Weeks before Lions vice chairman Bill Ford Jr. chose the “no comment” option when asked whether coach Jim Schwartz needs to have a big season in 2013, the rumor mill already had been grinding.
As the theory goes, if the Lions don’t turn it around this year, Schwartz will be out and the Lions will pursue Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly.
Kelly flirted with the Eagles after the BCS national title game, before deciding to stay at South Bend. It’s now believed that the CEO of Notre Dame Football, Inc. will eventually jump to the NFL.
Before coaching at Notre Dame and the University of Cincinnati, Kelly spent 20 years in Michigan, serving as an assistant at Division II Grand Valley State from 1987 through 1990, head coach from 1991 through 2003, and then head coach at Central Michigan from 2004 through 2006.