Posted by: Chris Vannini on February 13, 2013

It's that time of year, when strength coaches start building the foundation for the 2013 season.

Across the country, teams have been going through winter workouts, and today, Notre Dame released a video about it's strength program.

In another video, Brian Kelly talks about the toughness being the foundation of his Irish program.

"We want to be able to exert physicality during the game," Kelly said. "We don't want to be a finesse team. We don't want to be a team that's considered soft in any way. We want to play the game with a physical presence. I want that toughness with our football team, one that's going to run the ball, play great run defense, tackle. All the basic tenants of good football, I want that in my football team.

"As well as the mental end of things. We want a mental toughness. It's not just the physical end of things, so they can overcome any obstacles. A mental and physical toughness is what I want our team to look like. I want guys on the field that are ready to battle on a 4th-and-1 situation, come up with a goal-line stand.

"Show that toughness on the field, and off the field, represent our program in a positive way. I want good, tough gentlemen that represent this program positively day in and day out."

In that same Kelly video, former Irish player Tim Brown had high praise for the Irish head man.

"I've been around a lot of coaches through the NFL, but I've really only been impressed by three men, as far as their football knowledge," Brown said. "The first would obviously be Lou Holtz, the second would be Jon Gruden, and the third would be Brian Kelly."

_______________

Chris Vannini is the lead writer for CoachingSearch.com and has covered Michigan State sports for The State News, The Oakland Press and MLive.com. He writes a weekly column for the Detroit Free Press on behalf of SB Nation. Vannini lives in Big Ten country, so his foot speed is far from SEC caliber, but his pulse on coaches is hard to match. Be sure to follow @CoachingBuzz on twitter and send your feedback to chris@coachingsearch.com