South Bend Rumors Swirl: Kelly Tells Player He’s Staying, Stoops “Doing Homework”

With the Notre Dame job open and no prospective coach more likely to move up to South Bend than Brian Kelly, the marriage of the guy with the Irish name and the Fighting Irish’s fortunes would seem like a foregone conclusion if ND came calling. But don’t count on it.

According to Brett McMurphy of FanHouse, Kelly told Cincinnati wide receiver Mardy Gilyard that staying at Cincy is a very likely possibility.

⇥“We ain’t going to lose him,” Gilyard told FanHouse. “He ain’t going nowhere. He already addressed the team on that a couple of days ago.⇥⇥⇥⇥⇥⇥“That’s dust under the rug. It’s been popping up everywhere. Coach, he didn’t shy away from it. Coach said, ‘Listen guys, I’m here. I’m here to stay. I like you guys. I like the city. I like my team.’ He’s never lied to me personally.”⇥⇥⇥⇥⇥

Kelly’s own words tell a slightly different story, though.

⇥Kelly was evasive after Saturday’s victory about his future.⇥⇥⇥⇥⇥⇥“I’m not going to talk about any job situations,” Kelly said. “I’m going to enjoy this victory. If anyone else wants to ask a question, here’s the response you’ll get: ‘let’s talk about back to back championship teams and these kids.’ That’s the focus.”⇥⇥⇥⇥⇥

⇥⇥Kelly was then asked about his comments to ABC made earlier in the week. ⇥⇥⇥⇥⇥

⇥⇥“I’m not going to get into any of that,” Kelly said. “I think we’ve all learned a lot of things in the last couple of weeks, OK? There is more misinformation out there and you folks need to get a handle on it, because it’s ridiculous. I’m going to talk about back-to-back championships and I’m going to talk about this football team.”⇥⇥⇥⇥⇥

The comments to ABC were about Kelly’s willingness to “entertain” offers from Notre Dame, and apparently given with the caveat that they not be broadcast until after today’s game. That game is over. The Kelly-to-ND speculation may just be beginning.

And, of course, if ND misses on Kelly and Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops -- who the Chicago Sun-Times says is “doing his homework” as it relates to the opening -- it will go down as another massive misstep for the now-tarnished Notre Dame program, one that will be accused of sleeping on the job rather than waking up the echoes.

(HT: FanHouse.)

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