UC Football Coach Brian Kelly was asked today whether all the talk about coaching vacancies at other schools is a distraction to his players. "You'll have to ask the players. I don't think it has been. We've had good practices."
The really surprising aspect of that question and answer was that it came so deep into Kelly's weekly news conference. Once the subject was broached though, Kelly met it head on:
"I tell them and I'll continue to tell them, that if I have anything to tell them, they'll hear it first from me. They trust me. That if there is anything I need to talk to them about, we'll talk about it as a football team. And there's nothing to talk about."
Senior receiver Mardy Gilyard was quick to weigh in on behalf of his fellow teammates:
"We've been hearing this since I got here. My first season, 10 wins, Oh! Kelly's going somewhere. He's hot. UC’s on fire. One thing though, Boss man told me he's not going anywhere. Bossman ain't going anywhere."
Kelly went on to tell gathered media that the attention doesn't affect recruiting as he sees it, and is what it is and better than being scrutinized for being on the other side. Ala, Charlie Weis and Les Miles. "There are 10 different coaches on the hot seat. Now that will affect your recruiting."
And Gilyard is confident that Kelly is on board for the long haul:
"I spend a lot of time with Bossman and I just have that gut feeling that it's gonna ride. Whenever he tells me anything I trust him and it's always smooth as silk. He said he ain't going anywhere, he ain't going anywhere".
Kelly, a bit more grammatically accurate than his flamboyant wide out summed up saying "I think our guys are great with it. They know I'll be upfront and honest with them. And what I can tell them is that we're going to win a National Championship and Big East Championship and that’s our focus."
