With Notre Dame’s search for a head coach entering its tenth day, there are rumblings that the end is in sight — perhaps as early as tonight.
The latest Internet speculation, as relayed to us via email, is that an agreement could be reached between the Irish and Brian Kelly this evening, with an official announcement coming tomorrow.
We have in no way been able to confirm this latest round of speculation concerning Kelly and the Irish, but it’s certainly creating a buzz in the world of pay-per-view websites.
As far as “real” media reports on the search go, ESPN.com‘s Joe Schad tweets that the Cincinnati head coach has talked to both the search firm hired by the Irish and athletic director Jack Swarbrick. Whether or not that further solidifies Kelly’s status as the perceived front runner remains to be seen, but it is yet another dot that’s been connected in the search.
UPDATE 2:56 p.m. ET: WLW radio in Cincinnati is reporting the possibility that, from what they’re hearing, Kelly could be meeting with his team ahead of UC’s award banquet tonight. As to what the substance of that rumored meeting would entail is unknown, but the speculation is running rampant that Kelly would be informing his team that he is moving on to South Bend. Again, WLW is not reporting this as fact, but it’s what they’re hearing from various sources.
News reports out of Cincinnati (AM 700 – WLW) are that Brian Kelly has called a team meeting for this evening 1 hour prior to their banquet.
It’s my educated guess that at this point he’ll break the news to his team that he’s leaving for Notre Dame. You wouldn’t call a team meeting to say you’re staying…you’d do that at the banquet…no, the team meeting is so his team isn’t caught off guard at the banquet.
I believe there’ll be an announcement by ND of a presser tomorrow sometime soon.
Why leave a school that has gone to the BCS for a second year in a row to a school you have to rebuild. He’d win a championship at UC before he’d win one at ND. I’ll repeat what I said the other day, Kelly will be unable to get the recruits at ND because most of the better athletes are not smart enough to get into ND. Good luck Fat Kelly, you’ll literally fit into Weis’ shoes…and pants.
Ego. That’s what drives these coaches.
From Tim Prister:
Prister Update: Just spoke with the source (1:15 p.m. ET) who pointed me in the direction of Brian Kelly weeks ago and was the determining factor as to why I wrote nine days ago that I believed Kelly was going to be the next head coach at Notre Dame.
When I said, “We’re now hearing it’s going to be Kelly.” His response was, “It was always going to be Kelly.”
Although he stopped short of saying that Kelly signed with Notre Dame Wednesday night, as word is now beginning to spread, I came away from the conversation believing more than at any point in this process that Brian Kelly will be the next head football coach at Notre Dame.
TjP
@ thekillerkeller: Fat jokes? Really? Didn’t realize 12 year olds could be such douche bags.
BTW, the man is undefeated. That means no losses, genius. Guess what game he’s not playing in despite this fact?
If he had ND at 12-0, he’d be facing Alabama. Hence, his consideration of a move to South Bend.
You are sooo wrong. In college football rankings so much depends on where you start. ND, much like UC started out not ranked or very lowly ranked. Based on ND’s schedule there is no way in hell that that they would be ranked higher than Texas or Bama. Get a clue!
If Brian Kelly would have stayed at UC and if he would have went undefeated again next year, he would be playing for a national championship next year. I’m not a big UC fan, really got into them this year with the chance to do something big, but with Kelly gone, they fall right back to mediocre and Notre Dame struggles like it has for the past 20 years. But I’m closer to a Notre Dame fan than a UC fan, so hopefully not. Still, I feel bad for the hometown team. They were so close to greatness! 20 years from now, UC fans will be sitting through a Meineke Car Care Bowl and saying, remember that year we were only 1 second from playing for the national championship? Ah, those were the days.
@plfalzar: With emphasis on “IF”. I doubt he’ll ever get ND to 12:0!! Good luck, Kelly!
@PLFALZAR
I’m a member of the UC Band jackass…aka a student at the school. He’s a piece of shit for leaving and an even bigger douche bag for leaving before the biggest game in UC history. The man is not undefeated overall here. And for the record, if Nebraska beats Texas, UC is playing Bama for the title. Oh yea, if I’m 12 and in college, that’d make me one of the smartest people on the earth…pick your fights better dipshit.
Oh really huh, 12-0 would get ND into the title game? What would guarantee that? The automatic bid for winning their BCS Conference?
Oh wait a minute, their too much of pu##ies to go into a conference.
Isaiah Pead tweeted: “Brian…say it ain’t so dogg..”
Either he’s heard the rumors or Kelly met with the team and he let the cat (or dogg) out of the bag.
billyt0020… “their too much of pu##ies to go into a conference”. you must be “too much of pu##ies” to learn how to speak. hahahahahaha
thekiller, take a xanex or some lithium..you obviously dont value him as a coach then per your own words, so why shouldnt he leave? lil bitter are we? you may not be 12 years old, but your acting like one.
billytoo20, i wasnt aware we were afraid to join a conference. Last i checked we have the ability to schedule whomever we want, not the same 8-10 teams year in and year out. We also get to play in Yankee stadium next year because of the flexibility. Im sorry you hate ND for its greatness and tradition, and im sorry your team apparently lacks it. Maybe you should invest your time into something other than going on to an ND article just to talk trash. Like above, your acting like your 12…
PS, can you even say why you hate ND? most haters cant….
@ thekillerkeller
I’m not sure why you’re surprised by Kelly’s actions. That’s his deal, build a team up, skip their bowl game because he’s already followed the $$ trail to his next gig. He’s a great coach and I’m sure if he wasn’t leaving your school you would not have just called him a piece of shit or a douche bag. Accept the fact that he’s leaving your school and that without him UC would still be a crap team, but don’t discount his ability because of his poor judgment.
Kelly knows that once UC starts playing with the big boys in the BCS games it will be a rout. There are different levels of competition in college football and he wants to move to the next.
@ thekillerkeller: I thought band geeks were smart. Illusion shattered. I was simply stating that you must be childish to make fat jokes. Thanks for putting an exclamation on my point.
BTW, he hasn’t even left yet and you’re already crying. Sure you’re not 12? I have some tissues around here somewhere…
@ billyt0020: Taylor said we can swear here, so you could have used “pussies.” Though – judging by your grammar – you probably would have spelled it incorrectly… especially seeing as you’ve experienced so few outside of them outside of your immediate family.
Zing!
Seriously though, I’m just teasing, Billy. You’re a good sport. Still unsure, however, why you think ND is afraid to join a BCS conference when 90% of the teams they’ve scheduled since the BCS’ inception have been from, you know, BCS conferences. But don’t let facts get in the way of a well-thought rebuttal. This is the Comment section after all.
@cbfan: Different level meaning losing to Navy, Stanford and the like? LOL
@plfalzar
I’m not crying, why do you think I called him ‘Fat Kelly’…obviously you can’t read. And let’s say I am 12, why are you trying to pick a fight with a kid? Good call my friend, good call. Gotta pick on little kids to get kicks.
bayern – Did I say ND was good? All I said is that college football is at a different level at ND than UC. If he can work the same magic at ND that he did at UC he will go down in history.
People love ND because of the prestige and history or people hate ND because of the sense of entitlement that left with Lou 20 years ago. ND could get Meyer, Brown, and Carroll to coach there all at the same time and they wouldn’t go undefeated. ND is relegated to mid major status. Enjoy the job search in 3-5 BK. Sounds more like a prison sentence. Good luck anyway.
tim prister has been a con artist ripping of notre dame fans for many years and his profits depend on recycling notre dame coaches.
prister already has books written on charlie weis( Why it did not work) and on kelly( how prister saved notre dame football by getting rid of charlie and bringing in kelly) which he is very anxious to sell.
of course, if kelly is foolish enough to take the notre dame job. prister and those like prister in the notre dame football coach recycling business will start ripping kelly and his family to shreds shortly after they arrive at notre dame.
prister actually graduated from notre dame. did prister ever play football?no.
You are sooo wrong. In college football rankings so much depends on where you start. ND, much like UC started out not ranked or very lowly ranked. Based on ND’s schedule there is no way in hell that that they would be ranked higher than Texas or Bama. Get a clue!
Maybe you didn’t see before good ‘ol Charlie ruined things, Notre Dame was up to 18 before the USC game this year. If they win out instead of losing 5 of their last 7 i guarantee you they would be in the top 5