Should College Coaches Be Forced To Coach The Bowl Game If They Change Teams?

So this article was suggested after seeing Brian Kelly move from Cincinnati to Notre Dame this year. Kelly has also decided not to coach in the Bowl game with Cincinnati so he can get a jump start on recruiting. The problem I have is that he owes the kids this chance to win the Bowl game and the right to be coached on their final game of the season. If it wasn’t for the kids Kelly wouldn’t of had the success he has had and wouldn’t have gotten the job at Notre Dame. Some of the kids are going to be playing in their final game. They might be headed to the NFL or even be seniors and graduating after the year is over. This game is going to mean a lot to them and for their coach, who got them to this game, not to be there, is a big mistake. He could easily join up with Notre Dame later. Sure he wants to get a jump on recruiting, but couldn’t his assistants do it for him? Anyone who has been involved in recruiting knows the Head Coach doesn’t visit everyone. He splits the list up. Plus it’s not like he is going to just back out, his assistants can easily say “we have Brian Kelly coming and you have seen what he can do.” His name alone would sell me on playing there, he doesn’t need to skip the bowl game to achieve that. He should give his players the respect they deserve and coach this final game.

Sure Kelly’s assistants could go do the recruiting for him, but who will be his assistants? Do you think Kelly will keep all the same staff that is already there? Probably not. Plus Kelly has shown he is one master recruiter. He has brought some great players to Central Michigan and then to Cincinnati. It is only right that he gets to work on that right away and bring in some top players to Notre Dame. Especially since 2 of his top players will be going to the NFL this year. Notre Dame isn’t a school where you can sit around and try to rebuild for a few years and keep your job. That school expects you to come in and win right away. This school has gone through 3 coaches rather fast and none of them lasted longer than 5 years. That means just as their freshman class was graduating they needed to be winning championships or they were gone. If Kelly plans to be winning at that time he needs to get his first freshman class to be huge so he can have a great senior class come season 4. This also means he needs to skip the bowl game, which means nothing since there is no play off anyways. Let him go recruit, the players will still play and the offensive and defensive coordinators will still be calling the plays that matter anyways.