What you described is human nature

With a sample size this large, it's only natural that you will find some players, and their families, who love Brian Kelly; some who hate him; and some who are ambivalent about him. I'm pretty sure you could make the same statement about Lou.

For those of us who were on the board back then, it's no secret how universally detested Ty Willingham was on this board at the time (perhaps even moreso than Kelly, although a comparison is largely irrelevant). At the same time, it was posted here on more than one occasion that when news broke that he had been fired, Justin Tuck was on a rampage inside his dorm. From that information, it's not unreasonable to conclude that Justin Tuck, one of the more successful ND football players of that era, liked, or perhaps even loved, Ty.