"My media consultant had all these notes for me," said Notre Dame's new football coach Brian Kelly near the beginning of his press-conference speech Friday. "And I’m supposed to pay attention to all these notes that were drawn up for me. But one thing that has driven me through my career is that I speak from my heart, I’m passionate about it, and I really want to talk to everybody out there about why I am so honored to be the head football coach here at Notre Dame."
And with that, he tossed aside those cold-blooded and insincere bullet points laid out by the Machiavellian media consultant, and went on to do some really heartfelt rapping about challenges and opportunities.
Along the way, he said some things that no callous, glib communication goon could ever come up with. Deep truths, at once searingly personal at at the same time universal:
• "There’s a football coach, and then there’s the football coach at Notre Dame. Because nobody—nobody doesn’t like Notre Dame …."
• “I want tough gentlemen. I want football players that are mentally and
physically tough, that will play for four quarters, and I want
gentlemen off the field that we can all be proud of.”
• “Yes, we've got challenges just like everybody else. But we'll go to work on it right away. And we'll do that by continuing to recruit what I call the RKGs: the right kind of guys ….”
A hundred, two hundred, two thousand years after the first speaker pulled the my-PR-guy-wrote-this-speech-but-tonight-I-want-to-speak-from-the-heart gag, why do speakers still do it?
Because people still go for the fake!
"Kelly hits the right notes in introduction," was the headline of ESPN.com writer Brian Bennett's account of the press conference.
Bennett noted, "A media consultant [Kelly] recently hired gave him some prepared notes, but he ignored them and talked mostly off the cuff."
Our hero!
Thanks for pointing out the press conference. As an ND alum, it got me a little pumped.
Kelly did a great job. Obviously, he needed no help expressing what he wanted to say on this occasion — the fulfillment of a dream.
I think his reference to the media consultant acknowledged that, while it was big story it was for him mostly a personal story, so it played nicely.
And yes, we will surely see the “throw away my prepared remarks” play and all its variations for many years to come.
I look forward to Kelly’s from-the-heart remarks following ND’s crowning as national champions in two years.
I don’t have any emotional investment in ND football, but I thought Kelly came off as a real egomaniac in this press conference.
And aren’t you troubled like a new mistress might be, by his unwillingness to coach his undefeated Cincinnati team in the bowl game he led them to?
Perhaps there are mitigating factors I’m not aware of, but that shows a shocking amount of disloyalty to me, and brings to mind the old saw, “Your actions speak so loud I can’t hear what you are saying.”
I don’t know what dictated the timing in terms of the bowl game, but often in life there is never a good way to say goodbye.
Loyalty is a pure enough sounding concept, but coaching is a business arrangement, not a marriage. I wouldn’t fault Kelly for seizing an opportunity to coach at Notre Dame, which occupies, like it or not, a unique place in college football.
Of course, someone’s gain will always be someone’s loss, and I know the Cincinnati students feel betrayed. Still, I hope those emotions are tempered somewhat by recognizing what Kelly has left them: a program that went from nothing to being a national powerhouse.
Good discussion!
OK, John, but there’s bad times to say goodbye, and then there’s “between the end of a 12-0 miracle season and the bowl game the team has earned.”
I don’t fault Kelly for leaving Cincinnati, just for not following through with the season–and not seeming to feel the need to offer a good excuse!
It seems like these guys talk about “passion” and “gentlemen” and “integrity” when it’s convenient, and then when it’s time to hit the bricks it’s “hey, it’s just a business.”
I wish you luck, ND Man; but I hope you keep an eye on that coach of yours, in case he someday gets an offer from the Green Bay Packers and all of a sudden it’s passion and tradition for them, and “just a business” at old ND.
David, your story is also a good illustration of how the sports media is, generally speaking, in the pocket of Big Sports. There’s a news conference with this guy and no one asks him, “What do you think your former team thinks of your departure?” or “Why didn’t you stay on with Cincinnati to see your team through to the end of the season?” In the world of sport, there is no fifth estate – only an extension of the team owners’ giant marketing machine. Reporters who ask the tough questions don’t get invited back to the trough. Which is apparently one of the reasons Tiger’s philandering never got reported until the big car accident.
Good point, Ron. But they know not what they do.
I’ve been laughing, listening to the Golf Channel commentators during “Golf Central,” grumbling that they have to talk about Tiger Woods so much now.
“Can we get back to actual golf?”
Hey assholes: Without Tiger Woods there would never have been any NIGHTLY HALF-HOUR NEWS SHOW DEDICATED TO DISCUSSING GOLF!
And if by some chance he doesn’t come back, do you really think you’ll have enough viewers tuning in to see whether Padraig Harrington overcame his balky putter to overtake Ian Poulter?
“Gosh darn, who doesn’t like Notre Dame?”
Let’s see —
Any Alabama fan.
Any Purdue fan.
Any USC fan…
He musta mixed up ND with Sara Lee.