Brian Kelly (born October 25, 1961) is the current head coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Kelly previously served as head coach of the Grand Valley State Lakers (1991–2003),
Central Michigan Chippewas (2004–2006) and Cincinnati Bearcats (2006–2009).
He led Grand Valley State to consecutive NCAA Division II Football Championships in 2002 and 2003.
Kelly's 2012 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team reached the 2013 BCS National Championship Game.
Contents 1 Early years 2 Grand Valley State 3 Central Michigan
4 Cincinnati 5 Head coaching record 6 References 7 External links
Early years Kelly was born in Everett, Massachusetts, and was raised in a Catholic Irish-American family in Chelsea, Massachusetts.[1]
He attended St. John's Preparatory School in Danvers, Massachusetts. His father was a Boston politician.[2]
He was a four-year letter winner at Assumption College as a linebacker
. After graduating from Assumption in 1983 with a bachelor's degree in political science he served as linebackers coach,
defensive coordinator, and softball coach from 1983 to 1986.
Kelly joined the Grand Valley State University staff in 1987 as a graduate assistant and defensive backs coach
for Tom Beck and became the defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator in 1989.
Kelly took over as head coach in 1991. In his final three seasons the Lakers went 41–2, at one point winning 20 consecutive games.
The Lakers went 14–0 in 2002 en route to their first national title and went 14–1 in 2003 when they claimed their second National Championship.
Kelly was named the AFCA Division II Coach of the Year after each of these championship years.
Kelly became the 24th head coach at Central Michigan University after the departure of Mike DeBord following the 2003 season
] Kelly inherited a team with limited success. Central Michigan had won more than three games only once in the previous four seasons
CMU finished with a 4–7 record in 2004. In Kelly's second year at Central Michigan, he coached the team to a 6–5 record—
the first winning season in seven years for the Chippewas. In his third season,
the Chippewas posted a 9–4 record under Kelly en route to winning the MAC Championship and qualifying for the Motor City Bowl.