Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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24 MAY 2020 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY PATRICK ENGEL I n a way, operating a massive col- lege football program remotely amid a pandemic reminds Brian Kelly of his time as the head coach of Grand Valley State under normal circumstances. Division II programs in the 1990s and early 2000s had fewer full-time staffers. At one point, Kelly had two full-time assistants. Players were not on campus for all but a few weeks of the year, or required to be at some kind of practice or workout most days like they are now. The situation required Kelly to put faith in his players to handle their business when he or his assistants weren't nearby. All these years later, entering his 11th season at Notre Dame, he's in a similar spot because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Notre Dame's players are sprinkled across the country, away from cam- pus and all the structure student- athlete life brings, due to campus closures and canceled practices. No weight rooms or practice fields are open. Teammates aren't down the hall or in the same apartment. College sports are currently a virtual concept built on players' and coaches' own drive to move it along. The teams that have the most collective accountabil- ity will emerge from this with lower potential for speed bumps. "We're doing a lot of things that bring us back to the days where we had to rely on our players to be self-motivated," Kelly said during a Zoom press conference April 8. "We're giving them guidance, there's no doubt. But we can't be mandating workouts. We have to trust that we have good leadership, which we do, with our players. We're giving them the opportunity to consult with us. "This is a bit old school from our perspective." All told, Kelly and his staff own less control. For football coaches used to planning out nearly every hour of their athletes' days, the idea of play- ers needing to remind themselves to complete workouts, schoolwork and show up for Zoom meetings can be a scary concept. As if that wasn't enough, there's little coaches can do beyond wag- ging their fingers to ensure that players adhere to the recommenda- tions about social distancing. On that topic, Kelly revealed no Notre Dame player has tested positive for CO- VID-19 and he's pleased with their effort to be responsible citizens. "Control is sometimes used in a negative connotation," Kelly said. "We like the structure because struc- ture is what our players want on a day-to-day basis. More than anything else, it's trying to get that structure in a distance environment." Notre Dame's measures to create it are to Kelly's liking, enough for him to admit he can rest easy at night, un- afraid his program is burning down without him or his staff around. First up is monitoring academics and helping players along with setting up routines for their studies. It's a full- staff effort, with assistant coaches more involved in academic help than ever before. "Adam Sargent, who heads our ac- ademic support staff for football, has been fabulous for putting together a comprehensive plan for all of our players," Kelly said. "We're sharing that plan on a weekly conference call where he is in constant communica- tion with all our players and position coaches. This has become so much more of a decentralized operation where all our position coaches are involved with Adam and assisting with any issues that may arise. That simply could be not having proper Wi-Fi, or making sure they're orga- nized in their daily schedule." Then there is the matter of recre- ating spring practice and condition- New Challenge, Old Lesson Notre Dame takes creative measures to foster accountability Brian Kelly has a plan for keeping his players accountable and focused while they're on their own, which requires trusting that his players will get it done on their own like he had to in his Division II days. PHOTO BY MIKE MILLER