSU and Kelly did this under the cloak of darkness at this time of year change their tune and justify ND doing the same thing to another program.

The thing that really stings ND also is the fact no one ever leaves their HC Football job for another college or a pro gig unless they were asked to move on or fired.



 
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Well your last point here is ancient history now, right?  Fact is  you can't win a national title at ND and coaches want to win a national title.  SO maybe ND is again going to hire someone who is able to get them in or close to the playoffs (probably due to a weak schedule like this year and others) and then lose.  Getting close will look good so then ND will lose them to a team where the coach can recruit the full ESPN Top300 and this will happen again, or they'll churn through a bunch of coaches who can't achieve such success.

Re how ND or LSU or OU or USC fans or Cincy fans feel about this is one thing.  They're fans, they're not supposed to be rational about it.  I was more talking to how objective observers should feel about it. 



 
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" They're fans, they're not supposed to be rational about it.".  I'm a fan of teams I like but I also like to think I'm rational about them but I totally get what you mean.

College Football has been big business for a very long time.  That is why they kept adding bowl games  (some ridiculous ones at that) and teams only need a .500 record to be "bowl eligible".  I believe the number is about 40 bowl games (including the three playoff games for the National Championship).

 
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Speaking of which who's coming to the Jimmy Kimmel Bowl here in LA?  Real thing.
 
SJU85 said:
Sun Belt comes up big for the second time today as Appalachian St. defeats No. 6 Texas AM at College Station. ND was No. 8 when they lost to Marshall.
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Appalachian last week lost to North Carolina by 2 points 61-63 and now beats Texas A&M at College Station. They will next week host ESPN's College Football Game Day show--nice reward for their accomplishments.
 
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