Iowa State Set To Introduce Brian Kelly Monday Evening

[Jeremy]

Iowa State Set To Introduce Brian Kelly Monday Evening
CycloneFanatic.com
Jeremy Lind

If all indications from sources are correct, ISU has secured a signed contract from Central Michigan Head Coach Brian Kelly.

With the College Football regular season ending soon for most teams, most of the vacancies in major programs will be filled shortly. Iowa State is just one day away from being one of the early programs to get a new Head Coach named before the Bowl Season begins. Who has been pegged to take over after 12 years under Dan McCarney, read on for the latest news…

According to sources, Brian Kelly, Head Coach at Central Michigan, has been in negotiations with Iowa State over the past week. While Kelly has gone pretty much under the radar compared to some of the higher-profile names, he has been debated a lot as a candidate with a strong resume of rebuilding programs and overachieving.

From what sources have said, the final contractual details were worked out Saturday in Dallas, Texas. Kelly will apparently coach the Chippewas in the MAC Championship game on the 30th before stepping aside for an interim coach to take over the Bowl-Game duties on the sidelines. While sources could be wrong, I personally feel comfortable with the information.

Kelly, a native of Chelsea, Mass., has been the Head Coach at Central Michigan for the past three years and coached at Grand Valley State (Div II) for thirteen years that included two DII National Championships. Kelly entered the season with a career record of 128-47-2.

With an impressive resume and apparently great talent for building relationships with players, one would assume Kelly would fit in great in Ames, IA. While he’s not extremely vocal or flashy, he gets the job done time and time again with what a lot have considered to be lesser talent and opportunities.

Having coached his team against the likes of Michigan, Kelly should have no problem adjusting to the Big XII Conference and the teams he’ll face every week. Kelly might not be the PR salesman that DMac was but he has a great resume, a big-time desire to succeed and he understands what it takes to be successful with the cards stacked against him.


[table=head]Year|School|W-L Overall|W-L Conference
1991|Grand Valley State|9-3|8-2 *
1992|Grand Valley State|8-3|8-2 @
1993|Grand Valley State|6-3-2|6-2-2
1994|Grand Valley State|8-4|8-2 *
1995|Grand Valley State|8-3|8-2
1996|Grand Valley State|8-3|8-2
1997|Grand Valley State|9-2|9-1 #
1998|Grand Valley State|9-3|9-1 #*
1999|Grand Valley State|5-5|5-4
2000|Grand Valley State|7-4|7-3
2001|Grand Valley State|13-1|9-0 #**
2002|Grand Valley State|14-0|9-0 #***
2003|Grand Valley State|14-1|9-1 ***
2004|Central Michigan|4-7|3-5
2005|Central Michigan|6-5|5-3
|Totals|128-47-2|111-30-2[/table]

UPDATE:
From my understanding, if sources are correct, Kelly was in Dallas late Friday night and/or Saturday morning meeting with President Geoffrey. He then returned back to Michigan and attended practice with his CMU squad today. That would be expected since they still have a game Thursday night. From my sources, the offer was officially made yesterday with the approval happening today.

[9seven]

Wow, not what i was hoping for but he has a good resume!

[crash_zone]

so the dude only has ONE losing season (2004)????? I'll take that

[Nedrick]

So, is this the final word on the matter?? If so, I'm willing to accept that and see what Kelly can do with the ISU program. (Recruiting should be VERY interesting over the next 2-3 months!)

[cmoore_23]

wow..good job jeremy, i hope this guy can bring in some awesome offense and defensive cords

[loboclone]

So Kelly was the #1 Pick along??????

[thunderdave]

1st choice?

[nickborton]

as long as barney cotton is gone...

[Jay_Clone]

I must say I am not excited about this. But we have to rally around him though.

[cmoore_23]

Originally Posted by nickborton

as long as barney cotton is gone...

i agree 100%

[Stumpy]

Pollard knows the candidates better than any casual fan and his win-loss record speaks for itself. I'm supportive of the choice and am looking forward to the Kelly era starting tomorrow!

[cyadict]

Yeah....this should be fun.

[JCloned]

I think Kelly is an absolutely great hire. His track record of success, turnaround at CMU and style of play bode well for ISU.

One interesting tidbit I picked up on Kelly. While best known for an aggressive spread offense, the year before Kelly arrived at CMU they were dead last in the MAC in rushing yards allowed per game. In his first year they were first in the league in rush defense.

Welcome to the Cyclone Family coach Kelly

[m7nick]

It's not sexy, but a good hire!

[Jeremy]

Think of Kelly as the GMac without Iowa ties. He knows the game just as well as anybody and he has recruited southern kids to CMU of all places. Regardless of if he was actually the number one guy from the beginning, a secretive hiring process allows one to say that afterwords:)