From Brockport High to Georgetown University
Kevin Kelly played quarterback at Brockport High School from 1975-1977 under Dahn Walrath before playing three seasons at Springfield College. Following a 21-year journey as a collegiate assistant coach at various stops around the country, the former Blue Devil enters his first season as a head football coach this fall with the Georgetown Hoyas.
"The main difference is that now I need to worry about 98 players instead of maybe 10," said Kelly by telephone. "Everything from A-to-Z."
Kelly's father, Dave, coached Brockport football while teaching in the late 1960s. "Growing up in a coach's household, I always wanted to be a football coach. Then I aspired to become a head coach and finally made it."
Kelly spent time as an assistant coach at Dartmouth College, Northeastern, Bowdoin College, Southern Connecticut, Tulane, two stints at Marshall and two at Syracuse including as a graduate assistant coach under Dick MacPherson. "He was probably my favorite and the coach I've taken the most from," said Kelly of the longtime Orangemen head coach. "He was hard-nosed, but he loved his players and treated them with respect."
Over the last four seasons, he was the special teams coordinator and linebackers coach at Navy in helping take the Midshipmen to three bowl games.
The Hoyas, coming off a 4-7 campaign, made the transition from a Division III program to Division 1-AA in 1993 under Kelly's predecessor Bob Benson, who spent 13 seasons as head coach. They entered the Patriot League in 2001, but the Hoyas have never had a winning season as a league member. Georgetown will open the season Labor Day weekend at home against Holy Cross and will also host Stony Brook, Lehigh, Bucknell and Marist during the regular season. The closest the Hoyas come to the area is a September 30 date at Hamilton, New York against Colgate.
"Bob did a nice job in the transition to the Patriot League, but my job is to take this program to another level," concluded Kelly. "My job is to make Georgetown the elite team in the Patriot League."