Kirk Herbstreit praises Brian Kelly on job with Notre Dame
ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit on Wednesday appeared on The Colin Cowherd Podcast on The Volume Network to discuss Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly, and how he thinks Kelly was able to turn the tide for the Fighting Irish.
After a four-year stint as the head coach at Cincinnati, Kelly was hired by Notre Dame in 2010 to replace Charlie Weis, who was fired after finishing the 2009 season, his fifth as Notre Dame’s head coach, with a 6-6 record. Kelly inherited the team and went 8-5 in both his first two seasons with the Fighting Irish, winning a Sun Bowl then losing a Champs Sports Bowl. However, after making it all the way to the BCS Championship game in 2012, where they lost to Alabama, the Fighting Irish’s record under Kelly slowly started to dip.
They went 9-4 in 2013, and in Kelly’s worst season, 2016, they went 4-8. The turning point, however, was not his worst record since being hired — it was one specific game, Herbstreit said.
“Brian Kelly — and he would tell you this if he were on here with us — three, four years ago, was trying to be Alabama,” Herbstreit said. “He was trying to recruit like an Ohio State, like an Alabama and like a Clemson. They got their doors blown off when they played Miami, I think it was three years ago. It was an embarrassment. And he went back home — he told me this — and said ‘I’m going to have a real look in the mirror, and I’m going to evaluate myself.’ And he talked to his team, and he said, ‘I’ve let you down. I want to get to know you as people. I want you to get to know me. I’m going to change our approach. We’re going to play to who we are.”
The game Herbstreit cited came in 2017; although Notre Dame finished the season 10-3 and won the Citrus Bowl, the Fighting Irish’s 41-8 loss to Miami was when Kelly hit an all-time low.
As Herbstreit says, that’s when Kelly decided to recruit to “who we are.”
“We can recruit some of the best offensive linemen in the country, and we’re going to,” Herbstreit said, describing Kelly’s realization. “We can recruit some of the best tight ends in the country; their tight ends are insane. And we’re going to get some great tailbacks. We’re going to get an Ian Book, a cerebral, smart, gym rat kind of quarterback. And then we’re going to find some defensive players that can come in and play here, because the academic standards at a Notre Dame are like a Stanford. They’re at a different level. And so, instead of trying to figure out how he can be Alabama, he said, ‘We’re just going to be us.’ They’ve found some traction.”
Years later, it appears to have worked, as Kelly and Notre Dame are fresh off a trip to the College Football Playoff.