The 29-year-old was forced to hang up his boots almost three years ago after the knee wrecked by a shocking tackle on his Scotland debut failed to hold up to the rigours of regular first-team football.
But Kennedy has refused to wallow in what-might-have beens after his career was brought to a premature end.
And he's loving every minute of his job as Under-20 coach at Parkhead.
He said: "I have never been a pessimistic person, I don't think of what my career might have been had I not got the injury when I did.
"I was very lucky in that Celtic gave me an offer to do some scouting and coaching work.
"The way it has worked out, I'm so busy with the coaching that I'm now concentrating on this alone.
"I love it. Even as a young player, I always had an eye on doing my badges and I would have done them when I was relatively young.
"It was always something that I gravitated to and I really enjoy it. You see a whole different side to things and I consider myself pretty lucky that I've had the opportunity to remain in football, doing something that I love.
Kennedy's youngsters lost their opening NextGen match, somewhat unluckily, to Sporting Lisbon at Firhill last Thursday night.
But it is the type of competition that they, as well as Kennedy himself, can learn much from.
Kennedy himself was pitched into the pressure of a Uefa Cup tie against Barcelona in the Nou Camp after injuries had wreaked havoc on Martin O'Neill's squad.
And he believes games such as the one last week can prepare the youngsters in his squad when they come to move into the senior side.
"It is all about belief," he said. "They are at Celtic because they are good enough to be here. Part of our job is to make sure that when it comes to going into the first team that they are not overawed by it, that they know by that stage that they have what it takes to be there.
"The other part of that is that they can't get too far ahead of themselves either. There might be times when we need to bring them down to earth a bit because no matter what stage you are at, you've never made it.
"Ultimately, our aim is simply to keep producing players that are good enough to progress to the first-team.
"This season we have seen around eight of them feature at some stage and it's important that they learn from that."
Kennedy's youth means that he is not too far away from the stage that many of the teenagers under his jurisdiction are at now, something that is reflected in his management style.
"I treat them as adults," he said. "This is their job and we trust that they will go about their business in the right way.
"They are a good group and they're all good to work with."
