Notre Dame Football: Brian Kelly May Have Mutiny on His Hands

Notre Dame’s football program is on the verge of a mutiny before Saturday’s game against Navy.  Yesterday’s post-practice comments to the media by head coach Brian Kelly have likely divided the team into Kelly’s guys and former head coach Charlie Weis’ guys, unnecessarily. Kelly said:

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You can see the players I recruited here, you know who they are. We’ve had one recruiting class here that I’ve had my hand on. The other guys here are coming along, but it’s a process.

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It’s one thing to scold your team behind closed doors or on the sidelines.  It’s another thing to scold your team in a divisive manner in front of the national media.  Instead of being one Irish football team, Notre Dame could fracture into two competing cultures, internally.

Tweets from current Irish upperclassmen were posted last night in apparent reference to Kelly’s comments, and they aren’t encouraging.

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Mteo_5:  Playin for my bros and that's it!!!! @dflem45 @RobJob293 @Carlo44Cal @KLM_89 @Freekey_Zekey17 @stadium20status @J_Slaughter26 #theoriginals

-Manti Te’o

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BraxtonCave52: Disgusted…

-Braxton Cave

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KLM_89: @JGolic88 @trobinson78 awful man.. im sure we talking about the same thing

-Kapron Lewis-Moore

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Even worse is the position in which the underclassmen have been placed.  Did Kelly alienate them from their peers?  One has to consider that the younger players may be wondering how their older teammates feel about them every time they take the field.

Fortunately, this is Notre Dame.  Even as divisive as a coach’s comments may be, it’s likely the animosity will be directed at the coach versus Irish teammates.  The older players are a big part of recruiting these former high school stars to come play with them, so they've built relationships with them.  Plus, they're mentors for the younger players, whether the head coach acknowledges that or not.

The University of Notre Dame is a special place with a particular type of student-athlete.  Maybe Kelly knows this and doesn’t mind the upperclassmen turning against him.  Maybe Kelly knows he can’t alienate “his recruits” from their teammates and that his comments will merely fuel a much-needed fire within his players.

If the Irish play inspired and mistake free the rest of the season, will Kelly be labeled an evil genius?