Following Alabama’s embarrassing beat down of Notre Dame in the BCS championship game, Fighting Irish coach Brian Kelly knew he needed to make some changes.

So he sought out three-time Super Bowl winning coach Bill Belichick and asked him to evaluate his program, according to Yahoo! Sports’ Dan Wetzel.

The coaches met last February while participating in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in California. They became fast friends and that’s when Kelly submitted his offseason request.

“I asked him if he could spend some time watching games and we could discuss,” Kelly told Yahoo! Sports.

Belichick was all for it.

“I just really enjoy talking football,” Belichick said. “So much goes into the entire process that it’s impossible to run out of things to work on – coaching, playing, practice, preparation, scouting, technology, how the whole structure fits together.”

In March, Belichick spent about a day and a half in South Bend, Ind. working with the Irish coaching staff, watching film, asking questions and coaching them on how to coach. Kelly said he didn’t know what to expect, but that was partly why he extended the invitation.

Kelly said Belichick was very direct in his observations.

“He would watch a play and say, ‘Why didn’t your players adjust to that? Why didn’t you let your player make that adjustment? He was in a four technique, an inside shade of the tackle, and you knew it was a boot down and you knew they were going to break contain, why didn’t you let a four go to a five?'” Kelly said.

This was a “complete diagnosis” for Notre Dame, and the team embraced the advice. And Belichick reaped benefits, too.