Brian Kelly takes blame for Notre Dame's 4-8 season

Brian Kelly isn't making any excuses for theNotre Dame Fighting Irish's performance this season, saying all the blame falls on his shoulders.

"There are no bad football teams," Kelly told reporters Monday. "There's just poorly led football teams. I led this team poorly."

After a 4-8 season, Kelly has shaken up his staff with seven assistant coaches in new posts, including coordinator jobs on both sides of the ball. Mike Elko will run the defense and Chip Long will be in charge of the offense.

He said he met with athletic director Jack Swarbrick after the season to draw up a "blueprint for what we needed to do to be successful."

"The great thing about Notre Dame is you're not defined by what happened in the past," Kelly said. "We all know we did not live up to the expectations. We didn't sit around and talk about what we didn't do. We spent all of our time thinking about what we needed to do to be successful."

Also Monday, Kelly said the Irish would not hold practice at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, over spring break in March. He said the plans were scuttled after the NCAA recently decided to ban such trips, beginning in August.

"I just feel like with that rule now officially on the books, it doesn't make any sense for us to do something that they have now legislated out," Kelly said."I don't want to be that team that jumps in there just before they change the legislation."