A Guinness Or Two: My Interview With an Irish Super Fan (Part 1)

The following is a transcript of an interview conducted with Thomas Kelly (self-proclaimed biggest Notre Dame fan in Western New York) over St. Patrick's Day.

Q: What are your thoughts on the 2010 schedule?

TK: For the most part, I am okay with it. I know a lot of people were upset with the additions of Western Michigan and Tulsa, but facing Utah is going to be a pretty big game.

The thing I can’t stop looking at is the beginning of the schedule. Purdue, Michigan, Michigan State, Stanford, Boston College, and Pittsburgh to start the year? That’s a heavy load for a team with a new coach.

I know there aren’t any “elite” programs on here, except for USC, but I think this could shape up to be a fairly entertaining season, especially if Kelly can start winning right away. With a brutal start, a couple neutral site games, three teams we don’t normally see on the schedule, plus the year end contest in Los Angeles…I am excited to see what happens.

Q: Speaking of the neutral site games, what do you think about the game at Yankee Stadium and the new Meadowlands?

TK: I kind of wish we could switch the opponents and play Navy in New York and Army at the Meadowlands. The match up against Navy will be a big game, especially if Notre Dame has already lost a couple of games.

We’ll be looking for Kelly to start his own winning streak against the Middies and the newly opened Meadowlands doesn’t excite me.

I think the game at Yankee Stadium is going to be special and certainly more worthwhile than last year’s neutral game in San Antonio.

Yes, we all expect Notre Dame to handle Army early and often, but playing the first football game at the new Yankee Stadium will be great. It’s going to be cold and I think it will be a lot of fun, maybe along the lines of what the NHL’s Winter Classic has been like.

Q: And what about the game against Maryland at Fed-Ex Field in 2011?

TK: I’m a little upset that it was moved to such a late date in the season, but either way I don’t have much of an opinion on it.

Maryland is a much better program than Washington State or Army, but it’s not like they are even a threat in the ACC. I’ve kind of resigned to the fact that we won’t be seeing any prime time opponents in these so called “neutral” games, but I’d at least like for them to try and be memorable or entertaining in some fashion.

Being the first football game at Yankee Stadium is something I can look forward to, especially with the strong Irish fan base in the New York metro area. Same goes for the scheduled match up against Arizona State at Cowboys Stadium.

It’s big and entertaining at least. But with last year’s game in San Antonio and the scheduled game in Washington, no one will remember them for very long.

Q: What is the must win game for Notre Dame in 2010?

TK: That is a tough question. Weis finally got the Boston College and Michigan State monkey off our backs last year, so I don’t think it has to be either of those games. It comes down to probably four or five games: Michigan, Pitt, Navy, Utah, and USC.

Most fans would probably say USC, but the game is at the end of the season and we don’t really know what that matchup will be like by then. Navy will be important because we’ll want to see a victory and I’m sure Kelly doesn’t want to lose to them in his first season.

Pitt could very well be the highest ranked team Notre Dame will play all season, so that could be big. And there’s a good chance Utah will have a very good record by the time they travel to South Bend.

But, I’d have to say the game against Michigan is the must win right now. It’s early in the season, it’s a home game, Notre Dame gave the game away last year and a loss for Michigan, and Rich Rodriguez, could be devastating.

You figure if Notre Dame beats Purdue and Michigan to start the season, then the year might be a good one.

Q: Which game are you looking forward to personally?

TK: If I had the choice of home games to attend, I’d like to see Utah since we don’t see a team like that and it will be Senior Day. The Michigan and Pitt home games are enticing too. But overall, I’m looking forward to the game against USC.

Like I said before, it is so far away and we don’t know how the season will play out, but this game just has dozens of story lines. I’m hoping Kiffin falls flat on his face, but they have a pretty easy schedule this fall and it wouldn’t surprise me if they have ten wins when we pay them a visit.

But even if Notre Dame has lost three or four games, could you imagine what a victory over USC would do for Kelly in his first season?

Q: If you were Jack Swarbrick and you had the power to add any five teams to future Notre Dame schedules, which programs would you choose?

TK: I would add one school each from the Big 12, ACC, SEC, and Pac-10 and then pick up a program from another conference.

I’d go big and add Boise State at home to start the 2012 season, on the road at Miami in 2013, host a night game in 2014 against Texas, travel to Autzen Stadium to face Oregon in 2015 and host another night game against Alabama in 2016.

That’s an incredibly difficult road to victory, but it would be amazing to watch all of these games. The ratings for a night game against a Top Five team would be enormous.

Q: The rumors of Notre Dame joining the Big Ten (or a conference) in football will not die down. What are your thoughts on the matter?

TK: I’ve long been a supporter of Notre Dame staying independent and I always believed we wouldn’t see the school join the Big Ten or any conference any time soon. Obviously, the recent remarks by Swarbrick are a little concerning if you are part of the independent-only crowd.

In the end though, I think the only way Notre Dame joins is if it is going to be a slam dunk of a deal, and I think Swarbrick is more or less hinting at that. I’m talking if the Big Ten brings in two or three big-time programs, then Notre Dame might want to be part of that so called super-conference.

Still, I don’t think this will happen. I think the Big Ten is going to end up settling and being happy with taking on Pittsburgh and Missouri and becoming yet another conference with a championship game at season’s end.

I highly doubt the Big Ten is going to grab three top flight schools and usher in this new era of conference dominance.

There are a lot of positive and negatives to both sides of the issue, but I think the right thing to do is to stay independent at the moment.

Q: What will you miss most about Charlie Weis?

TK: I’ve thought about that for a while now, and I have to admit that nothing is immediately popping into my mind. I think that if I had to pick something, it would probably be his ability to recruit at the offensive skill positions and as an extension, his ability to develop quarterbacks.

Even though most fans have come to view it as a negative and I would agree, his NFL success and mindset at least helped get a few players into the league and build a solid foundation for Kelly to work with.

But there's nothing I look back at now and say that I'm glad he did. He's lucky to have developed Quinn and Clausen and broke some school records, because his record as a coach will not look pretty in the future.

Q: What will you not miss about Charlie Weis?

TK: Bear in mind that I was a supporter of Weis right until the end and I believed 2009 would be a big year for the program.

But I won’t miss the awkward in-game interviews, the snot, the general Belichick style of dress, and the haughty press conferences. I really thought Weis was a very poor public speaker and I’m glad we now have someone who blows most coaches out of the water in that department.

And most of all, it has to be the losing. And losing to teams Notre Dame should beat. I’ll throw in the lack of a defense for good measure too.

And lastly, I won't miss the air of losing that came from the 2005 loss to USC and trying to justify the program's importance through broken record books and NFL draft picks.

***Check back next week for part two of our conversation.***

Disclaimer: Thomas Kelly may or may not be a real person.