Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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extremely consistent program when Kelly ar- rived in December 2009 — one that consistently averaged exactly seven wins per season under predecessors Charlie Weis (35-27 in the five years from 2005-09), Ty- rone Willingham (21-15 from 2002-04) and Bob Davie (35-25 from 1997- 2001) despite typically reeling in top-10 recruit- ing classes. Step one for Kelly was to create a pride and winning atmosphere beyond the field. This included a detailed primer on how a locker should be organized while keeping the area immaculate. "We were like, 'What's off the field, just having a routine, being clean with yourself can only help you with football and life in general." There was some aver- that little type of things that he's preached to us that have made a real big impact." Goodman said the sion to change because many of the players still felt a closer bond with the deposed but well liked Weis and would even consult with him on matters such as the NFL. "You don't really want he talking about? Why does he want the locker room so clean?'" re- called fifth-year senior receiver John Goodman. "We thought it was clean enough." Current senior wide receiver Robby Toma now has the power of hindsight. "The locker room was to even try doing some- thing else," fifth-year senior center Braxston Cave said. "It's tough to transform and throw ev- erything you've always done behind. But once guys finally did it, we've seen great results." Another pivotal step staff, including strength and conditioning coach Paul Longo, specifically and relentlessly im- parted that every college football team engages in year-round strenuous work. "What Coach Longo was embracing a new standard in daily habits rather than viewing it as just drudgery. "We had known our preached to us is, 'Ev- eryone is working this hard — but it's not nec- essarily how hard you work. It's the little things you do once you get into the season, the discipline outside the hard work that makes you a cham- pionship football team,'" Goodman said. When you hear the a mess," Toma said. "Now that I'm older, I kind of understand that. It's the little things in life that will help you suc- ceed. Even though it's own ways for a while, and we thought, 'Okay, that will get us through, that will get us by,'" ju- nior outside linebacker Danny Spond said. "But it's not about 'get- ting through.' It's about being the best you can at everything you do throughout the day, whether it's class, on the practice field. It's just message of consistency often enough, it eventu- ally takes hold, even if it might take a few years. "I don't think he's re- ally done anything dif- ferent [this season]," senior tight end Tyler Eifert, one of four cap- tains this season, said of Kelly. "… Now it's the third year and we've had time to grow our re- lationships and now we know what's expected of us. Just the attention to details, the small things,