Notre Dame football: Is the world ready for a more fiery Brian Kelly?

In his Tuesday press conference, Brian Kelly said he planned to more demonstrative on the sideline moving forward. But did he ever really rein himself in?

While meeting with the media Tuesday afternoon, Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly was asked if he needed to be more loose on the sideline in order to get his players to play relaxed, like he said on Sunday.

Kelly’s response was rather unexpected. Instead of agreeing, he actually said he felt he had been too restrained on the sideline as of late.

“I’ve got to be a little more fiery on the sidelines quite frankly. So I’m going to try to turn it up a little bit on the sidelines, because that’s who I am,” he said. “I’ve been hands off a little bit, and I just need to be who I am.”

Kelly has been known in the past to be, um, quite demonstrative on the sideline before. A few examples:

And here’s a great feature from BuzzFeed on the coach’s reputation for being a bit of a yeller.

So now apparently the kiddie gloves are coming off. Kelly, to his credit, did also say Tuesday that he doesn’t want to go completely psycho on the sidelines.

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“I can still be demonstrative, but I just feel like they still have to see that passion from me as well and that’s all I was saying,” he said. “I don’t have to be a loon particular on the sideline and throw chairs and do that kinda stuff. But they have to feel that from me as well. That’s very important in this game of football.”

Basically, at the heart of this all is Kelly’s belief he’s been too quiet and unassuming thus far this season. He has, after all, been relentlessly positive about his coaching staff in press conferences and hasn’t blown a gasket despite some horrifyingly bad football.

But I don’t know if the world is ready for Brian Kelly to be more fiery. Kelly himself said Tuesday that if people thought he had been angry before, “you guys will have even better stories over the next couple of weeks.”

That’s a terrifying thought. Kelly is obviously a good football coach, and as the BuzzFeed article cited above argues, sometimes anger is a useful tool for forging a great football team. But I have trouble understanding how the Irish are going to play with enthusiasm and like kids while under the threat of Kelly blowing up at any moment should they mess up. It sounds like a weird adult version of Friday Night Tykes.

There are still eight games left in this season. The CFP is gone. A New Years Six Bowl is out of reach too. Kelly and his players have constantly said though that they’re still playing for pride and to get better each week. I just don’t know how playing for pride will mesh with being chewed out on the sidelines.

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Some might claim that Kelly needs to be tough, that coaches nowadays are too soft on their players. But it’s a fine line between tough love and verbal abuse, and Kelly has already flirted with it before. I’m not sure I like the idea of him kicking it up a notch.