Central Michigan coach on MSU hot list?
DEKALB — Brian Kelly is the man of the hour in Mount Pleasant, Mich.
The third-year coach has turned around a Central Michigan program that hadn't had a winning record since 1998. The Chippewas (7-3 overall, 6-0) enter tonight's game at Northern Illinois having already wrapped up the Mid-American Conference West title.
"The bandwagon is starting to fill up," said Kelly. "There was plenty of room on it at the start of the season. I'm most happy for our kids. Central Michigan has been down a long time. To get them back up is a good feeling."
Now, however, CMU fans are worried about losing Kelly.
It started last Friday, the day Kelly's team beat Western Michigan 31-7 during a heavy storm to wrap up the title. Earlier in the day the Detroit News reported that Kelly had interviewed for the Michigan State job that will be vacated at the end of the season by the fired John L. Smith.
It was a report Kelly denied.
Comcast Local, which was televising the game, then reported in the first quarter that not only had Kelly interviewed for the Michigan State job, he had accepted it.
Gulp.
At halftime, however, the report was retracted.
The reasons the 44-year-old Kelly is on speculative hot lists are obvious. He got plenty of head coaching experience at a young age and has been successful.
Prior to taking the CMU job, Kelly coached 13 years at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Mich. He compiled a 118-35-2 record and concluded the run back-to-back NCAA Division II national titles in 2002 and 2003. His 2001 team finished second in the nation.
"You can talk all you want about what is speculative," said Kelly. "But when you report I had contacted (MSU) or been contacted by (MSU), I needed to step in and say that's not true."
He said there's no need to further address it with his team.
"They believe me. They trust me. If there's nothing going on, that's all that needs to be said," Kelly said. " I don't have to go around and address rumor and innuendo every other day."
He added that the interest and speculation is, indeed, flattering.
"Absolutely. Hope it helps me get a great pay raise at Central Michigan," Kelly said. "That's where I'm at. My focus is on CMU. I want to be here. This is a great stop for my family."
Kelly continued, saying he and his staff have a lot of work to do.
"All of a sudden, I'm so smart," he said. "A few months ago they didn't think I could call a play in a game. So this is very fleeting. I've been through it before. We'll continue to work hard and focus on Northern."
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