Notre Dame's Kelly: 'I led this team poorly'

After posting a 4-8 record - the school's worst since 2007 - Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly made no excuses.

"There are no bad football teams," Kelly told reporters Monday. "There are just poorly led football teams. I led this team poorly."

The unsuccessful season led to a massive overhaul of the Fighting Irish's coaching staff, as Kelly added new coordinators and new position and strength coaches.

Kelly also said he wanted to relinquish play-calling duties heading into 2017, in order to keep his focus on the program as a whole.

In turn, he hired Chip Long as offensive coordinator, who spent the 2016 season at Memphis.

Former Wake Forest defensive coordinator Mike Elko was also brought in, after leading top-40 defenses the last five years while at Bowling Green and with the Demon Deacons.

"The great thing about Notre Dame is you're not defined by what happened in the past," Kelly said. "We all know we did not live up to the expectations. We didn't sit around and talk about what we didn't do. We spent all of our time thinking about what we needed to do to be successful."

Kelly also said Notre Dame would not travel to Florida in March for spring practice, even though the new rule banning such trips does not take effect until August.

"I just feel like with that rule now officially on the books, it doesn't make any sense for us to do something that they have now legislated out," Kelly said. "I don't want to be that team that jumps in there just before they change the legislation."