How many years are we supposed to tolerate Brian Kelly before he can win a national championship? 10? 12? 21? You know, in thinking about it, I'm tired of a coach who has a losing record in bowl games and can't seem to win "the big one." This has gone far too long, and we should move on. Nine years in and there's still no national championship.
Well...
I just described Tom Osborne. His bowl record was 12-13 and at one stretch lost seven of them in a row. It wasn't until his 22nd season that Nebraska finally broke through and won three out of the next four national championships.
I still like the overall direction Kelly has taken the program the past two years. My main concern is if Chip Long is the right guy - I don't believe he is, but he might prove me wrong. The program isn't that far away. Although, I hope it doesn't take 22 years.
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and have 3 less coaches win NCs.
You know why we had so many different coaches win NCs and were at the forefront of winning% and consensus NCs for so long... because we DIDN'T hold on to coaches who didn't get it done for 10, 15, 20 years.
Our model was to cut bait if they hadn't won a title within 5 years and it worked...we have broken our success model by 4 years now with Kelly and every year we keep him without a title under his belt we go further off course.
These last two years were the high water mark for Kelly (and are nearly identical to his '12-'13 seasons)
...so I hope you really enjoyed them, because a so so season against a semi-difficult schedule followed by a mediocre bowl win, in tow with an undefeated regular season against an unusually weak schedule (due to traditionally good teams having down years) then an embarrassing blowout fashion loss when we actually play an elite team, is as good as it will ever get with Kelly.
I'm not calling for him to be fired right now, I'm just telling it like it is. The Tom Osborne story is the exception, not the norm...the norm is, most coaches won't accomplish something at a destination, if they couldn't do it in the first 10 or even 5 years.
We've just come off his high water mark, so best be prepared now for a temporary return of some lows..
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greater that if you have to wait that long you will never even get one.
The vast majority of times (aka the norm) a coach will show you what he's capable of at your destination within the first 5 seasons....10 is overkill, and anything more than that is just a fools errand 'hoping on a star' your guy is the exception to the rule. That is not how Notre Dame got to the forefront of college football and it's foolish to think that holding onto someone like Kelly for 20 yrs provides more promise than giving 4 different quality candidates their 5 year stints in that same span does. If we did that in the past we likely never get Leahy, Ara or Holtz...stick to the model and we'll return to prominence, but keep holding onto guys too long and we'll continue to spiral downwards towards the middle of the pack.
You can give Kelly his entire life to try and win a championship, but "almost" will only work for so long at any major program. This was Kelly's ninth season. Just how long does the fan base tolerate a good season once in a while and embarrassing blowouts for every high-stakes bowl game?
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Waiting 20 years in hopes your guy eventually produces is foolish.
aggravation with fans if losses were actually close or almost. But with BK it always seems to be Major Blow Out.
Kelly has been our coach for 9 years
People say well you just can't compare BK to Alabama and Clemson.
Well Saban has only been there 3 more years then Kelly, and Bama hadn't been good since the 90's. But Alabama has a big name, so we'll give it a pass.
Now Dabo has only been the Clemson Head Coach 1 year more then Kelly, and Clemson wasn't a big name powerhouse elite before Dabo.
But Kelly hasn't produced anything near what Dabo has produced.
9 seasons, if he hasn't figured it by now, he's not going to. This isn't Div II, he's just not cut out for the big boys on the big stage. "But But But The higher standards and requirements prevent him from getting the players." BS the one thing Kelly has done really well is recruit, he has been a great recruiter, We've have the talent, we've had the talent for awhile. Go back and look at the Roster for the 2016 Team, the team that went 4-8 Absolutely loaded with great players.
And just for a minute let's say Saban or Dabo became our coach with the exact same players ? DO you think we would have struggled against Ball State, Vanderbilt, Pitt, Northwestern, DO you think we would have gotten embarrassed again, with these the same players but them coaching? You just delusional if you think so. Kelly is a fraud that get's by with smoke and mirrors. And the Cotton Bowl was just like WTF. I still believe that Kelly is calling some of the Offense, "No it's all Long" Well we've had alot of those same crappy calls 3rd and long RB draws, 3rd and long WR screens for no gains long before Long arrived. But just for the sake of it.Let's say that Long was calling it all. At some point in the biggest game of the season and maybe even career, Kelly has to do something , make changes, maybe even take over the play calling, maybe put in Wimbush, or Jurkovec anything to try and spark the O, But no he just sat there Looking Stupid. We couldn't even score garbage points in the 4th against their second string. It's time for a change. Period.
Go Irish.
Good thing the internet really wasn't a thing when Osborne was coaching. And we're in year two of the Kelly reboot. Good gosh. He's 22-4 and you're saying it's a failure. Had we hired a new coach prior to 2017 and had the exact same results, you'd be singing his praises.
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that Kelly's lame and predictable offense, has been the biggest cancer in our growth since his arrival, but I merely mentioned it to at least act like he was trying to do something, to win the game. Rather then sit there and look like he had already given up.
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microscope once again. Chances are, some changes will be made that will continue moving the program forward. IMO,
there needs to be a coaching change at OL; we need more QUALITY depth at DB; if Polian, in fact, is a dynamic recruiter,
then put him in complete charge of recruiting and get a "young buck" in to coach special teams.
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how valuable is that?
Brian's demeanor prior to the game days before, I thought, fearful. Book was not himself, pre game, either. Wimbush in the opening series would have been a stretch but I would have done it.
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Physical Therapy, Constrution Management and keep theβ high standardsβ.
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pipeline was turned off, thus the down turn in Louβ s last few classes.
with admitting "questionable" student athletes? Let's be fair, any D1 athlete already is getting a different college experience from the rest of the student body. How many kids get access to the training tables, the weight room, the coaches, the tutors, etc. I will argue that unless a player is getting a free pass to class, national championships and the like offer a unique college experience for university attendees that should be pursued.
having βthoseβ on campus.
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Father Ted got rid of some of those types of programs in the the 60βs. The whores were all over campus.....
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They were plentiful when I attended.
Ted wanted to be the Harvard of the Midwest to compete with research schools such as UM. He saw ND as a nich School but it has sadly become somewhat less in CFB.
s tenure. The 5th best record against teams finishing the year in the top 10. There is no comparison.
So we can pick any stats that we want. The main point, obviously, is addressed to those who are distressed Kelly has yet to deliver a national championship and say he's not the guy to do so. Anyone could have said that for 21 years in regards to Osborne...and I'm sure they did.
during his career. You're picking the wrong coach to compare. Kelly is more Mark Richt than Tom Osborne.
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Somehow I doubt that happens. I would see a max of 3 years....