The following is a release courtesy Notre Dame athletics:
CLEVELAND – Brian Kelly, who has spent the last 19 years building three
different college football programs into national powers, has been named the
2010 winner of the Lee Tressel Ohio College Coach of the Year by the
Northeastern Ohio Chapter of the National Football Foundation for leading
the Cincinnati Bearcats to an undefeated regular season in 2009 and a second
consecutive Bowl Championship Series (BCS) appearance. He will be presented
his award at the at the 22nd Annual Scholar-Athlete Awards banquet on
Monday, April 26 at LaCentre Banquet Center in Westlake, Ohio.
Kelly’s overall record of 171-57-2 makes him the seventh-winningest active
coach in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision in terms of victories. Prior to
being named the head coach at the University of Notre Dame on December 11,
Kelly led the University of Cincinnati to a record of 34-6 over three
seasons, including two straight outright BIG EAST Conference titles and a
trip to the 2008 Orange Bowl and 2009 Sugar Bowl. The record-breaking 2009
Bearcats finished the regular season ranked third in the BCS standings and
fourth in both the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN polls.
He spent three seasons from 2004-06 at Central Michigan University as well,
and turned that program into a Mid-American Conference champion by going 9-4
in 2006. At Grand Valley State University, where Kelly¹s head coaching
career began, he tallied a 118-35-2 record that was highlighted by NCAA
Division II national championships in 2002 (14-0) and 2003 (14-1).
Kelly earned the Home Depot National Coach of the Year Award in 2009, was
the BIG EAST Conference Coach of the Year in 2007, 2008 and 2009 (the first
time a BIG EAST football coach has won the award three straight years), and
was the American Football Coaches Association Division II Coach of the Year
in both 2002 and 2003.
Joining Kelly on the banquet dais will be 2010 Distinguished American award
winner and two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin; as well as 2009
Distinguished American award recipient