web1_TTL080717grymski.bdy_.jpg

Happy birthday Hunter Allan Grzymski!

web1_117822972-5ad67d756f9c49b692c119d8b6a81030.jpg

Ara Parseghian, who led Notre Dame football to 2 national titles, has died

<p>SOUTH BEND, Ind. &#8212; Brian Kelly tugged at his gold tie one final time, straightened his navy blue sport coat, then strode to a lectern Monday afternoon to begin his first news conference of the 2017 season.</p><p>And what he hopes won&#8217;t be his last season as Notre Dame&#8217;s coach.</p><p>Kelly is entering his eighth &#8212; and perhaps most critical &#8212; season in charge in South Bend. Last season began with two &#8220;starting&#8221; quarterbacks and a multitude of preseason player arrests, and it ended with the Irish going 4-8, their worst season since Charlie Weis&#8217; 2007 team finished 3-9.</p><p>With his boss, athletic director Jack Swarbrick, standing nearby after the season-ending loss at USC, Kelly promised, &#8220;I&#8217;ll be back.&#8221;</p><p>Then he went right back to work.</p><p>He overhauled his coaching staff, adding new offensive and defensive coordinators, a new special teams coach and a new strength and conditioning coach, among others.</p><p>Kelly also has included some self-reflection &#8212; and a mental skills coach for the team.</p><p>&#8220;(I) focused way too much on production and not the process itself and how important it is to have that attention to detail,&#8221; Kelly said of last year. &#8220;I let our football team down not focusing on those very important values and that process and went right to production.&#8221;</p><p>If the Irish don&#8217;t produce this year, or at least dramatically improve from last season, Kelly might not be able to utter &#8220;I&#8217;ll be back.&#8221;</p><p>He signed a six-year contract extension in January 2016, just after leading the Irish to the Fiesta Bowl and a 10-3 record. He led them to the BCS championship game in 2012.</p><p>&#8220;Those are not distant memories,&#8221; he said.</p><p>But had the Irish &#8212; who lost seven times by eight points or fewer last year &#8212; gone 8-4 instead, Kelly insisted changes still would have been necessary.</p><p>&#8220;I had realized we had some issues going into the season,&#8221; Kelly said. &#8220;We had some off-the-field issues leading into the season. I had done a poor job developing our leadership.</p><p>&#8220;We would be at this same place, regardless whether we had a monsoon (during a 10-3 loss at North Carolina State) or kicked a field goal, all of those things.&#8221;</p><p>All the changes won&#8217;t necessarily mean a complete change for Kelly, who said he was in a &#8220;different place&#8221; and added &#8220;there was a lot of growth&#8221; since last year.</p><p>But will he be the same fiery guy on the sideline?</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know how to answer the question other than I&#8217;m going to have my football team prepared,&#8221; he said. &#8220;If you catch me in a five-second video clip on TV that it looks like I&#8217;m in a moment with a player, it&#8217;s not what happens on a day-to-day basis. I can&#8217;t control that. TV does what TV does. My players know who I am.&#8221;</p><p>Kelly said he met with the players after last season and took their suggestions to heart.</p><p>He said he will hand over the reins of the offense completely to new coordinator Chip Long. Brandon Wimbush will be the starting quarterback, unlike last year, when the Irish began the season with &#8220;co-starters&#8221; Malik Zaire and DeShone Kizer.</p><p>Kelly said his mission is to graduate players and win a national championship.</p><p>&#8220;We know where the bar is,&#8221; he said.</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_BrianKellyMUG.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Kelly </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_BrianKellyMUG.jpg</photo0><caption0>Kelly </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Paul Skrbina</p><p>Chicago Tribune</p></bylineMeta></div>

Notre Dame’s Kelly on his future: ‘We know where the bar is’