Notre Dame's new coach a winner both ways

Notre Dame has a winner in just-announced new head football coach Brian Kelly.  Kelly coached the Cincinnati Bearcats to a 12-0 record and an unprecedented (for the Bearcats) #3 ranking among BCS (i.e., major football) schools. His teams at Cincinnati are 34-6 over his three-year tenure.

As impressive as his teams’ won-lost record is the academic record of his players:  a 75 percent NCAA graduation rate, the highest in the BCS top 10. That was undoubtedly as attractive to Notre dame as his won-loss record, because Notre Dame athletes have long had one of the highest rates of graduation of any university in America.

It’s worth reminding people of Notre Dame’s emphasis on academics, especially in light of its reported $18 million-$24 million paid to buyout coach Charlie Weis for the six years remaining on his contract.