Value, schmalues, there's money at stake
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Brian Kelly is taking his dream job at Notre Dame.
How did his players find out? When they arrived last night for the team banquet to celebrate their great year, they were met by television crews asking for comments on Kelly's move.
Then they sat through the banquet and the speeches. And only then were they asked to go to a separate room to get the news from the horse's ass.
Kelly will not coach Cincinnati in their upcoming bowl game. He will be in South Bend, basking in the glow of adoration and promised success. His Twitter page is already changed.
This is simply wrong. If you want an example of the difference between what you do and how you do it and how that matters, this is a textbook case.
No one, including his players would begrudge Kelly going to Notre Dame. That's not the issue. The issue is how it was done.
Shame on you, Brian Kelly, for treating the young men who played for you like rungs on the ladder of success.
Shame on you for not being man enough to tell them yourself before they got the news from the media.
And shame on you Notre Dame for being party to this. Was it really so important to have Kelly in South Bend a few days early at the cost of treating his players with contempt and disrespect?
You're supposed to be an institution of higher learning that fosters Catholic values. I guess that only counts when it's easy.
Boss's Bottom Line
Your job is to accomplish the mission and care for your people. It is not to succeed at all costs. How you do your job and how your treat your people matters.
Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.
Call it like you see it and name names
All the best from Brighton UK,
Mark
http://integrationtraining.blogspot.com/
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Thanks Mark. Glad you liked the post.
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Kelly, Notre Dame - what are you thinking!!
Wonder how many recruits you'll lose in this fiasco?
Dr.jim sellner, PhD.,DipC.
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One of the sad things is, he may not lose any.
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Heck, from all the publicity he may even gain a few.
However, these will be recruits who will learn, or already believe it is important, to put money ahead of their character and duties. Leaders lead best when they lead by example.
But Notre Dame is just getting the kind of leader that it deserves from it's example (look at how many coaches they've bought and fired in the last couple decades). And it has been having the kind of record it deserves from that behavior.
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Thanks, Aaron. What got to me yesterday is that there was almost no publicity or commentary on the way Kelly handled his departure from Cincinnati. It was all about his wonderful record and the glory days of Notre Dame, but nothing about letting the players find out Kelly was leaving from the media. Sometimes, I think, karma takes a while to kick in.
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Way to go, Wally. You are right on in your assessment of this situation. Another leader putting his self-interest ahead of those he has the privilege to lead.
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Thanks, Bret
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Wally -- the title of your post unfortunately says it all. Well put.
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Thank you, Jane. Actually, I think, the behavior says it all and the headline describes it.
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While Kelly certainly could have handled this better, this larger issue is with the NCAA recruiting system. A school of ND's caliber would not want to lose a month of recruiting by Kelly. Therefore, the school targets the coach they want, know it is his dream job, and lay out enough cash to close the deal. Perhaps the Irish could have taken the high road and relied upon the interim coach and Notre Dame name to bring in student athletes, but with the investment involved and recent history of losing, that would be unlikely.
I see this akin to the jerk in the office who steps on people to advace, doing little more than playing the same game that everyone else does. The right thing to do is to do what is right. Kelly should stay through January and finish what he began, rolling the dice that his resume is strong enough for Jack Swarbrick to wait. It is tough to blame Kelly when the chances are decent that the Athletic Director may have moved on to the next candidate.
Maybe Brian Kelly could take pride in knowing he did what was right, meanwhile kicking himself for losing the job he'd always wanted. Personally, I think I'd sleep better just doing what was right.
Long comment, bottom line: the NCAA needs to create an atmosphere that removes the cutthroat nature of coaching changes and athlete recruitment.
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Thanks for adding that, Eric. The part that bothers me the most about Kelly's behavior is that he wasn't man enough to tell his players himself that he'd taken the Notre Dame job. He let the media do it.
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