Playing BC a trip for coach
The trip home had been planned for quite some time, but work always seemed to get in the way and prevent Central Michigan football coach Brian Kelly, born in Everett and raised in Chelsea, from making it back to Boston. Until, that is, Kelly cleared his schedule last weekend to attend his induction into Assumption College's Hall of Fame.
``It was nice to get back there, it was the first time in about 25 years," said Kelly, 43, who attended St. John's Prep in Danvers and then went on to be a four-time letter-winner at Assumption as a linebacker before graduating in 1983 with a bachelor's degree in political science.
``Everybody looks different after 25 years, that's for sure.
``We'd been trying to do it for a couple of years, actually. Of course, most inductions are during October and homecoming weekends, and that doesn't work very well with a football coach's schedule. They had a scrimmage, I guess, and they do an annual fund-raiser, so they kind of tied it together and it worked out pretty good."
Despite having a short week of preparation for tomorrow night's season opener against visiting Boston College, Kelly found time last weekend to make a whirlwind round trip from Mount Pleasant, Mich., to Boston.
``Took a quick flight to Logan [Friday night], rented a car, went up [to Worcester], and flew back the next morning," said Kelly by phone from Mount Pleasant yesterday. ``So it was a short stay in Boston."
Kelly, who still follows Boston sports, noted at the induction how ``everybody had their head down," when it came to the Red Sox. ``I think they were still depressed about the losses to the Yankees," he said.
Asked if he resisted any urge to mix business with pleasure by making a reconnaissance side trip to Chestnut Hill, Kelly laughed and said, ``I didn't feel as though I needed to go over there. We've got more problems on our own that we don't have to worry about what BC does. I did drive by [Newton] on the Mass. Pike, so that's about as close as I got."
Kelly made a similar trek when he graduated from St. John's Prep.
``BC was a program we had a lot of players I played with go to," he said. ``But I think I knew, and was realistic enough to know, that I was not the caliber of player who could play at that level. I wanted to continue to play, and that's why I looked at the smaller schools and, of course, Assumption College gave me the opportunity."
Kelly's path to coaching, though, took a bit of detour after graduation when he went to work on Beacon Hill as a legislative intern for state Senator Gerry D'Amico, a Worcester Democrat.
``I don't know if I caught the bug of being back in athletics as much as I caught the flu from being in politics," he said with a laugh. ``So I went back to Assumption College as a graduate assistant and moved on from there."
After spending four seasons as an assistant at Assumption, Kelly went to Grand Valley State in 1987, working first as a grad assistant (1987-88), then defensive coordinator (1989-90), before becoming head coach in 1991. He compiled an impressive record of 118-35-2 in his 13 years there and won NCAA Division 2 national championships in 2002 (14-0) and 2003 (14-1) before being named head coach at Central Michigan.
Entering his third season in Mount Pleasant, Kelly has a 10-12 record with the Chippewas, putting together a 6-5 mark last year that was the school's best this decade. And now Kelly, who will start a new quarterback in junior Brian Brunner and returns an All-America candidate in senior defensive end Daniel Bazuin, hopes to get the 2006 season off to a roaring start with a huge home game against a huge opponent from his home.
``Playing a program such as BC's, and being from there, obviously, makes for a great story, but it's not a great story unless you do well," Kelly said. ``For us to go out and not play well and get beat, I don't know if that's a great story from my perspective. So, for me, it falls together only if we can play well and if we can beat BC."
