SOUTH BEND – Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly knows there are plenty of people watching how he interacts with his players on the sideline.

The first-year Irish football coach is not afraid to let his players know when they did something wrong, and he doesn’t mask his frustrations from them or the TV audience.

“It seems a big topic of conversation, my sideline demeanor,” Kelly said.

Kelly’s intensity is what Notre Dame players wanted when the university was looking for a new coach in December.

Players said they wanted a young, energetic leader, and they got their wish in Kelly.

“The way he carries himself and behaves is something that definitely carries over to the team,” safety Harrison Smith said. “He’s got a lot of passion for what he does. He translates that to us in a very good way.”

Smith said part of Kelly’s effectiveness is that he doesn’t focus his wrath on one player; everybody is treated the same after mistakes.

And while the volume is way up, Kelly is always clearly articulating the message he wants a player to hear.

“When he yells, he is making a point or statement,” left guard Chris Stewart said. “He also teaches when he talks like that. Sometimes it is like, ‘Oh, Jesus.’ But he is very productive in what he does.”

Kelly doesn’t just criticize his players. He will also tell them how to execute what he wants to see from them.

“The thing about him is he won’t tell you to do something and not tell you how to do it,” linebacker Manti Te’o said. “There are some coaches who will tell you ‘do this,’ but they won’t tell you how to do it. He will tell you to do it and tell you how to get there.”

As far as Kelly’s messages coming across in a loud, animated manner, Te’o said that is just part of the coach’s style.

“As a player, you can’t have a thin skin,” Te’o said. “You have to take the coaching points and get better. He is not going to yell at you just to pick on you. He is yelling at you because he cares, because he expects you to do better.”

Though Kelly’s words grab fans’ attention when they try to read his lips during televised games, Smith said the manner the coach delivers the message doesn’t bother the players.

“That is stuff that we don’t even think about that. It is nothing to us,” Smith said. “When some people see things like that, they go, ‘Did you see that?’ In the heat of the game, things happen a lot faster than it looks on TV. During the game, everything is going on, there is people every where. It is kind of more blurry during the game.”

Stewart said the best way to deal with being in Kelly’s crosshairs is to respond on the field.

“You pay attention, you listen and you make sure none of it happens again,” Stewart said. “It is better to not say anything and go about your business.”

tkrausz@jg.net