The term hypocrite can be defined as, “A person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc…”
This term can be thrown around pretty accurately amongst the coaches in the college ranks and the newest to join the list, or up his previous rank, is Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly. Kelly rose to the ranks at the collegiate level by turning programs such as Grand Valley State, Central Michigan, and Cincinnati into perennial winners. As those said teams climbed up the popular charts, Kelly cashed in and moved onto the next best thing. Here’s where the term hypocrite sticks.
While at Central Michigan Kelly turned the Chippewa’s into a MAC contender and eventual conference champ. In the previous four seasons upon Kelly’s arrival, CMU managed to only win three-games-or-more once. In his final season at the helm, CMU was 9-4 while winning the MAC Championship and earning a bowl game.
Kelly didn’t stick it out and left the program before their bowl game to take over the coaching responsibilities at Cincinnati. Instead of coaching CMU, Kelly led Cincinnati in their bowl game to a 27-24 win in the International Bowl. He didn’t skip a beat with the Bearcats. In his first season at UC, Kelly was awarded the Big East Coach of the Year after compiling a 10-3 season including a win over Southern Miss. in the PapaJohns.com Bowl.
The following season, 2008, the Bearcats went on to outright win the Big East title. Kelly’s program faced Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl but lost 20-7. The 2009 season was the best for Kelly while at UC as Cincy’ won all 12 games on their schedule and were ranked #3 in the country. The Bearcats were set to face the Florida Gators led by Tim Tebow in the Sugar Bowl. However, Kelly didn’t partake and instead accepted the coaching offer at Notre Dame leaving yet another one of his teams to be without their head coach for a bowl game.
Mardy Gilyard, a WR for the Bearcats, was quoted saying, “He went for the money,” via NY Daily News. “I’m fairly disgusted with the situation that they let it go for that long.” Bearcat players revealed that Kelly informed the team of his decision during the team banquet.
Kelly just completed his third season at ND and the 2012 was his finest as the Irish finished 12-1 while losing to Alabama in the National Championship game by a score of 42-14. Along with the program’s success, Kelly has been able to recruit the optimum high school players in the country landing ND in the top 10 recruiting ranks season-after-season.
Five-star defensive lineman Eddie Vanderdoes signed his letter of intent with Notre Dame and was going to be an immediate force on the line. However, in lieu of health issues within his family, Vanderdoes asked ND for a release of his scholarship so he could play for a program in the California area, specifically UCLA. ND has granted Vanderdoes a partial release, meaning that the lineman would have to sit out the entire 2013 before playing for the Bruins. Vanderdoes has signed with UCLA and has appealed the one-year ban with hopes that he will be able to play immediately.
Courtesy: Yahoo Sports
Kelly, who has been quick to jump when an opportunity arises, has been quoted saying, “There’s accountability in making those decisions,” ESPN.COM. “You can break the contract. He’s broken the contract and he’s going to go to another school. But there’s a level of accountability there.” He is quick to defend his actions for leaving program after program by stating, “I paid a million dollars in a buyout, too.”
I can only scoff at those comments made by Kelly; I can without a doubt state that Notre Dame happily paid the buyout.
It’s a slippery slope to pass down such rash judgment on players such as Vanderdoes. I can rationalize the argument of accountability, these high school seniors need to thoroughly understand the ramifications that come with inking your name for the next four years of your life. But, it’s a backwards system to severely penalize the athletes while allowing coaches such as Kelly to leapfrog one program to the next while the only punishment a coach receives is a buyout penalty?
While the appeal is still at large, the NCAA can get back some of the respect they have lost through the countless errors in their judgment if they remove the ban from Vanderdoes. In the age of coaches dodging sanctions, it’s the athletes, the individuals actually playing and upholding the billion dollar industry that are being punished. The judicial system for the NCAA has favored the coaches over the athletes. While Vanderdoes could miss his freshman season for reneging on his commitment to Notre Dame, how is it plausible to allow one coach to get out of dodge before two separate bowl games for two separate programs?
While Kelly is ‘preaching’ accountability he should in turn gaze heavily at the reflection in the mirror and grasp that a hypocrite is one who holds others to standards that he himself does not live up to.
