APTwo full seasons into his tenure as Notre Dame’s head coach, Brian Kelly is already on the receiving end of some additional job security.
In a press release, the Irish announced that the school has exercised an option in Kelly’s original contract, which triggers a two-year contract extension for the coach. Kelly is now signed through the 2016 season.
There was no mention of whether a raise was triggered as well.
“While Coach Kelly and I are focused on the additional work that must be done to reach our goals, I am very pleased with the progress we have made during the past two years,” athletic director Jack Swarbrick said in a statement. “Our football team’s performance on the field, in the classroom, and in the community reflect Coach Kelly’s commitment to building a program that will be able to sustain success in the long run, and to doing so in a manner consistent with Notre Dame’s values and tradition.”
In his first two seasons in South Bend, Kelly has led the Irish to back-to-back 8-5 seasons. That’s the best two-year run at the school since the Irish won 19 games in 2005-06 under Charlie Weis, and the bowl win following the 2010 season was just the football program’s second since the 1993 season.
“I want to thank Father Jenkins and Jack Swarbrick for their unwavering support of me the last two years,” Kelly said. “My family and I are truly blessed to be at Notre Dame and we are excited about what the future holds for the Fighting Irish football team. I also want to thank Father John and Jack for the commitment they made to the football program last week by renewing the contracts of our assistant coaches. I think we have one of the finest coaching staffs in the country at Notre Dame, and the confidence our administration has shown in us is truly appreciated.”
Hopefully there’s a clause in there that prevents him from saying “Tommie is our quarterback.”
ND community college sucks…
ND Ensures Mediocrity for four years
I’m sure every team on ND’s schedule for the next few years are thrilled with this news.
Awww, come on ND; you just HAD to go and jinx the best coach we’ve had in a while…
Really? You extend a coach who just got rid of three quality offensive assistants and promoted his f’ing safeties coach to offensive coordinator?
Awesome.
What has he won?
Rewarding mediocrity since 1997
Apparently the Irish haven’t learned their lesson. How about maybe BCS Bowl before an extension!
Apparently the Nation’s flagship Catholic University digs red-faced maniacs who routinely drop f-bombs on national tv each week.
Stay classy coach Kelly.
Why do you extend a coach 2 years before you even need to start thinking about it when he hasn’t done anything special yet?
Who cares? ND hasn’t been relevant in 20+ years. Lou, Ara and Knute are called HISTORY.
Clearly no one on this message board knows a thing about college football or recruiting. Try recruiting 4 and 5 star recruits in their homes with their parents and you have fewer years left on your contract than what you ask of the recruit. Unless you are a legendary coach, less than 4 years on the contract means taking a hit on recruiting. ND can still fire Kelly anytime before 2016 if they want, but this move is just to help with recruiting. Need further proof? No mention of money or a raise. Weis got the huge extension and huge money and it was all over the sporting news. This is back page, quick bullet point worthy only.
Have they paid off Ty Willingham yet?