Professor Mike Kelly recently accepted the wide receiver's coaching position with the Edmonton Eskimos in the CFL.

Professor Mike Kelly leaving to coach in CFL

By: Mike Mazzeo

Posted: 2/1/08

Mike Kelly is trading in his textbooks for playbooks.

The former Drexel sports management professor is heading north of the border after accepting the position of wide receiver's coach with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League (CFL).

Kelly, however, is no stranger to the coaching ranks.

Prior to coming to Drexel in 2005, he coached for 25 years on both professional and collegiate levels.

Kelly held coaching positions in three different professional football leagues in various capacities, serving as an offensive coordinator in both the CFL with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (1992-1996) and the now defunct XFL with the Orlando Rage (2001). In 2002, he was an offensive assistant for Eagles head coach Andy Reid. Kelly served in player personnel for the Washington Redskins under head coach Steve Spurrier from 2003 to 2004.

He held the head football coaching position at Valdosta State University in Georgia from 1997-1999. Previously he had been with Ohio Wesleyan University (1986-1987) and San Francisco State University (1990-1991).

"Anyone who has had classes with me knows I'm a coach," Kelly said. "I'm a coach, so I need to go coach."

Being out of coaching left him out of the loop, and he had to take the appropriate steps to comeback.

"It's a process getting [back] in," Kelly said. "I've been out for three seasons now and people were starting to question what happened to me."

However, he has kept in contact with those who he befriended over the years, such as the San Diego Chargers linebacker's coach Ron Rivera and Reid.

"I've maintained some really close relationships in the CFL and NFL," Kelly said.

Those relationships gave Kelly his most recent opportunity.

Eskimos general manager Paul Jones, who worked with Kelly during his stint with the Blue Bombers, informed Kelly that there was a job opening in the organization. Jones set up an interview for Kelly with Eskimos head coach Danny Maciocia and he was offered the position less than an hour into the talks.

After weighing his options and consulting family and friends, he made what he called "the most difficult and gut wrenching decision" to return to the coaching ranks and pursue his true passion.

Kelly even sought advice from the Eagles head coach during a 20-minute phone conversation.

"The bottom line is if you want to coach, you've got to go coach," he said.

Despite his liking for his teaching job Kelly understood that if he waited any longer to get back into coaching, it may have been too late.

Kelly inherits a receiving core which includes ex-Baltimore Raven Clarence Moore.

Moore, who caught five career NFL touchdown passes, will be Kelly's main project, as he must adapt to a brand new style of football.

"It's a whole different game," Kelly said.

While communicating with Moore might come with relative ease, trying to find different ways to instill knowledge into dozens of students was hard work.

The challenge of teaching, Kelly said, was, "Presenting material in a variety of ways so that everyone grasped some idea of the concept."

Often he would refer to real life experiences, going against the grain in terms of lecturing right out of a textbook.

"There's a lot to be said about real life experience and bringing it to the classroom," Kelly said. "I'm more of 'show me what you've done' over 'show me what you've studied.'"

His outside-the-box approach as a professor may have proved successful, but his greatest success may have claim shaping the sport management major.

Kelly took a fledging program and created new courses such as "Monday Night Football" while adding a sport management advisory board that features the likes of ex-Eagle Super Bowl quarterback Ron Jaworski and Greg Cosell, executive director of NFL films.

"It was exciting to come in and get the program on its feet and get some recognition," he said.

Kelly was grateful for the chance that Drexel gave him.

"I am so happy that I had this opportunity, he said. "It was a wonderful experience."

Asked about what type of advice he would give his students Kelly said, "Sport management is all about networking. It's not being afraid to call people, or going up to someone and shaking their hand."

While he would consider a move back to the NFL if the right situation occurred, he feels content in the CFL.

"If an NFL job opens and I'm with the right people, great. If not, I'm happy with the CFL. It's a high level of competition. It's professional football."