Brian Kelly Shows Coaching Notre Dame is Worth Breaking Promises
It became official on Thursday, December 10th. Brian Kelly is now the former head coach of the Cincinnati Bearcats. He has spurned Cincinnati to become the new head coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Cincinnati finished the regular season undefeated and are the 3rd ranked Division I college football team in the nation according to the BCS. Cincinnati has its’ biggest game in the program’s history on New Year’s Day. They play SEC powerhouse, Florida in this year’s Sugar Bowl, but somebody will be missing. The players will be there, but the head coach will not.
Seriously, just like that? Kelly leads a team of 18-22 year olds for an entire season, just so he can bail out on them in their biggest game?
College football is jacked-up!
I don’t blame Notre Dame for wanting Brian Kelly to replace Charlie Weis. He led the Bearcats to a record of 34-6 in his time there. There is no doubt the man is an amazing coach.
I also don’t blame Kelly for wanting to coach the Fighting Irish. It’s a dream job for almost any NCAA coach. The pressure might be unrelenting, but imagine how heralded the coach will be that brings Notre Dame back to elite status.
I blame the NCAA. As the story goes, college football is all about where the money is and how much of it there is. How do they create a system of this nature? One where it is common for coaches to change schools right before the last game of the season. This has got to change. It has to be made so that coaches can’t interview with a team until the season is officially over. I know it will never happen, but it should.
Like it or not, coaches are role models to their players. They are teachers. Just as much as if they were psychology professors. This isn’t professional sports; it’s college. These aren’t professional athletes; they are young college students. Most of these guys will never make it to the pros. Is this really the example we want to send to the youth of our nation?
People can say it’s just sports all they want, but these coaches leave impressions on their players. Impressions that could help mold the young males into the men they will become. Let’s not teach our youth to quit on their commitments. Instead let’s teach them to finish what they start, and be men of their words.
