Brian Kelly has been a football man since his high school days at St. John's Prep in Danvers, Mass.
Talk to him about how he has gone from playing linebacker at Division III Assumption College to becoming a coach at Division II Grand Valley State to coach at mid-major Central Michigan all the way to the big chair at Notre Dame, and Kelly also could be called a world-class high hurdler.
People have told him all his life what he can't do, but he has cleared all the barriers with room to spare.
"That's my upbringing," Kelly said. "My parents told me I could do anything if I stuck with my plan. I was always told I was too small to play college football, but I played. My attitude is part of my DNA. I never listen to people when they talk about limitations."
Kelly, 48, was voted The Dispatch Ohio College Football Coach of the Year for leading Cincinnati to a second straight outright Big East championship, 12-0 record and appearance in a Bowl Championship Series game.
He never got a chance to coach the Bearcats in the Sugar Bowl against Florida because Notre Dame hired him to succeed Charlie Weis.
There were indications Kelly would be a mover and shaker in 1987, when he got out of college. There was an opening at Grand Valley State and he drove to Allendale, Mich., for an interview.
Kelly was hired as a graduate assistant. Four years later, he was coach. In 13 years as Grand Valley State coach, he won 118 games and national championships in 2002 and 2003.
Few coaches are able to leave Division II colleges because they are typecast as small time. In 2004, Kelly was hired by Central Michigan. He won a Mid-American Conference championship three years later.
"A lot of major college coaches have a pedigree, but I became a head coach at 28, messed up and learned from it," Kelly said.
Tim Hinton, a Columbus- area native who has followed Kelly from Cincinnati to Notre Dame as an assistant, said Kelly wins because he has a player's mentality.
"The energy comes from someone who is so competitive," Hinton said. "He understands when it's time to push, push and push. What he did at Cincinnati was unparalleled. Brian had a concise and clear plan and doesn't have a lot of buyer's remorse. He knows the environment, recognizes his strength and weaknesses and gets the job done."
Jon Carpenter, a Lancaster graduate who was a linebacker and graduate assistant at Cincinnati, told his parents that Kelly is a born leader.
"Jon said coach Kelly would tell the players that they were going to win and no one doubted him," mother Susie Carpenter said. "He said they would win the championship and they all believed it would happen. And they won the championship. Brian Kelly has that confidence and it transfers to the players."
Cincinnati won under Rick Minter and Mark Dantonio, but the city never took to the Bearcats. Kelly arrived in 2007. Sellouts in Nippert Stadium then became common.
"Cincinnati had no ownership in the program and we had to go into the community," he said. "I met a lot of boosters and business leaders. There were a lot of stops. I told them I could do it."
There's another challenge at Notre Dame, where the Irish were 15-21 the previous three seasons.
"We brought the stock at Cincinnati to its highest rating, and now it's time to bring another stock to its highest rating," Kelly said.
mznidar@dispatch.com