After the No. 14 Irish opened up their 2013 campaign with a 28-6 victory over Temple, Notre Dame announced a five-year contract extension for head coach Brian Kelly.
Though the University did not disclose specific terms of the deal, Kelly did confirm the contract would extend through the next five seasons, including 2013. Kelly, who reached 200 career victories with the win over the Owls, said the new contract was less about improving perks and more about the future of the program.
"Obviously, [Notre Dame Director of Athletics] Jack Swarbrick, [University President] Father Jenkins, we've all been in discussion about the future of the program," Kelly said. "So when we come to an agreement, it's not necessarily that within it I get a lunch stipend on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's about that we're all together in this contract about moving the program forward ... that we've all decided that by signing this contract, we're all in it together, and that's what I was looking for."
Kelly said in early August that the two sides were close to an agreement but were still finalizing details. During the second half of Saturday's contest, news broke on the NBC broadcast that Notre Dame would announce the extension after the game. Swarbrick then spoke to reporters after the game to confirm the news.
"While I know that the news has made its way out into the public during the broadcast today, I just wanted to take a minute on behalf of Father Jenkins and the rest of the University of Notre Dame, to say how thrilled we are that on a day where our head football coach becomes one of the youngest coaches in history to achieve the 200‑win milestone, that we can also announce that we have entered into a new agreement that ensures that Brian will continue to provide the leadership that has fundamentally changed this program, restored it, given it the foundation that it needs for continued success in the future," Swarbrick said.
Kelly had previously signed a contract extension that was set to take him through the 2016 season. The new deal will take Kelly through 2017.
With the win over Temple, Kelly became the second youngest coach - at 51 years and 310 days - to hit the 200-win mark.
"I haven't really taken the time to think about it, other than a lot of the coaches that are with me today have been part of a lot of those wins," Kelly said. "And that's really, for me, pretty special."
Contact Mike Monaco at jmonaco@nd.edu
