When Brian Kelly talks about independence...you'd better listenWhen you've been someplace as long as Brian Kelly has been at UND, you know the inner workings of that institution: The things that make that place tick. The nuances that make it special. The greatest strengths and embarrassing weaknesses.
In five months and a few days, while coaching zero games, recruiting for two long months, and doing everything to defend the tremendous honor that comes with his small coaching fraternity, a coach just knows why his program's special.
Brian Kelly gets "it".
When he talks to reporters about how there's nothing better than coaching at an independent program, you just gotta respect what he's saying. Yeah, he's seen some hard times and some great times in South Bend...but when compared to DII, the MAC and the Big East, there's no comparison- Brian Kelly knows where he belongs. He's like a cowboy, a renegade...A glorious, renegade, free-wheeling, Ross-Perot-esque, Irish-Cowboy. He personifies the great American, independent spirit...and there's nothing better than the Independent Brian Kelly coaching the Independent ghosts and echoes of great teams from 20, 30, 40-plus years ago.
Hats off to you, Coach Kelly, for standing up for something you know so much about...and keeping in stride with the long tradition of traditional traditioning at Notre Dame.
10 comments:
And on September 5th, the day after Purdue beats them at home int heir opener, the honeymoon will be over.
what a tool. this guy has plenty of hubris for nd. i hope they get swept by the big ten teams this year.
having said that, i still say either nd joins or no one should be added. they're the only team that any of us has any significant history with. i feel most of the other options would be lucrative but diminish the heritage and pre-eminence of the conference. It's one of the oldest, most storied conferences. oh yeah, and the academics are pretty good, too. i think its a shame that we all seem to think it needs fixing when its not broke. one of the reasons i hate the big east is that it's too big (like this post is getting too long. wtf). almost anyone besides the domers would bring us down a notch in my book.
John, I appreciate your opinion, but what about UND brings up the BT?
(I'm setting up a point)
as much as i hate nd, they do have a good university (2nd best in IN). plus a great legacy in sports and a huge following... mostly by tools, but still. given their rivalries with current BT schools, it's the only team i see bringing up the BT. every school will bring a few more fans, but none as many as nd. do you see anyone else that could bring more? i think texas, but my reactionary ass doesn't like that fit. i mean, why not just poach ut, usc, and florida? nd has always made sense. now if they could only get over themselves.
"Our Lady of Football" is not a good fit. What do they bring to the conference? Unwarrented hype and a collection of D-bag fans! Leave them wallowing in their
Natural Lights and bad 80's Glee tributes. Adding Mizzou brings in St. Louis and likely KC. Mizzou has a natural rivalry with Illinois and isn't too far from Iowa City. Leave ND to be USC's plaything. The conference doesn't need them.
i agree we don't NEED them. i'd rather stay the way we are. you think domers are d bags??? just wait until you get folks from st louis, new jersey, and nebraska in WL. leave the kids at home for those games. nd brings soooo much more to the table than the rut, mizzou (bad spelling and all), and nebraska. those teams days of glory are as long-gone as ND. the difference is they were never that glorious to begin with. ND is a better school in nearly every respect. if this simply about having more fans for the conference, more revenue, more tv contracts, then sure add all these teams. if its about making a pre-eminent conference that makes sense, add one team that brings something to the table. if not ND, then pitt.
If ND joins, it would hurt the BT's rating as the highest average attendance of men's basketball games. I mean, who would want to go and watch stars like Scott Martin play anyway?
I'm from New Jersey.
Exactly.
I don't think the Big Ten is broken, but I think that DI athletics is heading in a direction that requires even Delany to look at expansion ... it isn't so much about the Big Ten needing to have 12 or 14 teams now as it might be in ten years, when the "top" choices might be Notre Dame, Army, and Navy rather than Notre Dame, Texas, and Nebraska.
Adding Notre Dame would suck because even though we'd get to make them share their money with us (picture them making a BCS bowl in 2025 and splitting the check 14 ways instead of keeping it all for themselves, lol - yes I know they would get a share of everyone's money but that's not the point), the babbling would change from "we don't need to be in a conference" to "we only joined your conference out of pity for you blah blah blah".
Besides, Nebraska travels very well, so schools who don't automatically fill the stadium for home games might get some extra money (even Indiana), and we'll be adding another team that's attractive to bowls. (Of course that might not be good for Purdue; if it turned out that a bowl had to choose between Purdue and Nebraska, yeah, we're not going to win that one.)
I am expecting this will be another round of musical conferences, and at the end, Notre Dame will be left standing. We'll see how much they enjoy being an independent when the Big East breaks up and they no longer have a guaranteed spot in a good bowl game ...
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