Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ishing touches on the 2015 recruiting haul. Kelly was on vacation in Park City, Utah, where Mike Sanford's father, also named Mike, a one-time Notre Dame assistant, owns a home. The Boise State offensive coordinator hap- pened to be unwinding there after Na- tional Signing Day as well, not expect- ing to leave his alma mater. "[Associate athletics director for football operations] Chad Klunder had reached out to me and said Coach Kelly's on the West Coast," the pro- gram's new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach said. "He's going to want to have the chance to maybe come to you and talk to you about the job. I said, 'Where is he?' [Klunder] said, 'He's in Park City, Utah.' "We spent a great amount of time together. The big thing was to get my family around Coach Kelly and [his wife] Paqui and see what kind of peo- ple they are. It's a people business and when you can see the way they inter- act with your family and your chil- dren, it's backed up with the people you've asked about Coach Kelly and how he is towards family. It was an awesome experience and made it kind of a no-brainer for us." Having spent two years at Misha- waka (Ind.) Penn High School while his father coached at Notre Dame, San- ford said it feels like a bit of a home- coming returning to the university, adding that he felt pulled by every- thing for which Notre Dame stands. "It was going to be a hard decision no matter what," Sanford said. "I love Boise, Idaho. I love Boise State Univer- sity and those kids, the staff. We were not going anywhere. I mean that. We