Brian Kelly Hired at Notre Dame, Cincinnati Players Furious

Brian Kelly

Brian Kelly has left Cincinnati to become the new head coach at Notre Dame, but upset a lot of his players in doing so.

University of Notre Dame officials released a statement late Thursday night confirming the hiring after word leaked out that afternoon.

A press conference has been scheduled for 1:30 p.m. ET on Friday to formally introduce Kelly as the 29th head coach in Notre Dame history.

“I am very pleased that a thorough and extensive search has led us to a new head coach in Brian Kelly, who I am confident will help us accomplish our goal of competing for national championships,” Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick said in a release.

Kelly will not coach Cincinnati in the Sugar Bowl against Florida. Instead, Jeff Quinn, the team’s offensive coordinator will assume the role as head coach.

Kelly’s departure from the Bearcats left some players with a sour taste in their mouth.

WR Mardy Gilyard opened up to the Associated Press after being told of his coach’s departure.

“He went for the money,” Gilyard said. “I’m fairly disgusted with the situation…

“I don’t like it. I feel there was a little lying in the thing. I feel like he’d known this the whole time. Everybody knows Notre Dame’s got the money. I kind of had a gut feeling he was going to stay just because he told me he was going to be here.”

Gilyard wasn’t the only Cincinnati player feeling betrayed.

“We already knew what he was going to say. We weren’t giving him a round of applause or anything,” Ben Guidugli, the team’s tight end told the Associated Press. “It’s like somebody turned their back on us. We brought this whole thing this far. We’ve come this far. To have someone walk out now is disappointing.”

With the coaching search now complete, it became apparent that Notre Dame had zeroed in on a single candidate the entire time and that the rumors of NFL coaches-past and present-coming to South Bend were just that… rumors.

Photo Credit: Doug Benc / Getty Images

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