It took him the better part of 8 years to get it right, and he still has some pieces of the puzzle that are missing, but we're in a much more solid position than that of any of the post-Holtz era. Brian Kelly now understands what it takes to be successful at Notre Dame, which was a much more difficult task than blazing through a feeble Big East back when he was at Cincinnati.
The depth chart looks pretty darn good, and he has a good system in place. We're not stuck with two and three star talent that almost nobody else in the FBS really wanted (look at Tyrone's 2004 class as a prime example). While we don't have the boatloads of 5 star talent, continued consistently good seasons will get you more of them.
Now, that being said, he should have had the program at this level back in 2015. His stubborn refusal to jettison the cancers on the coaching staff (Longo, Van Gorder, Booker) slowed the development, and got him in some serious hot water in 2016.