NOTRE DAME, Indiana — After the sixthˆ 10-win season in his 11-year Irish tenure, Dick Corbett Head Football Coach Brian Kelly has been named a finalist for the Dodd Trophy, which honors a coach who couples a successful football season with academic excellence and character.
Finalists include five of the nation’s top coaches in college football who embody the award’s three pillars of scholarship, leadership and integrity, both on and off the field.
The Dodd Trophy fan vote will begin Tuesday, December 22 at 2 p.m., ET and end on Wednesday, December 23 at 9 p.m., ET. Fans can vote on Twitter and Facebook by retweeting or sharing the post of Kelly.
In his 30th season as a collegiate head coach in 2020 and 11th year at the University of Notre Dame, Dick Corbett Head Football Coach Brian Kelly owns the second-most wins (102ˆ) among all head coaches in Notre Dame’s history, second only to Knute Rocke (105), and Kelly is the winningest active coach in the FBS with 273ˆ career wins.
Kelly has posted threeˆ undefeated regular seasons in his time at Notre Dame. He was named AP ACC Coach of the Year in 2020, and is the only three-time winner of the Home Depot Coach of the Year Award (‘09, ‘12, ‘18).
In 2020, he notched his first win over an AP No. 1 team with the 47-40 win over Clemson (Nov. 7, 2020). With the 52-0 shoutout of South Florida, he became the third coach in Notre Dame history with three or more wins of at least 25 points over ranked teams, joining Lou Holtz and Frank Leahy (eight).
He joins Knute Rockne (13), Leahy, Ara Parseghian and Holtz (11) as the only Notre Dame coaches to spend 11 or more seasons on the Irish sidelines. He ranks second in winning percentage among active FBS coaches (.741ˆ) who have coached in 300 or more career games (Nick Saban – .795). He has finished .500 or better in 28-of-30 seasons as a head coach.
The winner of the Dodd Trophy will be announced the week of the New Year’s Six bowl games.
ˆ – Includes 20 regular-season wins and two postseason appearances vacated under discretionary NCAA penalty.