Cincy picks Central Michigan coach

[NT80]

Sunday, December 3, 2006

Kelly new UC coach

BY BILL KOCH | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

The University of Cincinnati will name Central Michigan coach Brian Kelly as its new head football coach at a 4 p.m. news conference Monday.

UC athletic director Mike Thomas was in Mt. Pleasant, Mich., on Sunday to interview Kelly.

Kelly was confirmed as the new head coach at about 7:15 p.m. by UC associate athletic director Mike Waddell.

Kelly’s Central Michigan team was 9-4 this year and will play in the Motor City Bowl on Dec. 26.

He was 19-16 in three seasons at Central Michigan. The Chippewas were 6-5 in 2005, their first winning season since 1998.

He was hired by UC less than one week after Mark Dantonio left after three years to become the head coach at Michigan State.

In fact, he met with his Central Michigan players at a 5 p.m. to inform them of his decision, about the same time Dantonio was attending the UC football banquet.

“He’s a proven commodity as a winner,” Waddell said of Kelly. “It was a pretty expedient search. Mike got what he was looking for out of the search – a proven winner. And he wants to be a Bearcat.”

Kelly won two NCAA Division II national titles at Grand Valley State and was 118-35-2 in 13 seasons there.

He was one of the finalists for the Michigan State job that Dantonio landed last Monday.