Brian Kelly Appreciates Streamlined Recruiting Efforts

One year ago, Notre Dame was about to hire four new assistant coaches. Coming off an 8-5 season with the academic investigation that hung over the program for months, many speculated that head coach Brian Kelly would depart South Bend as soon as he could.

Twelve months later, the ink has yet to dry on Kelly’s six-year contract extension and Notre Dame successfully streamlined and reorganized its recruiting operations to bring in an impressive 23-player haul with an addition or two still on the way.

“It's been a journey for Notre Dame and our recruiting efforts,” Kelly said while introducing the class Wednesday. “A year ago, we made some substantial changes within our recruiting office.

“It started with me handing the reins over to Mike Elston on my staff as the recruiting coordinator and asking him to reshape the look of our recruiting efforts. In a very short period of time, he’s done a very admirable job — but more importantly a very creative job, one that has addressed the needs that we have within recruiting. He has also embraced what recruiting looks like right now and moving forward.”

That includes the 18-wheel equipment truck “ND 1” rolling into Savannah (Ga.) Christian School last week to impress five-star wide receiver Demetris Robertson.

But both Kelly and Elston noted Wednesday that it’s about more than flash and glamour. Without relationships, recruiting can be a futile effort.

“I think in the recruiting end of things, it’s the combination of attention to detail, not being afraid to hear the word ‘no,’ and keep plowing through ‘nos’ early on in this recruiting process,” Kelly said. “There’s no area that we’re not afraid to get into and afraid to take a shot at in this recruiting process, making sure that we’re highlighting who we are and our distinctions, and using all platforms to reach the student-athletes that we’re talking about recruiting, and all platforms from Instagram to Twitter, all platforms not just mailings.

“… That has really been the impetus in terms of us moving quicker and getting into areas that maybe we were slower in touching in the recruiting process.”

Something as simple as knowing the date of this summer’s Irish Invasion — something the staff did not finalize until March of last year — helps with those efforts, especially when trying to convince high school players to travel to Notre Dame for the summer event.

Incredibly, the Irish signed 23 players Wednesday without losing a single decommitment throughout the entire recruiting process. That’s a rarity no matter how well a staff recruits in today’s college football.

“First and foremost, all coaches, the entire staff having a consistent message, and that message being one of who we are and what we’re about and never swaying from that,” Kelly explained. “So for example, if you have three different coaches that go to recruit you and you get three different messages, there’s some uncertainty as to what I’m getting myself into. But if all three coaches come in and you hear the same thing, you know what you're getting. … That lessens the wavering of a student-athlete.

“Number two is that we vetted out better than we ever have because we were further out on our recruits in terms of time. We had more time with them to make sure that they were kids that would fit here at Notre Dame. I think those two things stood out for me that we didn't have the kind of back and forth.”

Notre Dame’s coaches, however, emphasized Wednesday that they didn’t view National Signing Day as the finish line for the 2016 class, but rather the start of a new cycle.

And it’s always difficult to predict how things might be 12 months in advance.