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Notre Dame Football: Brian Kelly Press Conference Review

By Kevin Sinclair

Nov 26, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly speaks at the post game press conference following the game against the USC Trojans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. USC won 45-27. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 26, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly speaks at the post game press conference following the game against the USC Trojans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. USC won 45-27. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports /
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Must Read: Jalen Harris Official Visit Review.

Media gathered at Notre Dame today for a Press Conference with Brian Kelly.

After one of the worst seasons at Notre Dame in many years, Brian Kelly spoke in a press conference today to present his thoughts on the program’s new approach and newly hired coaching staff.

Let’s have a look at what Kelly stated.

Regarding making changes to the overall program:

“There’ll always be changes when you look hard and you look at yourself about where your team needs to be and we fell short on all those goals.””We needed to make some significant changes.”

Regarding the hiring of Coach Long and what to expect:

“What we don’t want to do is create a whole new offense for our guys to learn, so any new learning will come from Chip. Having said that, Chip’s gonna bring some things to his offense that I want.””You’re going to see some things as a part of our offense that I was looking for.”

Regarding what kind of defensive coordinator he was looking for:

“We’re not gonna get 4 guys to put their hand in the ground for 3 downs.””We just don’t have those kinds of defensive lineman. We get a guy who’s more of a hybrid and so we needed to have the ability to play the kind of defense that shaped it around the kind of kids we recruit.”

Regarding the decision to change the coaching staff:

“Where we were as a program – we needed some change.””On a day to day basis, the message needed to change.”

Regarding changes in the Strength and Conditioning program:

“We were making too many accommodations to their academic schedules””(We need to say to our players) Listen, forget about it. This is the time you need to be here. Get over here and get after it.” 

Kelly then stated they will be holding their workouts in the mornings so the players have the rest of the day for their academics.

Regarding what Brian Polian will coach outside of Special Teams:

“Brian will lean more to the offensive side of the ball than the defensive side of the ball.”

Regarding what Mike Elko will coach position wise, outside of his duties as DC:

“Safeties.”

Regarding how Chip Long will change the offense in regards to play calling and structure:

“I wanted the offense to look a special way. It’s gonna be the inclusion of the backs and the tight ends in the passing game.”

Regarding Mike Elko:

“He’s very smart. He attacks protection as well as anybody out there.””(His defense) takes away their strengths and attack(s) their weaknesses. (He’s) extremely thorough in examing those things and then eliminating the big play.”

When Kelly was asked if he feels if this is a make our break year:

“Every year that I’ve stood before you has been a make or break year.”

The most defining statement I took from this press conference was when Kelly stated “The greatest thing about Notre Dame is that you’re not defined about what happened in the past. It’s about what we do in the future.”

That does it for my breakdown of today’s press conference. Tomorrow, SlapTheSign.com will have a breakdown of the interviews with the assistants.

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