And I think it's freaking awesome.
In a one-on-one sit-down with ESPN's Bruce Feldman, Kelly answers a list of questions. For those of you that are 'inside enough' to be able to read that, you can check out the entire article at the link. If you're not 'inside enough' (e.g. you don't want to plop down some cash to read stuff that you can pretty much find free elsewhere on the internet), I'm sorry for linking to it. Because now you're just pissed at me.
I digress.
Anyway, in this interview Feldman asks Kelly about the most pressing issues in the program. Kelly gives some lip service to what he calls 'external' things - recruiting, etc. But he really focuses on the internal. In particular, the culture and attitude of this Notre Dame team.
In a word, he calls this team "entitled". That's about the closest thing I'll come to quoting a premium article, but suffice it to say, that is a big time statement. 1) It's a big time thing to recognize 2) It's a HUGE statement to make that statement in an on-the-record interview.
On #1 there, it's something I think a lot of people suspected for a while. The lack of effort by some units, the lack of passion we've seen at times. The manufactured celebrations. The smirks. The big talk followed up by little walk. It's been pretty clear over the last few years that pockets of the team, at the least, have held some sense of entitlement. [We as fans are pretty solid at feeling entitled to wins. But heck, we're ND, aren't we entitled to wins? YES! The problem is that it seems like that attitude has trickled down to the team itself.]
"Heck, we're ND. We stick on this helmet, and the other team will roll over and give us the W."
Right? Right?
Wrong.
As a team, Notre Dame players have to work as hard as the guys across the LOS, and then harder. You have to fight as hard as those other guys, but then harder. You have to claw, scrape, fight and rip on your way to winning. Because last weekend, that team played Team-That-Isn't-ND, and they gave 100%. Then they came to play against ND, and that team found out what their REAL 100% is - simply because you're Notre Dame, and you have a target on you every single week. Week in and week out this game is THE game for your opponent. (remember, EVERYONE is our rival!!!!)
We have talent to match up with anyone. Now we need that cultural shift where the players completely buy into the idea that every W has to be earned. No matter who you're playing, when, where, what network it's on, and if it's a big time game or some lame scrimmage on a Wednesday that no one will ever see. Let's do this fellas. Get on it.
On #2 - wow. BK is going to go after this. By going on the record with a statement like that, he's letting this team know: I'm not your pal. I'm not subscribing to the theory that you have to love me. He's not going to coddle any egos, and he's not going to make players happy. It's very obvious that Kelly see his job as one thing - to win games. This looks like an initial warning shot across the bow of anyone feeling entitled within the program.
Camp Kelly will be the full salvo.
The boys better be ready.
By SDI January 11, 2010 - 8:48 pm
Thanks Biscuit. I saw the teaser for that article and wondered what he meant by “internal”. I would love to know how, given that he hasn’t even supervised a single workout yet, that he reach this conclusion about his players? Outgoing coach interviews? Interviews with the players? Intuition? I suppose we’ll never know but I suspect he is right. How else can you explain consistently losing to teams with half the talent ND has? You can’t blame it all on coaching (meaning schemes, strategy and in game adjustments). Some of it has to fall on the players shoulders. If I was a player, I would be running my ass off right now to get in shape because off season training is going to be cruel with BK and Mongo.
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By Samari January 11, 2010 - 8:56 pm
I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that there’s been so little depth at some positions that the upperclassmen don’t feel any need to “earn” their spots because 1) they were highly recruited and 2) no one else is ready to play. If that’s the case then Kelly’s “next man in” philosophy is going to not go over well with some people.
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By SDI January 11, 2010 - 9:41 pm
Interesting take Samari. I know that we have discussed on this site in the past the fact that players rarely got benched for performance. If they committed a bone headed penalty or something maybe. But just garden variety poor performance didn’t seem to threaten anyone’s playing time. Harrison Smith didn’t get yanked until at the least the mid point of the season or later. And even then he made his way back to the starting lineup pretty soon. Lack of depth definitely played a part in that.
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By undnut January 15, 2010 - 1:45 pm
It’s about damn time. What we needed was someone to come in and throw around some office furniture. SDI – I agree that the players better be working and willing to change their attitudes. As far as how Kelly reached the conclusion of “entitled”, I would say if the lack of passion and killer extinct is blatantly obvious to me from the stands (last year’s Pittsburgh game) or from the couch (the NAVY 1st Half), then it’s probably pretty evident to a 20-year head coaching vet as well. What I like is that he came in guns blazing and gave his assessment WITHOUT conducting any football-related activity. Like the post title says, “Brian Kelly Will Call You Out.” It’s about time someone does.
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