UHND.com - Notre Dame Football, Basketball, & Recruiting

the top football programs. And Brian Kelly is not close to the other top head coaches as a recruiter. Head coaches such as Swinney, Saban, Smart etc. are miles ahead of Kelly as recruiters. Urban Meyer, one of the best ever, would surely say that the most important aspect in college football today is recruiting. I was thrilled when Kelly announced the intention of Notre Dame to become a top five recruiting program. Yet, when he made the last few hires, it is hard to see that any emphasis was on recruiting. Long is gone and he was one of the best recruiters. Yet no one hired since his departure is known as an elite recruiter. As recruiters, Reese, Mickens and particularly McNulty are more or less unknown commodities recruiting wise, even though Mickens seems like he might be a good one. Quinn is not getting the job done this year either. Until recruiting becomes the #1 criteria for hiring coaches, Notre Dame will always be behind the top programs and will not get over the hump to join the elite football programs. The 2020 class which started off like it was on fire, is going downhill fast. We were talking about getting an elite running back and a top notch offensive line. Not any more. We will finish with a class that will be outside the top 10. I understand the frustration of many of the posters on this board and get the feeling that as long as Kelly is the head coach, recruiting will continue to be mediocre.