Notre Dame Fighting Irish football coach Brian Kelly has agreed to a six-year contract extension through the 2021 season, the school announced Friday. Kelly had been signed through the 2017 season, but the two sides began to re-work the deal following Notre Dame's 10-3 season that ended with a berth in the Fiesta Bowl this year.
"I coach football because I believe there are few better avenues for impacting the lives of young men, and I am certain that there is no better place to do that than the University of Notre Dame," Kelly said in a statement.
Kelly was named Notre Dame's head coach in December 2009 following previous stops at Central Michigan and Cincinnati, and experienced immediate success. He's the only Irish head coach to win eight or more games in each of this first six seasons with the program, including a 12-0 regular season in 2012. Notre Dame is 55-23 in the six seasons under Kelly.
There has been some speculation about Kelly's future with the school as he has been linked to several NFL head coaching vacancies over the last few years, but Kelly has remained adamant about his desire to stay with Notre Dame. This new six-year contract extension is a testament to that.
Kelly currently ranks seventh among active coaches with a .737 career winning percentage. His 154 wins since 2001 are the third most in the country behind Oklahoma's Bob Stoops and Ohio State's Urban Meyer.
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