Brian Kelly Signs Contract Extension Through 2021
The “Brian Kelly to the NFL” conversations will have to be put off again — for now.
On early Friday afternoon, the University of Notre Dame announced that it has agreed to terms with Kelly on a new six-year agreement that runs through the 2021 season. If fulfilled, that means that Kelly will have coached 12 seasons, or more than the 11-year tenures of school legends Frank Leahy (1941-43, 1946-53), Ara Parseghian (1964-74) and Lou Holtz (1986-96). The longest tenure was 13 years by the legendary Knute Rockne from 1918-30 before he died in a plane crash.
With the retirement this past season of Virginia Tech’s Frank Beamer and South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier, Kelly enters the 2016 season with the most career victories (226) among active Football Bowl Subdivision coaches. He was 118-35-2 at Grand Valley State (1991-03), 19-16 at Central Michigan (2004-06), 34-6 at Cincinnati (2007-09), and through six seasons at Notre Dame 55-23 (.705 winning percentage).
If he averages 10 wins per season over the next five, that would take him to 105, tying the hallowed mark of Rockne, who was 105-12-5, with three consensus national titles.
“In the classroom, in the community and on the playing field, Brian has built the foundation of a great Notre Dame football program — one that reflects this university’s values and its unique relationship to the game of football,” said Notre Dame director of athletics and vice president Jack Swarbrick. “I could not be more excited about the future of our football program under Brian’s leadership, and I am especially thankful that our student-athletes will continue to have the benefit of that leadership in the years to come.”
“I want to thank Father Jenkins [University president Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.] and the leadership of Notre Dame for their confidence in me,” said Kelly. “I coach football because I believe there are few better avenues for impacting the lives of young men, and I am certain that there is no better place to do that than the University of Notre Dame.
“During the next six years I look forward to continuing to lead a championship-caliber program, but more importantly I look forward to continuing to help the student-athletes I coach to achieve greatness as football players, as students and as men who will make a difference in families, communities and organizations they will someday lead.”
His tenure at Notre Dame was highlighted by an appearance in the BCS National Championship Game following the 2012 campaign and a No. 3 finish in the final Associated Press poll, the highest by the team since No. 2 in 1993. This year, the Irish finished No. 11 in the AP poll with a 10-3 record.
During Kelly’s time, the Irish football program three times has ranked first among FBS institutions in NCAA Graduation Success Rate numbers and never has ranked lower than sixth. In federal graduation rates for football Notre Dame has consistently ranked in the top 10 among FBS schools, while NCAA Academic Progress Rate football numbers have been at least 970 (out of a possible 1,000) in all his years at the University.
In 2014, Notre Dame won the American Football Coaches Association Academic Achievement Award with a 100 percent graduation rate for the freshman football student-athlete class of 2007. In 2012, Kelly oversaw the first program to be ranked No. 1 in the football polls and first in NCAA GSR graduation rates while also playing for the BCS title.
This is Kelly’s third contract extension at Notre Dame. On Jan. 10, 2012, the university announced it had extended Kelly’s agreement for two seasons through 2016. Kelly received a second extension, this one through the 2017 season, following the 2013 season-opening victory over Temple.