Out of the Newsroom

Just ten days after saying goodbye to the hapless Charlie Weis, the University of Notre Dame will formally announce tomorrow that it has hired Brian Kelly from the University of Cincinnati to be the new head football coach of the Fighting Irish.

Good for you, ND. Here’s hoping that decision works out better than the past few coaching hires you’ve made.

Here in Connecticut, we’re happy that the end of the search in South Bend means that we will be keeping the talents of Randy Edsall as head football coach of the UConn Huskies. Not just because UConn appears to be poised for a great season next year–but also because we get to keep a truly class act of a guy on the sidelines at Rentschler Field.

Edsall’s name was being frequently mentioned as the go-to-guy that Notre Dame would go to, if Kelly decided to pass on the offer to become the head coach of the Irish.

Hard to argue with Kelly’s credentials as a football guy. In three seasons with the Bearcats, he’s racked up a 24-5 record, two Big East championship titles and a Coach of the Year nod. Impressive stats, which should make the Irish faithful feel warm and fuzzy.

But Notre Dame and its fans should just admit that all they really want is a winning football team and drop any pretense of restoring any sense of character to the storied program. Because if that was really their goal, they would have realized that their “backup” choice deserved the primary consideration.

It’s true that Randy Edsall has a .500 record at the University of Connecticut. It’s also true that Edsall has been at UConn for some 11 years, growing a program from being an afterthought behind the school’s nationally known Men’s and Women’s basketball programs to being a program that could take on Notre Dame on the gridiron and beat the Fighting Irish, in the first year of their seriesin South Bend.

It’s also true that Edsall took the growing UConn program through a difficult season as it coped with the stunning death of a well-liked player from a stabbing outside of a post-game dance on campus. Edsall showed the kind of character and leadership that said a lot, not only about his character as a coach, but also volumes about his character as a man.

Edsall’s name was being talked about as a possibility for the job at ND in the time since he delivered his tear-choked post-game thanks on the field in South Bend after his Huskies silenced those wearing the gold-painted helmets. This is a guy who looks and sounds like what a college football coach should look and sound like. And a guy who kept his mouth absolutely shut at the rumors about his future swirled about him, like so much chocolate syrup in a milkshake blender set on “High”.

But maybe the big reason that we’re glad here in Connecticut about the decision, is summed up in one fact: Kelly coached the UC Bearcats this year to a perfect 12-0 record and a trip to the Sugar Bowl. Edsall will be walking the sideline at the Papa Johns.com bowl the next day.

But Kelly will not be with his Cincinnati team on New Year’s Day, as he will be already working in his new job at Notre Dame.

It might just be wishful thinking on our part, but we just have to believe that if it had been his decision to make, Randy Edsall would have asked the powers that be in South Bend to let him have the three weeks to take his team to their bowl game–before leaving them behind to pursue his own future. Why we think that way is because that time and again, Randy Edsall has proven to be a class act on and off the field.

So congratulations Notre Dame on getting your man, clearly a successful football program leader, to rebuild your program.

We here in Connecticut are happy to still have a man who not only leads a growingly successful football program, all the while helping to build great character in his players.

And we’ll be happy to see him next Fall, right on the sidelines coaching the UConn Huskies against Notre Dame.