Kelly played linebacker at Assumption College in Massachusetts. He and the coaching staff once noticed that an opposing center hitched the ball forward as he snapped on punts. Kelly devised a way to exploit this. He laid on his stomach, with his chin on the ground and his facemask almost touching the ball. The center moved the ball, it hit Kelly's facemask for a fumble, Assumption recovered it and scored a touchdown. The second time, Assumption blocked the punt .

"He would do anything that it would take to win, legally. And that was legal," says Bernie Gaughan, Assumption's coach at the time. " He's not afraid of losing."

Maybe that's because he doesn't lose very often. Kelly's aggressiveness as a player has carried over to his coaching style -- and it has had a lot to do with his success.

Kelly shouts, "Hurry up!" oh, a billion times every practice.

There's also: "We're not throwing a picnic with marshmallows here!"

The only way for Kelly's no-huddle offense to work is if his players master it in practice. And the only way for his players to master it in practice is if he rides them incessantly.

"No one was beyond an (expletive)- ripping on the field, from the captains to the seniors to the All-Americans to the redshirt freshmen to non scholarship players," says Matt Yoches, a defensive lineman for Kelly at GVSU who now is an assistant coach there. "Anyone that would screw up, whether you knew it or not, he would tell you that you screwed up. But as soon as you walk off the field, he can make you feel like a million bucks."

No one is exempt, but no one feels the Kelly wrath quite like his quarterbacks. Pitt defensive coordinator Phil Bennett, who has known Kelly for two decades, says Kelly lets his QBs know they are in command and the team's success depends on their decision making. And when that decision making falls short, look out.

"He doesn't mind getting right up his (quarterback's) butt," Bennett says. " Some people say you can't upset your quarterback. I get the biggest kick out of watching him just wear them out if they're not doing what they're supposed to."

But Yoches says Kelly convinces players they can do whatever he asks of them.

"That stuff, more than the X's and O's, really stood out with us," Yoches says. "He said, 'We're going to go into this game, we're going to have a decided advantage because what we're doing is better.' "

. . . a persuader . . . charismatic . . . engaging.

"The guy can talk like you would not believe," says Chuck Martin, Kelly's defensive coordinator at Grand Valley and now the head coach there. "Not talk like brash … "

Brief interruption here to point out that although Martin did not call Kelly brash, few would argue if he did.

" … I'm talking about eloquent. I've heard a lot of guys speak, but I've never heard anybody speak like him. I can have the same message Brian Kelly wants to give, I can use the same words as Brian Kelly -- Brian Kelly could write it for Me -- but I couldn't say it as good as Brian Kelly."

Kelly's oratorical timing -- from motivating his players to delivering one-liners -- is impeccable. Every year, Kelly takes his seniors out for a day of tubing and water-skiing on a lake in Indiana. He drives the boat in such a way as to ensure the world-class athletes riding on the tube behind him go flailing across the water. Last year, a star player lost more than his dignity with his wipeout. He lost his swimsuit and climbed back into the boat -- naked.

"I can't remember the exact quote," says Brandon Underwood, a former Bearcat now with the Green Bay Packers. "He said, 'It must be cold in that water.' Everyone was crying they were laughing so hard."

Underwood stops laughing and turns serious. He arrived at Cincinnati from Ohio State with academic problems, and early on he failed to follow rules set up for him. But Kelly gave him extra chances and Underwood eventually overcame his problems.

For all of this, Underwood is grateful. " I'm very thankful he gave me the opportunity to pursue my dreams. If it wasn't for Coach Kelly, I wouldn't be in the position I am now."

. . . a salesman . . . a CEO . . . a politician.

He says all the right things. He says he's in no hurry to coach elsewhere. He makes good money (at least $1.375 million this season), he likes living in Cincinnati and relishes the challenges of his job.

And he says his work is far from complete with the Bearcats. One priority is making Cincinnati as competitive off the field as it has become on it. And that means the Bearcats shouldn't need to practice every day in Nippert Stadium. An item appears in Kelly's contract that says the "university agrees to use its best efforts to build or acquire two (2) practice fields on campus as soon as possible and an indoor facility."

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"This program has a long way to go," Kelly says. "It has no practice facility. It has a stadium that is the smallest in the league. There's more building to do. For me, there's a lot of work left."

But in this year's coaching searches, the demand for Kelly will be greater than ever. He has somehow steered Cincinnati -- Cincinnati -- into the hunt for a national title despite a completely new defense and built-in disadvantages such as the lacking facilities.

"It's better than the alternative, I can tell you that," Cincinnati athletic director Mike Thomas says. "If people are interested in your coach, it obviously tells you things are going well on your campus. . . . There's no doubt we want Brian to be here for a long, long time."

Still, the phone rings. And it will keep ringing.

"If you see my name attached to another program, you'll go, 'That's a no-brainer. He's got to consider that.' " Kelly says. "Other than that, I think there's so much to be done here that it keeps it exciting and challenging."

. . . next . . . big . . . thing.

SportingNews.com Lots of hype, hope _ and Dion Lewis _ for Pitt 6 teams with something to prove Rutgers looking for bigger and better bowl in 2010 After the fall, a new subdued era at USC It's what's up front that counts for Buckeyes

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