Brian Kelly will be named the new head coach at Notre Dame today.  It's a good move for him, going from a small fish in a mud puddle to a whale in the ocean. 

Kelly is a guy who has had success everywhere he's ever been.  Now, he takes center stage at a once proud program that's fallen on hard times (not going to a BCS bowl every year is considered hard times at Notre Dame.)

Irish fans, alums and check writers are hoping Kelly can do what Nick Saban has done at Alabama: Lead the program out of the wilderness.  Kelly will receive all of the credit if he is successful and all of the blame if he isn't.  Notre Dame, like Alabama is a football fishbowl and every step he takes, every move he makes, they'll be watching him.

Of course, in accepting the Notre Dame gig, Kelly has created some collateral damage with his current team, the Cincinnati Bearcats.  Several players on the team are disappointed that Kelly is leaving and even more disappointed that he was less than truthful with them about his intentions in the first place.  The hero of Cincinnati's win over Pittsburgh, receiver Marty Gilyard said ""I feel like there was a little lying in this thing, I feel like he's known the whole time. I kind of had a gut feeling that he was going to stay because he told me he was going to be here. But it is what it is. He made a business decision."

There are several ways to look at this.  If you are negotiating with an employer for an opportunity at their company, it's a bad idea to tell your current company you might be leaving, especially if those negotiations don't work out.  It's also not a good idea to if you are a college coach to tell everyone you are talking to so and so because if the negotiations go south, potential recruits may not sign with you. 

Sure your kids feel betrayed, but that's what happens when a coach moves on up to the east side.  Kelly made a decision that will surely make him a lot wealthier than he ever was at UC, plus Notre Dame has all the buzzers and whistles he wanted for his school already in place.  Kelly has worked for several years, why shouldn't he allow himself to take on a huge challenge like this?  Even if he fails at Jerry Faustian levels, he will still land on his feet somewhere when he's done.  ESPN employs two former Notre Dame coaches, Ty Willingham got another chance at Washington and Charlie Weis will be back in the NFL next season.

While Gilyard may be hurting today, he'll have his chance in the NFL someday to become a free agent and make demands of his own.  After all, forget the BCS, the conference titles or the Heisman Trophy.  The Benjamins still rule.