Boot Camp Kelly open for business in South Bend
ORLANDO, Fla. -- It's called Camp Kelly, the series of offseason conditioning drills Notre Dame's coach plans to implement.
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| Fans hope Brian Kelly brings the same winning atmosphere he instilled at Cincy. (US Presswire) |
It should be an interesting first few months for Irish players, some of whom have a sense of "entitlement," according to new coach Brian Kelly.
"I sense a bit of entitlement that needs to be rectified," Kelly said Monday morning while meeting with a small group of reporters at the American Football Coaches Association.
"I think the challenges are within. Some of our issues are self-inflicted wounds ... This is that time when you say winning's a choice. You don't have to buy the big steak on the menu. Choose another item. The thing is, that's the one I'm choosing."
Kelly has "rectified" in the past. He had his players go through Camp Kelly all four seasons he was at Cincinnati. The football-less drills are meant to develop mental and physical toughness. There is a tug-of-war competition and a tire toss. One witness at Cincinnati jokingly compared it to the Festivus episode of Seinfeld.
"Lots of 'feats of strength,' the source said."
Kelly was asked how players who have won 15 games in three years can feel entitled.
"It's not anybody's fault," he said. "Sometimes it happens and you don't even see it happen. Smell gas in here? You can't see it. It's kind of that thing before it goes, 'boom.'"
Kelly did not clarify "self-inflicted wounds" and did not outwardly criticize Charlie Weis.
The new coach plans to invite some media in next month to observe the drills, in part as a reaction to the recent player mistreatment accusations at Kansas, Texas Tech and South Florida.
In this case, Camp Kelly might be nothing more than the normal weeding out by a new coach. Arizona's Mike Stoops was famous a few years ago for his vomit-inducing offseason drills when he took the job.
"It's been really pretty easy [within the program]," Kelly said. "It's been a good deal. We're all looking for good deals. We can't have one at Notre Dame."
Kelly spoke on a variety of other subjects:
• on the transition to Notre Dame: "When you have the weight of the university that can carry the day over the coach, it's a good feeling. Then I've got to make sure I don't know how to mess it up."
• On the entitlement problem: "I think a genuine respect for what you have and how it's been presented to you is the opposite end of entitlement. I need to move this program towards that end more so than the entitlement end."
• On the health of quarterback Dayne Crist, who is recovering from knee surgery: "His projection in terms of being able to play in the spring is really what we're focused on. He has a chance to be a premier player. It would be nice if we can get through the spring game because we have a quarterback with an ACL, two walk-ons and a mid-year freshman enrollee."
(There are actually three walk-ons: Brian Castillo, Matthew Mulvey and Nate Montana. Yes, he is Joe's son and Nick's brother. Tommy Rees is the early enrollee.)
The coach was here to speak and to accept the AFCA's Academic Achievement Award. Notre Dame shared the award with Miami graduating 100 percent of its freshmen from the 2002 class.
"If we're not in this for [high] graduation rates and a BCS championship then that's not why I took the job," he said. "I clearly knew the ground rules going in. We need to get both of them."
The rest of Kelly's staff is expected to be announced this week after background checks by Notre Dame are completed. Cincinnati strength coach Paul Longo is expected to be one of the hires.
