Brian Kelly Hints At Skipping Playoff If Parents Not Allowed To Attend

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly created quite the stir when he hinted that his team might not play in the College Football Playoff if parents are not allowed into the game.

This comment will likely draw criticism in many circles, but my opinion is that Kelly was right to defend his players and advocate for parents either being allowed into a playoff game, or that game being moved where that can happen.

Regardless of what your view is of the pandemic, we should all be able to agree on a couple of core ideas. If it is safe enough for players to fly into a state, stay overnight in a hotel, drive a bus to a game, spend time in a locker room and then play a football game then why is it not safe for parents to fly into the city, stay in a hotel, drive to the game in their own vehicles and then sit in the stands to watch their sons play?

If it's safe enough for the players and coaches it should be considered safe enough for the families. If it's not safe for the parents to be there it's probably not safe enough to have anyone there, at least that's the only logical conclusion we should all be coming to.

So if the state of California deems it unsafe to have parents at a football game, then why would the decision makers of college football (and it's not the NCAA) deem it fit for players to fly there and play there? It's illogical, and Kelly is right to call it out.

Now, is some of this posturing by Kelly? Of course, and there's nothing wrong with that. Kelly has leverage, and he has the ability to throw his weight around, and his opponent on Saturday, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, has made similar criticisms of the decision to play a game in a stadium that won't allow parents in the stands.

I'd be shocked if Notre Dame turned down a playoff invite, but for now, while he has some leverage, Kelly can and should use it to try and bring about changes to the current playoff schedule.

Here is Kelly’s full quote:

“You know, whatever I say really has no merit on what those people are going to do in that room. I respect the question, I really do. But whatever I say is going to be a sound bite, and it’s going to come out 18 different ways. Here's the only thing I'm going to say: They got to figure out how to make sure that whatever sites they play at, the parents are going to be watching their sons play. That's what they got to figure out, so maybe they need to spend a little less time on who the top four teams are and figure out how to get parents into these games, because it is an absolute shame, and a sham if parents can't be watching their kids play.

"My kids have been on campus here since June. They haven't seen their families very much at all. They've had to fight through COVID, and some of them had COVID. They can't be around their families for Christmas. I'm going to have them here for Christmas. I'm going to bring in families that are theirs during Christmas, but you're going to tell me, we're going to have a playoff, and maybe one side can have families and the other can't. Please.

"Somebody’s got to wake up in that room and figure this out. We just might as well just call this the professional league, because nothing speaks to this, (that it) is just about having a playoff, and we don't care about the student-athletes. I know I went off on a tangent, but I am so sick and tired of this playoff committee, talking about having sites where you can have parents and their families. It's ridiculous. Sorry.”

More from Kelly:

“I'm not sure we'll play in the playoffs, if parents can't be there, to be honest with you. Why would we play, if you can't have the families at the game? So, a bowl game … yeah, we would opt out if you can't have families at bowl games. I mean, why would you go to a game where your families can't be part of it? What's the sense of playing a game in an area of the country where you know they nobody can be part of it? So it doesn't surprise me at all (that some teams opted not to play in bowls). Look, there's so many sacrifices these kids have had to make. To go to a bowl game where there's no real opportunities for them to do anything – they're going to stay on campus and may show up at the bowl game 24 or 48 hours prior to. So there's no real reward. Go home and see your families. Go home for Christmas, that's the reward, really, more than anything else. You know, it's not the bowl games’ fault. I get it, we're in a pandemic and there's restrictions and things like that. But, you know, we’ve got to think about the student-athletes in this situation, and not having a chance to share this with their families. After being away and sacrificing so much. You can see why they wouldn't want to play.”

“You know, we'll talk it over, you know, with our team. The players drive this (decision), I don't drive it. I'm echoing their concerns, right? I'm not the guy out there making this up, because it's not about my family, uou know what I mean? It's about their family, so I'm a voice for our team, and their concerns. They're focused on the ACC Championship, so that that's where their focus is, so they're not going to be speaking about these things. But if in fact were selected to be part of (the CFP), this will then be number one on their radar. So then I'll have to address it with our leader first, as to how they feel about this. And, and, certainly, that will be the next topic that we’ll address after the ACC Championship game.”

To comment below be sure to sign up for a FREE Disqus account, which you can get HERE.

———————

Become a premium Irish Breakdown member, which grants you access to all of our premium content, our premium message board and gets you a FREE subscription to Sports Illustrated! Click on the link below for more

BECOME A MEMBER

Be sure to stay locked into Irish Breakdown all the time!

Join the Irish Breakdown community!
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes.
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown YouTube channel.
Follow me on Twitter: @CoachD178
Follow me on Parler: @BryanDriskell
Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook

Sign up for the FREE Irish Breakdown daily newsletter