Notre Dame has just suffered a loss for which its head coach, Brian Kelly, must lose his job. While fans offered deep lamentations over Navy’s easy, 35-17, victory over the Fighting Irish on the gridiron, it is a loss of life for which Kelly must be fired. On Wednesday afternoon, in spite of severe wind gusts, Brian Kelly chose to have his team practice outside. During the course of that practice, 20-year old Declan Sullivan was killed when the lift on which he was standing was blown over. This is a tragedy which could, and should, have been avoided.
While a team practicing outside in those conditions may be acceptable, sending a young man 50 feet into the air on a piece of equipment, which explicitly states should not be used in heavy winds, is inexcusable. Make no mistake, if the buck stops with Kelly regarding the on-field performance, and off-field behavior, of his team, it most certainly does as regards what is taking place on his practice field.
While what occurred was clearly an accident, that does not mean that there aren’t liable parties. Federal law maintains that employers must maintain a safe work environment for their employees. In the case of this loss, that standard was clearly not met. As the representative of the university responsible for the workplace in question (i.e., the practice field), Kelly must be held to account for a willful disregard of the conditions under which one of the university’s employees was made to work.
Rooting interest must not be allowed to cloud judgment at such a time. While Notre Dame fans have invested a great deal of hope in the abilities of Mr. Kelly to resucitate a moribund program and bring it back to prominence, the irresponsibility shown on his part in this matter should outweigh such considerations. A young man’s life was cut tragically short because Brian Kelly was more focused on the conditions in which his team practiced than those in which this student worked.
To any who might cast doubt on the weather’s severity, we have Tweets from Declan Sullivan himself that day, including one moments before the incident, where he discusses the frightful conditions. Even if we didn’t have documentary evidence, that this incident occurred at all is as damning an indictment as is necessary to move forward in removing the responsible parties (Kelly and, possibly, AD Jack Swarbrick) from their positions.
Consider also that coaches have rightfully been removed for indiscretions far less severe than that which cost a student his life. In April of 2010, newly-hired Hofstra basketball coach, Tim Welsh, was charged with a DWI after police found him, apparently, passed out behind the wheel of his car at a green light. Three days later, Welsh was forced to resign his position. In the incident with Welsh, no one was injured and no property was damaged. His employer (Hofstra University) recognized, however, that the irresponsibility shown by Welsh, and the attendant negative publicity brought to the school were completely sufficient grounds to seek an end to their relationship.
Notre Dame has long taken pride in the manner in which the school’s athletic teams conduct themselves Stemming from its grounding in Catholic morality, Notre Dame has traditionally abided by standards of ethical behavior which many other major college programs simply choose to ignore. This is a major test of the school’s true committment to these values. Notre Dame’s most recognized property (its football team) is struggling and Kelly is a coach most believe capable of returning them to prominence. Firing Kelly may in both the long and short term hurt Notre Dame football. It shouldn’t matter. The questions now become – is football more important than doing what is right and proper; and does the potential success of the football team matter more than the lives of the students at Notre Dame? If the university chooses to retain Brian Kelly, it will have answered both resoundingly.
