Kelly tells Notre Dame basketball fans he’s in South Bend to develop players, win titles

Kelly tells fans he’s at ND to win championships

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — New Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly drew a big cheer from Fighting Irish fans attending a basketball game against UCLA on Saturday when he talked about bringing the school back to prominence.

“The reality is we’re here to do a job and that job is to develop players, graduate players and win championships,” he said.

Kelly, who arrived from Cincinnati on Dec. 11, started his speech by telling the fans it was just 259 more days until the Irish open the 2010 season. He asked Notre Dame students if it’s true they do push-ups after every touchdown. The student section let out a big cheer.

“You better use this holiday break to get in shape because you’re going to be doing a lot of push-ups this fall,” Kelly said, as the fans again applauded.

The Irish lost their last four games this past season, finishing the regular season with a 6-6 record for a second straight season.

Kelly told the fans the Irish are going to need their support.

“We’re going to play hard for four quarters,” he said. “We will play hard four quarters. You will love the guys we put out on the field. If you just play hard and you play aggressive, you’re going to win a lot of football games.”