Central Michigan University Athletics
Kelly Fields Ask Coach Kelly Questions
5/3/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
May 3, 2006
MOUNT PLEASANT - Brian Kelly is entering his third season as the head football coach at Central Michigan University. During the 2005 season, he periodically answered questions from fans submitted through cmuchippewas.com. A post-spring edition of Ask Coach Kelly is presented below.
Fans can submit their questions here. Ask Coach Kelly will be a periodic feature over the summer and will return as a regular feature during the 2006 season.
What do you feel the biggest challenge is for this year's Chippewa team? How are you going to address it?
Chris
Midland, MI
Coach Kelly: At this point, our biggest challenge is similar to what the top schools in this conference have dealt with: keeping our front-line players healthy. We've established a winning attitude within our program and we have a confident group of players. Now, what do we need to do to stay on par with the rest of the league? We need to be careful in practice and find a balance with competing and being smart and staying healthy. We have more depth than we have in the past, but our front-line guys need to be ready for Saturday.
My dream has been to be a football coach. How did you get started?
Corey
Mount Pleasant, MI
Coach Kelly: I took what you could call a non-traditional path. I think the best way to get started in this profession, if you're just starting out and don't have any contacts, is to volunteer at a local high school or college. I would encourage anyone with a passion for the game and the coaching profession to start out that way.
How do you think the performance of the team against Boston College and Michigan will affect our nonconference scheduling in future years?
Jameson
Mount Pleasant, MI
Coach Kelly: Obviously if we're not competitive in those games it will change our strategy in future years. But, we would not have taken on the nonconference opponents we have this season unless we believed that we were prepared to play and play well. We would not have set up a schedule like this a couple of years ago. How our football team prepares during the summer be a key factor in our performance as a team in those games.
Hey coach, how's the Jumbotron looking?
Chris
Sterling Heights, MI
Coach Kelly: We are still in the process of raising money and we are nearing our goal. One thing I can guarantee is that we will not put a scoreboard and video board in place that is not the jewel of this conference. We will continue until the proper money is raised and we can put into place what will be considered the best scoreboard and video board in the league.
What are your thoughts on the addition of the International Bowl to the MAC bowl lineup?
Mary
Cadillac, MI
Coach Kelly: If we are going to schedule and play the types of games we are anticipating over the next few years, and with going to a 12-game schedule, we need a third and fourth bowl to give schools motivation to play games against schools from conferences like the Big Ten and ACC. Now, with our additional tie-ins, we sit in a similar situation as Conference USA and the Mountain West, which is what we were asking for all along.
