When University of Dayton football coach Mike Kelly announced on Jan. 22, 2008 that he was stepping down as UD's football coach, he ended one of the winningest coaching careers in the history of college football. He has since remained at UD and expanded his duties as an Associate Director of Athletics.

Kelly spent 27 seasons as the University of Dayton's head football coach. It seems like right to compare him with all the men who coached college football before him. Some have did it longer. A few have did it better. Virtually none have done both.

When he stepped down following the 2007 season, Kelly's career winning percentage of .819 was the best of any active coach who had been in the profession 25 years or more, and was the fourth-best-all time (25 years or more experience). Florida A&M's legendary Jake Gaither is No. 1 (.844), Nebraska's Tom Osborne is second (.836) and Michigan's Fielding Yost (.828) is third. After 27 seasons as UD's head coach, Kelly's career record of 246-54-1 averaged out to nine wins a season.

At the time of his retirement from coaching, only two active coaches at the Division I level -- Florida State's Bobby Bowden and Penn State's Joe Paterno had more wins than Kelly, who was inducted into the UD Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008.

Kelly cemented his place among college football's coaching giants during the 2002 season when he became the second-fastest coach in NCAA history to reach 200 wins. He made it in just 242 games--faster than Joe Paterno, faster than Bo Schembechler, faster than Woody Hayes, faster than Bear Bryant. In fact, only Gaither (240 games) won 200 games faster than Mike Kelly when Kelly joined that exclusive club (Mt. Union's Larry Kehres has since reached the milestone in 220 games.)

If you're not a numbers person, consider what Kelly's peers think of him. He was the Pioneer Football League's Coach of the Year six out of the first 15 years the league was been in existence, and the Football Gazette NCAA Division I-AA (FCS) Non-Scholarship Coach of the Year four times.

During his first 12 years as head coach, the Flyers were in the NCAA Division III category and went to the playoffs eight times, including six consecutive appearances dating from 1986. When UD moved up to Division I-AA, that streak was the longest among all D-III schools.

Dayton went to the national title game four times under Kelly's leadership, winning the 1989 national title. The Flyers also won the 1980 Division III national championship when Kelly was the top assistant coach.

In 1993, the Flyers moved into the NCAA Division I-AA ranks and joined the Pioneer Football League, their first conference affiliation since the golden years of the 1920's when they belonged to the old Buckeye Conference under legendary coach Harry Baujan.

And speaking of Baujan, Kelly surpassed Baujan as Dayton's winningest coach ever in 1993, passing the Blond Beast's total of 124 wins. Baujan, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and a Dayton legend in his own right, guided the Flyers from 1923-49 and compiled a record of 124-64-8. Kelly's 27 seasons as UD's head coach was the most of any Flyer football coach. Baujan guided UD's football fortunes for 24 years. In fact, no Flyer coach in any sport had been a head coach as long as Mike Kelly.

From the time the Pioneer Football League began play in 1993 until his final season in 2007, Kelly's Flyers won the championship outright six times and tied for the title in 1994, 1999 and 2007. The league expanded in 2001, and UD won the first two PFL championship games. Dayton beat Jacksonville at home 46-14 in 2001, and shutout Morehead State at Morehead 28-0 in 2002.

UD's defensive strength over Kelly's years remained as a cornerstone of its success. Dayton perennially has been among the NCAA leaders in many defensive categories.

Before being selected as the Flyer's head coach, Kelly was defensive coordinator under Rick Carter at UD for four seasons. Carter and Kelly first teamed together in the same positions at Hanover College in 1975 and `76.

In the 27 years Kelly was Dayton's head coach, every other Division I football team in Ohio has had at least three coaches.

Kelly is a graduate of Milton-Union High School in West Milton, OH, and later attended Manchester (IN) College. He was quarterback on the football team and catcher on the baseball team while lettering in both sports for all four years.

After graduating with a degree in Physical Education and Health, he taught and coached at the high school level from 1970-75. During that time, he also earned his master's degree in Physical Education from Ball State University.

The University's past president, Brother Raymond L. Fitz, once said "I regard Mike Kelly as one of the best teachers the University of Dayton has." In February, 2002, Kelly was awarded one of the annual Lackner Awards. The award is named for Brother Elmer Lackner, S.M., who served the University for 45 years. The recipients are chosen based on behavior congruent with the Catholic and Marianist identity of the University.

Mike and his wife Jeanne reside in Kettering. They have two daughters -- Jodie Beth and Nikki.