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2010 and 2011 should have been BCS bowl teams, but Kelly's stubborn methods of trying to ram square pegs into round holes cost us several wins each year. I'm still pissed at his trying to make Dayne Crist run his offense in a spread-option, run first manner, when we had all of the parts in place for an excellent downfield passing game. That led to his getting his knee blown out, and he was never the same after that.

2012 season is one that I give him full credit for, although Lady Luck was certainly on our side that year, until the end. The funny thing is, that we would have beaten either Kansas State or Oregon, but both of them choked at the end. Alabama was easily the best team in the nation, though, which is why I grudgingly accept that season was about as successful as possible.

2013 should have been a BCS bowl team, possibly even a NC game team, but Everett Golson's actions in the off-season cost us dearly. Still, I give him credit for squeezing out a 9 win season with a MAC backup level quarterback.

2014 could have easily been a NY6 bowl team if the defense weren't so putrid, and the injuries weren't so rampant. His refusal to get rid of Van Gorder cost us at least 4 wins that year.

2015 should have been a playoff team, at the very least, given how much NFL talent was on that roster. Again, Van Gorder's inpetitude cost us at least two games.

2016 should have been a NY6 bowl team as well for the same reasons as 2014. 3 games were lost on special teams blunders, and 5 due to a putrid defense. By all rights, we should have lost the Miami game as well, due to the special teams blunders.



The sheer number of injuries during Kelly 1.0 was astounding, and that was when Paul Longo was at least functional. We actually scared away several recruits (the other St. Brown brothers, especially) when they saw how many knee injuries were just spontaneously occurring.

In 2015 and 2016, Longo was barely even on the premises. His assistants were basically running the program, trying to do what Longo would previously have done. Kelly knew that Longo's health was terrible, but did nothing to replace his good friend with someone better.

It's no coincidence that when we finally got a decent S&C coach in 2017, that the team became much healthier, stronger, etc.