The Notre Dame adage is to "Play Like A Champion Today."

Certainly, the Irish have not lived up to that motto recently and that's why there was a change at the top.

It's been a trying month for Irish players, going 0-4 to close the season and seeing their head coach Charlie Weis, fired.

"It’s very, very tough," defensive lineman Ethan Johnson explained about the 10 days between when Weis was fired and now. "It’s really rough when you lose four in a row when you had great expectations for the season."

"But, you know it's today now, and it's just time to move forward."

Today, brings a new coach in Brian Kelly of Cincinnati.

And after hearing Kelly talk at a meeting Friday morning, the Irish players are ready to "Play for Kelly Today."

"We could have went out and played a game right after our meeting," tight end Kyle Rudolph explained about two hours after the team met with Kelly for the first time on Friday.

"I feel like his passion went throughout the entire meeting room, from us to everyone that was in there. I just feel that when we left and went to breakfast, everyone just kept talking about it and talking about it. I feel that everyone is very excited."

With the seniors leaving and Golden Tate and Jimmy Clausen also headed to the NFL, Notre Dame has some new leaders. One of them is quarterback Dayne Crist, who was equally impressed with Kelly's excitement.

"I think everyone fed off of his energy in the team meeting and his passion was very contagious," Crist said. "His competitiveness was very contagious. I think it will have some great effects on the team and we are all just excited for the whole situation."

Crist is recovering from ACL surgery. It's unclear whether he will be ready to go for spring practice. One thing is for sure, he will be the guy once the fall comes around. With Tate gone, his main weapon at wide receiver will be Michael Floyd.

The Irish may switch to a spread offense, which Kelly used at Cincy. That's ok for Floyd who is just as excited as anyone for the new coach to be on board.

"I like him a lot," Floyd said. "He’s real enthusiastic. He’s real energized and pumped up to be here, so I am real excited for that."

Crist's other main target will of course be his tight end Rudolph. Rudolph had another reason to be excited to have Kelly here. Kyle is from Cincinnati.

"It’s very special to have a guy come from my hometown to come and coach us," the Elder High School grad said. "To be recruited by him in the past and for him to come here, its kind of cool."

"His energy and his want to be here will transcend," Crist said. "You know the kinds of challenges we will face and it will translate to success of the football field."

"I could definitely tell he was fired up," Johnson said. "It fired me up to see how excited he was. You know its amazing to hear a successful coach talk about it being his dream to coach here.

"We are just really excited to move forward and I'm just excited to get working in the off-season."

The spring game is just four months away.