Is Brian Kelly Pulling A Dabo Swinney?
Following Notre Dame's 31-17 victory over North Carolina, Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly offered his normal high praise for quarterback Ian Book. Beyond just praising Book's gritty performance, Kelly then dove into an attack on a writer and article from USA Today that left Book out of the Top 10 quarterbacks in the country ranking.
You can hear Kelly's comments in this video:
Let's put aside the debate on whether or not Book actually is a Top 10 quarterback based on the performance of the entire season, not just the last three games, the timing and veracity of Kelly's comments were puzzling. His team had just defeated a ranked opponent on the road, and the thing that got him fired up the most was a random article from a writer who provided his opinion about who are the top quarterbacks in the land.
I must admit, my first response to Kelly's rant was annoyance. It seemed uncalled for and petty.
His team had just picked up a huge victory, his team is ranked second in the College Football Playoff ranking, why go after a reporter that way, someone who wasn't in the press conference to defend himself? It just seemed so unnecessary, but after letting it marinate for awhile my opinion completely changed.
Kelly was pulling a Dabo Swinney, and that is a very, very good thing for Notre Dame!
Allow me to elaborate.
One of my issues with Kelly in the past has been his insistence on a calm, business like approach to the program, and games. That often resulted in Notre Dame not matching the intensity of its opponents. Prior to his team's contest against Georgia Tech, Kelly made comments that first got me thinking he had finally turned the corner. I explained why he had frustrated me in the past and why I felt he had fallen short of getting the most out of the Notre Dame program.
Beyond just words, Notre Dame has not only matched its opponent's intensity for much of the season, in most contests the Irish are the faster, more aggressive, more passionate and more animated team.
His comments after the UNC game - and the attitude that came with them - is further evidence that Kelly, and the Notre Dame program along with him, have turned an attitude corner.
Swinney has built Clemson into a championship program, and they are the class of the ACC. Clemson has been so dominant, in fact, that there really isn't another contender in the league. There wasn't another program in the league that Swinney could point to as motivation for his team.
There was Alabama, but Clemson had to play at least 13 games a year before they got to the Crimson Tide, so what kept Clemson engaged week after week when the players knew their opponents were so far beneath them?
The Clemson head coach began playing up the disrespect card over and over. His program couldn't hold a candle to Alabama ... so he would say. Clemson was on the ROY bus (Rest of y'all), meaning they weren't on the same level of Alabama, especially from a perception standpoint and how they were treated in the media ... according to Swinney.
Swinney would constantly look for ways his program was insulted or under-appreciated, or how his No. 1 or No. 2 ranked program was being slighted in some manner. Swinney had to create outside enemies for his program to focus on, and he would use that for motivation. Swinney is good at many things, and motivations is among his very best attributes.
It drives non-Clemson fans nuts, but it's a masterful job of coaching and motivating his program. Nick Saban does similar things at Alabama.
Motivating; that has not always been a strength for Kelly, which is why his comments before the Georgia Tech game, after the UNC game, and other comments sprinkled throughout the season are so encouraging.
Notre Dame is ranked No. 2 in the nation, and outside of Clemson and North Carolina, the schedule has been incredibly soft. Players are smart, they watch film and they know when an opponent is inferior. As a coach you can try and convince them that the team they see on film is actually better, but that rarely works in today's game.
When your team is ranked as high as Notre Dame has been all season, and when most of your opponents don't inspire passion and intensity in and of themselves, what do you do to keep your players excited, fired up and ready to play at a high level each week?
The great coaches find something that gets the team fired up, a common enemy that his team can focus on and rally together around. It used to be the proverbial bulletin board material, but most programs are savvy enough not to say something to tick off the team they are about to play that has way better players.
It's hard to play the disrespect card when your team is undefeated and ranked No. 2 in the country, but Kelly is finally pushing those buttons.
He's channeling his inner-Dabo, and that is a very good thing as the Irish look to continue their run to a championship.
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