:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/62632117/maxresdefault.0.jpg)
Brian Kelly, the often criticized head coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team, was announced as the 2018 Home Depot Coach of the Year. Kelly led the Irish to a 12-0 season for the second time in his career, and is preparing them for the first college football playoff game in Notre Dame history.
#NotreDame's Brian Kelly has won The Home Depot Coach of The Year Award. He's had a remarkable season considering they had to replace a terrific DC and OL coach and juggle QBs.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) December 5, 2018
This is the third time Kelly has won this award. He won it in 2009 with the Cincinnati Bearcats after a 12-0 season, and then again with Notre Dame for another 12-0 season in 2012. That’s 3 times in a decade people...
In the last decade, Brian Kelly has won 30 percent of the Home Depot Coach of the Year awards, if you want to look at it that way...
— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) December 5, 2018
Now I know Dabo Sweeney would probably be considered more of a “wrestling guy” than Brian Kelly — especially after that perfectly played postgame promo in 2015 with the BYOG speech (bring your own guts). Still... there is something to be said about Kelly winning this thing so many times, and that the Irish are playing as a college football heel this season.
It’s been fun.
Kelly will be honored on Thursday night at the Home Depot Awards Show on ESPN.