The Chicago Tribune’s David Haugh reports that Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly is “on brink of becoming Notre Dame’s next coach.”
More from Haugh:
Kelly held a meeting last week about the opening with representatives of Notre Dame within days of Cincinnati’s Big East championship game against Pittsburgh, the Tribune has learned.
Talks progressed well enough that the official announcement Kelly will be Charlie Weis’ replacement could come as early as Friday -- anytime after Cincinnati’s football banquet Thursday night.
The informational session with Kelly was facilitated by the Parker Executive Search firm out of Atlanta that Notre Dame used to gauge the interest of potential candidates, a source said. The interest from both sides was mutual, but Kelly didn’t want his involvement to distract his Bearcats before the biggest game of the season. And it didn’t -- Cincinnati beat Pitt 45-44 to earn the school’s second straight BCS bowl berth.
While I don’t doubt the validity of this, I also don’t feel confident with this kind of reporting:
Sensing something from a coach’s tone and mannerism is far from a trusted source and this could be a regurgitation of facts that all point in the same direction.
Kelly posted on his (not hacked) Twitter account this morning that he wasn’t interviewing today, but that’s likely a good bit of wordplay, if the news that Kelly already met with ND officials is indeed true.
As many have already reported, they expect a decision to be made sometime this week. If that’s the case, all signs point to Brian Kelly being the next head coach of the Notre Dame football team.