Kirk Herbstreit: Brian Kelly To USC Would Be An "Interesting Hire"
You have to hand it to Trace Armstrong, the agent for Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly, he never passes up on a chance to get his client's name out there when a big opening pops up. Armstrong has made a living leaking Kelly's name to big jobs, only to use that to then get more from Notre Dame.
Is that what is happening now? I have no proof, but the USC opening seems to be yet another chance for Kelly to hear his name leaked to a big job, which means potential leverage to get something more from Notre Dame.
ESPN personality Kirk Herbstreit stirred things up a bit with a comment about Kelly and the USC job, stating that the Trojans should look at Kelly for the opening after it fired Clay Helton back in September.
"I keep going back, I think Brian Kelly would be an interesting hire, an interesting name," Herbstreit said in an interview with Guy Haberman and Ryan Leaf. "I’m not saying Brian Kelly would leave Notre Dame, I’m just saying if I were USC I might knock on his door and talk to him. I don’t know if Brian Kelly would leave anywhere, he’s in a really good spot, but it’s worth asking ... He could be a possibility."
We've been here before .... several times in fact. A big job comes open, either in college or the NFL, and "rumors" start, or some big-name personality brings Kelly's name up in association with that job. Kelly denies it, says he's not interested and usually that is followed by some new deal with Notre Dame.
We'll likely see the same thing happen again now. Kelly will eventually get asked about it, either by the local media or someone at ESPN, and he'll deny it, say he loves Notre Dame and question where something like that could even come from.
It's a side show and something that will briefly cause discussion and then likely fade away.
I mean, it would make sense for USC to consider Kelly. He took over a downtrodden Notre Dame program back in 2010 and eventually developed into a top program. Notre Dame has gone 49-9 in the last five seasons and three times has played for a championship in some form. He inherited a program that went 91-68 in the 13 years prior to his arrival, and in his 12th season Kelly has posted a 107-48 record.
While Notre Dame has posted a 49-9 record the Trojans have gone 34-20, and just 21-17 in the last four seasons. Notre Dame has dominated the Trojans under Kelly, with the Irish head coach owning an 8-3 record over the team's main rival. Notre Dame and Kelly have won four straight against USC and five of the last six.
Kelly would certainly bring some stability to the Trojan program and they'd be foolish not to at least reach out to the Notre Dame head coach. They'll likely be told no, and the result will be Kelly using that to somehow better his own program, but you can't blame them for trying .... and you can't blame Kelly and his agent for trying to use this job and others to get some more money.
Heck, it's not even the first time they've used USC to make that happen, remember 2015?
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