I guess I can sum things up by saying....
Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2009 3:29 pm
fuck Brian Kelly and fuck ND, although alot less than Kelly. To be clear, my bitterness is directed about 95% to Kelly and about 5% to ND. Let me also clearly state that this isn't about Kelly leaving to go to ND. If he wants to go to ND then that's exactly what he should do and he did it. I have no problem with him taking the job. I have numerous problems with Kelly but only a couple with ND. Here are my problems with ND:
-Did they contact and talk to Kelly the week of the Pitt game? I've heard inconsistent reports on this. I remember Kelly saying once that they had contacted him that week and then later he said it was after the Pitt game. If they did contact him then, it was classless. I remember listening to Mike and Mike that week and Golic (ND homer) said that there was no way ND would contact him the week of the biggest game of the season and one of the biggest games in school history. He said it would've been inappropriate. There is no way it should have ever happened that way. If it didn't happen then you can cross this one off the list. Probably no way of ever knowing for sure because the people who DO know will undoubtedly lie directly to anyone's face who asks. Anything to protect ND's image.
-Did they really need to have the final meeting and close the deal the day of Cincinnati's football banquet? Could it not have waited one day? That was fucking stupid. It set up the firestorm that happened that evening and I blame ND for that. They knew it would be leaked and they knew it wouldn't be kept a secret. As a result, the evening was ruined for a group of seniors who did more for Cincinnati football than any group ever has.
Ok, now let me once again just say FUCK BRIAN KELLY. If he would've handled this with class I wouldn't feel this way at all. I would've been pissed at him for leaving but I would've been glad to have had him here at Cincinnati and wished him luck at ND. As it is now, I hope he never wins a single game at ND and I hope this is another in a long line of bad hires at ND. Here is why:
-Kelly lied straight to Mardy Gilyard's face. He told Mardy that he was staying at Cincinnati. Not good, coach. Avoid the question, tell him you'll talk to him more about it after the Pitt game but don't lie straight to his face. Is that the integrity and professionalism that he talked about in his press conference?
-Kelly lied to his entire team. He PROMISED them that if anything happened they'd be the first to know and they'd hear it directly from him. Instead, they heard it from the media who were waiting on them at the banquet that night. Players like Tony Pike, John Goebel, and Brad Jones were swarmed as they arrived at their banquet. They were asked how they felt about Kelly taking the ND job. They said that Kelly had promised them that they'd hear it directly from him if anything happened so they didn't know what to tell the media. At the same time, Kelly avoided the media by sneaking in a separate entrance to the banquet with police officers escorting him.
-After the banquet (what a fun banquet that must've been!), Kelly called a team meeting and announced that he was taking the ND job. Of course all of Cincinnati had already known that for hours. That was big of you, coach. Too little, too late. Gilyard and Alex Daniels walked out of the meeting angry and pissed off after about 15 seconds. I'm so glad they had the balls to show Kelly exactly what they thought of his belated announcement.
-After the meeting, Gilyard and some other players were jumped by the media and had to answer questions about Kelly leaving again. As this was happening, Kelly blew by them with his police escort and acted like they weren't even there. He did say one thing on his way out to a reporter who shouted a question at him......"we're here to celebrate our seniors tonight". Great celebration, coach, thanks alot.
-At his introductory speech at ND, he didn't mention one word about his team in Cincinnati. Not one fucking word about the players that GOT him his new job. Nothing. He had time to thank everyone else but not his players in Cincinnati. Not the administration there. Not the fans who supported him. Nothing. It wasn't until a Cincinnati reporter asked the second question of the press conference about the anger of Gilyard and some others in Cincinnati and he talked all about how he was honest and handled the situation with integrity and professionalism. I don't think so, coach. You left a trail of damage and debris behind you and totally trashed a bunch of guys who gave you everything they had every week. You couldn't get out of Cincinnati fast enough. Thank God I don't have to watch him coach the Bearcats in the Sugar Bowl.
So that's it. I have no problem with him leaving for ND. That is his choice and if he doesn't want to be here then I don't want him here. He did a great job at Cincinnati and our program is much better off now that he has been here. It could happen again with our next coach. The good news is that there are less jobs better than the Cincinnati job than there ever have been. Now the job is to keep it going and continue building and continue working toward making Cincinnati a destination job. That will take time and years of success. Brian Kelly is a great coach but it was classless and disgraceful how he handled this thing.
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2009 ... +Kelly++UC
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2009 ... st+to+know
-Did they contact and talk to Kelly the week of the Pitt game? I've heard inconsistent reports on this. I remember Kelly saying once that they had contacted him that week and then later he said it was after the Pitt game. If they did contact him then, it was classless. I remember listening to Mike and Mike that week and Golic (ND homer) said that there was no way ND would contact him the week of the biggest game of the season and one of the biggest games in school history. He said it would've been inappropriate. There is no way it should have ever happened that way. If it didn't happen then you can cross this one off the list. Probably no way of ever knowing for sure because the people who DO know will undoubtedly lie directly to anyone's face who asks. Anything to protect ND's image.
-Did they really need to have the final meeting and close the deal the day of Cincinnati's football banquet? Could it not have waited one day? That was fucking stupid. It set up the firestorm that happened that evening and I blame ND for that. They knew it would be leaked and they knew it wouldn't be kept a secret. As a result, the evening was ruined for a group of seniors who did more for Cincinnati football than any group ever has.
Ok, now let me once again just say FUCK BRIAN KELLY. If he would've handled this with class I wouldn't feel this way at all. I would've been pissed at him for leaving but I would've been glad to have had him here at Cincinnati and wished him luck at ND. As it is now, I hope he never wins a single game at ND and I hope this is another in a long line of bad hires at ND. Here is why:
-Kelly lied straight to Mardy Gilyard's face. He told Mardy that he was staying at Cincinnati. Not good, coach. Avoid the question, tell him you'll talk to him more about it after the Pitt game but don't lie straight to his face. Is that the integrity and professionalism that he talked about in his press conference?
-Kelly lied to his entire team. He PROMISED them that if anything happened they'd be the first to know and they'd hear it directly from him. Instead, they heard it from the media who were waiting on them at the banquet that night. Players like Tony Pike, John Goebel, and Brad Jones were swarmed as they arrived at their banquet. They were asked how they felt about Kelly taking the ND job. They said that Kelly had promised them that they'd hear it directly from him if anything happened so they didn't know what to tell the media. At the same time, Kelly avoided the media by sneaking in a separate entrance to the banquet with police officers escorting him.
-After the banquet (what a fun banquet that must've been!), Kelly called a team meeting and announced that he was taking the ND job. Of course all of Cincinnati had already known that for hours. That was big of you, coach. Too little, too late. Gilyard and Alex Daniels walked out of the meeting angry and pissed off after about 15 seconds. I'm so glad they had the balls to show Kelly exactly what they thought of his belated announcement.
-After the meeting, Gilyard and some other players were jumped by the media and had to answer questions about Kelly leaving again. As this was happening, Kelly blew by them with his police escort and acted like they weren't even there. He did say one thing on his way out to a reporter who shouted a question at him......"we're here to celebrate our seniors tonight". Great celebration, coach, thanks alot.
-At his introductory speech at ND, he didn't mention one word about his team in Cincinnati. Not one fucking word about the players that GOT him his new job. Nothing. He had time to thank everyone else but not his players in Cincinnati. Not the administration there. Not the fans who supported him. Nothing. It wasn't until a Cincinnati reporter asked the second question of the press conference about the anger of Gilyard and some others in Cincinnati and he talked all about how he was honest and handled the situation with integrity and professionalism. I don't think so, coach. You left a trail of damage and debris behind you and totally trashed a bunch of guys who gave you everything they had every week. You couldn't get out of Cincinnati fast enough. Thank God I don't have to watch him coach the Bearcats in the Sugar Bowl.
So that's it. I have no problem with him leaving for ND. That is his choice and if he doesn't want to be here then I don't want him here. He did a great job at Cincinnati and our program is much better off now that he has been here. It could happen again with our next coach. The good news is that there are less jobs better than the Cincinnati job than there ever have been. Now the job is to keep it going and continue building and continue working toward making Cincinnati a destination job. That will take time and years of success. Brian Kelly is a great coach but it was classless and disgraceful how he handled this thing.
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2009 ... +Kelly++UC
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2009 ... st+to+know