If Brian Kelly was the sole decision make on this hire, then I'm sure Kerry Cooks would have been the guy, given that they worked together previously (i.e., typical Kelly hire). I realize O'Leary was on Kelly's staff as a GA, but Kelly's never promoted those guys to coaching positions before. He's always gone back and hired previous coaches. My guess is O'Leary impressed Freeman the most during the interview. It will be interesting to see if this approach applies to the defensive personnel as well. I wouldn't be surprised if a couple guys that were buried by the previous staff get noticed by Freeman.
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