Notre Dame football coach speaks at sports luncheon

Notre Dame football coach speaks at sports luncheon

Brian Kelly, center, coaches the Fighting Irish football team at Florida State University. Photo via fb.com

The head coach of the Notre Dame football team will highlight the West Michigan Sports Commission’s annual luncheon next week.

Brian Kelly will speak at the nonprofit commission’s 9th-annual luncheon on Tuesday at the JW Marriott in downtown Grand Rapids.

The luncheon runs from noon to 1:30 p.m., and Kelly’s keynote presentation will run from 12:50-1:20 p.m.

Individual seats for the luncheon are $90 and a table of eight can be purchased for $650.

Tickets can be purchased online through the commission.

Kelly’s career

Kelly has a deep connection to Grand Rapids, as he was the Grand Valley State University football head coach from 1991 to 2003.

In his final three years at GVSU, Kelly won 41 games, while losing two. The teams won both the 2002 and 2003 Division II National Championship, as Kelly won Division II Coach of the Year both years.

In 2009, Kelly was inducted into the GVSU Athletics Hall of Fame.

Following his 118-35-2 career at GVSU, Kelly moved on to two seasons at Central Michigan University, where he won a Mid American Conference Championship.

In 2007, Kelly took over at the University of Cincinnati to fill the vacancy left by Mark Dantonio when he went to coach at Michigan State University. In three years at Cincinnati, Kelly won two Big East Championships and three Big East Coach of the Year awards, as he went 34-6 in his tenure.

With Charlie Weis’ departure at Notre Dame, Kelly took the helm of the storied football program in 2010.

In five seasons at Notre Dame, Kelly is 45-20, including a 12-1 2012 season that saw the team lose in the BCS National Championship Game.

The 2012 season saw Kelly named the Home Depot Coach of the Year, Associated Press College Football Coach of the Year, Walter Camp Coach of the Year and the Football Writers Associations of America Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year.