Notre Dame's Kelly gets new deal; Rees, Taylor rewarded
On the day of its 11th season-opener with Brian Kelly at the helm, Notre Dame announced a new multi-year extension for its head coach.
With the No. 10 Fighting Irish hosting Duke to open its first-ever season as a conference member, Kelly’s deal, agreed upon nearly 10 months ago, was announced to extend him through the 2024 season at Notre Dame.
“We are pleased to be able to have Brian lead our football program for the foreseeable future,” Notre Dame Athletics Director Jack Swarbrick said in a university release. “These terms were agreed upon in December, and we played the subsequent announcement for the Blue-Gold game in April.
“When the University transitioned to remote learning in March, we decided to wait to make the announcement until we were able to return our attention to football being back in action, and I am happy to share this great news today.”
Terms of Kelly’s new pact were not released by Notre Dame. According to USA Today’s coaching salaries database, Kelly’s 2017 salary was $1.665 million per federal tax documents.
However, industry sources on Saturday told Irish Sports Daily that Kelly’s revamped contract was expected to play Notre Dame’s veteran leader in the country’s top-10 highest-paid collegiate coaches.
Clemson’s Dabo Swinney is the sport’s highest-paid coach at $9.3 million, and Florida’s Dan Mullen was 10th in the USA Today findings at just north of $6 million.
Kelly’s Irish are coming off an 11-2 season, competed for the first time in the 2018 College Football Playoffs and posted three-straight double-digit wins seasons for the first time in 30 years.
The former Central Michigan and Cincinnati head coach Kelly also is a three-time National Coach of the Year honoree, including twice with the Fighting Irish. He’s won 92 games at Notre Dame entering Saturday’s season debut against the Blue Devils.
Earlier this year, Notre Dame named Tommy Rees, a former Irish quarterback, its new offensive coordinator after it dismissed Chip Long. The Irish also promoted and extended the contract of running backs coach Lance Taylor.
Multiple sources told Irish Sports Daily that Rees and Taylor were rewarded with three-year pacts, with initial values of the deals set to be worth approximately $2 million and $1.5 million, respectively.
Notre Dame opened its season with a reduced-capacity crowd inside Notre Dame Stadium limited to students, faculty and staff, as well as players’ family members and a small number of Duke’s travel party.
The school only this past week resumed full, in-person classes on campus after an emergency two-week suspension of in-classroom meetings due to a COVID-19 outbreak on campus.
