Eric Hansen at the South Bend Tribune is reporting that two sources tell him that Brian Kelly will be named the next football coach at Notre Dame.
SOUTH BEND -- The search is finally over.
According to two university sources familiar with the search process, University of Cincinnati head coach Brian Kelly will be named Charlie Weis’ successor at Notre Dame.
Kelly is expected to meet with his team Thursday night before the Bearcats’ football banquet to inform them of his decision. The media were suddenly banned from the banquet Thursday afternoon.
Kelly, 48, is 34-6 in his third full season at UC. He is 160-54-2 in his 19th year of coaching at Cincinnati, Western Michigan (sic) and Grand Valley State.
Weis was officially fired Nov. 30 following five seasons with a 35-27 record.
ESPN is already weighing in, with Chris Mortensen reporting the same thing. The Trib must’ve been in quite a hurry to get this one up because they mistakenly report that Kelly coached at Western Michigan, not Central Michigan.
Hopefully this brings an end to one of the more ridiculous weeks of rumor mongering ever. Notre Dame got the game most thought they’d get. Good job by Jack Swarbrick.