Early on in his time at Cincinnati, I remember reading a Sports Illustrated profile on former Bearcats and current Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly. The article came out a long time ago and most of the details have long since been lost on me, but there was one that still sticks out. It had to do with the way Kelly handled former Bearcats’ quarterback Tony Pike.
When Kelly arrived at Cincinnati prior to the 2007 season, Pike was buried on the depth chart, the kind of guy who was going through the motions, happy to be along for the ride, and collecting his scholarship money, even if he wasn’t really doing anything to earn it. Well at least Pike was, until one day when Brian Kelly bumped into him and in not so many words, basically told him: “Get the hell out.” That if Pike wasn’t going to start working harder and taking himself more seriously, than Kelly didn’t want him as part of the program anymore.
Well apparently whatever Kelly said worked. Pike eventually went from “bu...
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