"I gave up a $35,000 a year job at age 21," Kelly recalled. "It was like a plum job in politics. (Four years later), I drove my (Ford) Escort out to Allendale, Mich. And I went through like five hours of cornfields to get there.

"I said, ‘What am I doing?' And then I got to the first practice and just knew. They didn't have to pay me for this. Just being around the players, the game itself, the strategies, the tactics — it just consumed me to the point where I'll find a way to make it."

That same year (1987), Kelly gave his father 50-yard-line tickets for a Notre Dame football game for Paul Kelly's 50th birthday. Paul had never been to the ND campus before, and hadn't been there since — until Friday.

"Walking around the campus, I was just in awe," Paul Kelly said. "I couldn't believe that kind of atmosphere. ... And I can't believe that I'm here today, listening to the head coach."

The emotions welled up inside him as he remembered the days when he used to give Brian coaching advice.

"My advice was in the younger years, to make sure he was on the right track," Paul Kelly said. "Once I saw that was taking place, he took care of the rest. He's handling this himself. He's not my little boy anymore. He doesn't need a lot of advice from Dad."