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Report: Jack Swarbrick Says Brian Kelly Will Lead Notre Dame Next Year

Notre Dame director of athletics Jack Swarbrick (left) told ESPN.com that Brian Kelly will be coaching the Irish in 2017.
Notre Dame director of athletics Jack Swarbrick (left) told ESPN.com that Brian Kelly will be coaching the Irish in 2017. (Bill Panzica)

A 2-5 start to the 2016 football campaign is expected to put current Notre Dame seventh-year head coach Brian Kelly near the top of the “hot seat” ratings in 2017.

And according to Notre Dame vice president and director of athletics Jack Swarbrick in an interview with ESPN.com, there will be a next year for Kelly, contrary to the rumor circuit that inevitably gains steam after such poor starts.

"Brian will lead this team out of the tunnel opening day next year," Swarbrick told ESPN.com’s Matt Fortuna in a report published by the outlet on Friday afternoon.

The Fighting Irish have their bye this weekend before returning to prepare for their Oct. 29 home game with Miami.

Kelly directed Notre Dame to the 2012 BCS National Championship Game, a 42-14 loss to Alabama, and last year his Fighting Irish were vying for a bid to the initial four-team College Football Playoff with a 10-1 start before losing in the regular season finale at Pac-12 champion Stanford on a field goal as time expired.

However, Kelly is on the cusp of his worst season — he was 8-5 in 2010, 2011 and 2014 — with one more defeat in 2016. None of the five current losses has been to a team ranked currently in the polls, and the 38-35 home loss on Sept. 24 to Duke (0-3 in the ACC) prompted the firing of third-year defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder, who was replaced by first-year defensive analyst Greg Hudson.


Swarbrick acknowledged to ESPN.com that while there is “great disappointment” about the precipitous fall in fortunes this fall, he is around the team regularly — from practice, to training table, to having an office in the football complex — and has not seen any evidence of discord or severe cracks within the infrastructure.

"I bear responsibility,” Swarbrick told ESPN.com. “I'm ultimately responsible for our performance, so all of us are in this together … I get to see the program day in and day out and I continue to have great confidence in Brian and confidence in our future as a program."

Kelly owns a 57-28 career record at Notre Dame for a .671 winning percentage.

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