He came in with over 20 years of HC experience but in his first 7 years he only had two 10+ win seasons, going: 8-5, 8-5, 12-1, 9-4, 8-5, 10-3, 4-8...not exactly routine.
Then in his 8th year he was literally minutes from falling to 9-4 when a little known Freshman named Ian Book came in and saved his ass with a last minute miracle TD pass to get him to 10-3.
Then in his next three years he had his most successful stretch at ND with Book as his QB, making the playoff two times in three years with 12-1, 11-2, and 10-2 seasons. Then he scraped out an 11-1 in his 12th year against a schedule even weaker than what we play in '24, .
So yes, he had 10+ his last five years and a very special three year stretch from 2018-2020 in the midst of that, but can you really say he did something routinely when it was only routine for less than half the time he was here?
Notre Dame's all time win % is .730 (the reduced % from games forfeited while Kelly was HC) while Kelly has a .738 win % at ND (if you don't remove the forfeited games which becomes .696 if you remove them).
Kelly's win % was .723 prior to the 2021 season, which means he spent the first 11 years of his time at ND with a lower win % than our all time average (lower than the lowered % from his forfeited games that don't count against him). Meanwhile Freeman in his first two years ever doing this HC thing has a .731 win %.
This is not meant to paint Freeman as some Saint, but let's stop over selling what Kelly accomplished on the field at ND. The reality is if you compare him to every HC we ever hired who came in with prior HC experience, he has the second "Lowest" win % of all of them, only higher than Tyrone Willingham.