Brian Kelly is all in. For as many times as you’ll hear his name mentioned for an NFL coaching position, the Irish head coach isn’t going anywhere.
“I’ve made it pretty clear what my choices are. I want to be in college football. And I want to take Notre Dame back into being a consistent player,” Kelly told SVP & Russillo. “We’re not there yet, but I think we’re getting closer to it. We’ve got unfinished business. And I’ve got unfinished business at the college ranks. And I want to finish that business off with a national championship. That’s my focus. That’s where I want to be.”
It doesn’t get much more clear-cut. And it doesn’t get any more logical. As we just saw with Jim Harbaugh, it is possible for a head coach (even one as oddly wired as Harbaugh) to experience life coaching on Sundays and make the decision to come back to college.
Kelly has made comments like this before. He’s talked about his preference to act as general manager and head coach, essentially what he does at Notre Dame. And as you look at some of the openings that come around every offseason, the foundation Kelly has built in South Bend looks better and better compared to some of the vacancies in the NFL.
That should make it easy to turn the focus to 2015. With Kelly already doing the calculus on the balancing act that’ll happen next season at quarterback, the offensive future looks bright, especially if Ronnie Stanley returns. (Even without him, things should be just fine.)
On defense, a miserable second half can be erased by building depth, and all those snaps taken by freshmen -- not to mention the return of Joe Schmidt -- can solve those struggles. Throw in KeiVarae Russell and Ishaq Williams (and maybe even a healthy Jarrett Grace) and a few more impact players certainly won’t hurt Brian VanGorder’s second unit.
So while Kelly’s media rounds on ESPN this week are less preferable than having the Irish still in the conversation, a committed head coach means confidence hasn’t wavered even after one of the most difficult Novembers in recent memory.
So if Kelly wants to leave South Bend and test his luck in the NFL after winning a title, it’s likely Notre Dame will wish him well and get to work on adding another statue outside the stadium. Until then, there’s work to do.