Brian Kelly has his Notre Dame exit strategy planned out
Entering his 10th year as head coach at Notre Dame, Brian Kelly knows just how much longer he’d like to have the job.
Brian Kelly has visions on his fairytale end at Notre Dame.
After a 4-8 season in 2016, Kelly, 57, was firmly on the hot seat. He shook things up, hiring new coordinators and promising a new approach of his own. A 10-3 season in 2017 was good enough to take the heat off Kelly, then came last year’s 12-0 regular season with an appearance in the College Football Playoff.
Being the coach at Notre Dame means chasing the ghosts of history, and a burden of high expectations. While some have succeeded (Lou Holtz), others have ultimately failed (Bob Davie, Charlie Weis, Tyrone Willingham).
Yet here’s Kelly, entering his 10th season as the Fighting Irish head coach with an 81-35 record. He’s six wins behind Frank Leahy (87-11-9) for fourth on the school’s all-time wins list, with his win total not taking away 21 victories that were redacted by the NCAA due to impermissible academic help.
Leahy, Ara Parseghian and Holtz coached at Notre Dame for 11 seasons. Knute Rockne is No. 1 in school history in wins (105), and he also owns the longest tenure for a football coach (13 seasons).
Kelly has three years left on his contract. But in an interview with Pete Thamel of Yahoo! Sports, he said he plans to stay beyond that.
"I may look to see if we can add two more years,” Kelly said, reluctant to offer a specific retirement date but acknowledging the end is closer than the beginning.“I think if I’m fortunate enough to go five more years here, I would be very happy,"
Kelly has come up occasionally as a candidate to NFL head coaching jobs, interviewing with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2013 and being linked to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ job earlier this year. He has apparently set aside that curiosity though, citing “the way it’s set up” and conveying a preference for the “coach-centric” college model with full roster control.
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Assuming he gets his wish and goes five more seasons at Notre Dame, Kelly will be 62 years old by the time the 2023 season ends. He would be the longest-tenured coach in school history at is on pace to be all-time winningest coach at Notre Dame too. With his place fully cemented in college football history then, retirement could easily follow for Kelly.