OPINION: Notre Dame's hiring of Brian Kelly could mean trouble for Michigan football

Through the tenures of Bob Davie, Tyrone Willingham and Charlie Weis, Michigan has had Lloyd Carr and Rich Rodriguez.

Both brought more experience and better resumes to the U-M sideline than anyone the Irish brought to South Bend.

Michigan cannot say that anymore for certain, not since Notre Dame hired Brian Kelly on Friday. The Wolverines must look toward the southwest and be concerned.

Kelly has 19 years of head-coaching experience and been successful at every level. He’s coming off an undefeated regular season at Cincinnati.

Seventeen of those 19 years have ended with winning records. One had been at .500. His only losing season came in his first as a Division I coach at Central Michigan, when he had to rebuild a program that was one of the worst in the nation.

“He’s won at every level with every kind of team,” Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said during Kelly’s introductory press conference Friday. “He’s a winner.”
If that sounds familiar, it should.

Michigan characterized Rodriguez, who has won at Glenville State and as a coordinator at Tulane and Clemson and then as the head man at West Virginia, the same way.

Yet since Rodriguez arrived at Michigan, he’s struggled. And his battle to succeed now becomes harder with Kelly at Notre Dame.

Kelly knows and has connections in the state. If he considers Grand Valley coach Chuck Martin as a defensive coordinator he’ll add more institutional knowledge of how to recruit in Michigan.

Kelly knows Ohio and has dabbled recruiting in Florida - seven current Bearcats and two recruits from 2010 are from Florida (although not all were recruited by Kelly). All three are key recruiting grounds for Rodriguez and Michigan.

Kelly runs a passing version of the spread offense, so the Irish and Wolverines could face each other far more often in recruiting than they have the past couple of years when the two schools ran markedly different offensive schemes.

“It’s going to put even more of a premium on the kids in the Midwest that have that athleticism, that can run that system, that quarterback that can fit that style,” Rivals.com national recruiting analyst Jeremy Crabtree said. “It’s not going to be Michigan battling just Cincinnati and other programs that run that style of offense.

“Michigan, it might turn into some classic Michigan-Notre Dame battles where it’s not the big offensive linemen we used to see under Bo (Schembechler) and former Notre Dame coaches, we might see some battles over kids at some of those skill positions, running backs, great dual-threat quarterbacks, receivers who can stretch the field horizontally as well as vertically.”

Kelly can recruit. He’s a smooth-talking Irish Catholic from suburban Boston. He’s got personality. And he experienced players to start with right away.

Notre Dame returns a quarterback who can run and throw in redshirt sophomore Dayne Crist, although Crist’s health is unknown as he’s coming off an ACL injury.

He’s got the best returning wide receiver in the country in Michael Floyd, a dynamic tight end in Kyle Rudolph and a pass-catching running back in shifty Armando Allen.

Although he’s an offensive coach, Kelly’s system of accountability runs throughout the entire football program.

One of the most concerning things about Rodriguez is he too often seems detached from the defense. That’s a far cry from the way Kelly sounded Friday when he was introduced as coach.

“I don’t just rely on one side of the ball,” Kelly said. “As the head football coach, you are responsible for all those areas.”

That was something lacking until Friday at Notre Dame. It is something that is questioned at Michigan.

One thing that is known, though, is the Michigan-Notre Dame rivalry just became a lot more interesting - and one that will probably go on as much on in the homes of high school prospects across the Midwest as on the field.

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan sports at AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.