Time after time, game after game, ND struggles to win, even against far inferior teams. Even in 2012, close games against mediocre teams Purdue, Pitt, BYU and Boston College were an indicator.
Seven years into his reign and easy victories against poor teams rarely occur, never mind being able to beat a truly good team. Oklahoma and Michigan State come to mind as exceptions, and creditable performances against FSU and Clemson on the road did occur. But to consistently struggle to win against lesser opponents has been a hallmark of BK's reign.
The odd thing is he puts players in the NFL, recruits well and develops players' individual talents. But for some reason, he can't seem to get this to translate into results on the scoreboard. So that's game planning. That's playcalling. That's motivation. And you can't tell me that there aren't 100 coaches out there who can't do better in those aspects.
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at Notre Dame and that would be willing to come. It takes a special person to succeed here, with both football and non-football responsibilities, or else we would not be having this conversation so often over the past two decades.
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"From Sunday through Friday our football program has exceeded all expectations, in every way. But on Saturday, we struggled. We've been up and down and sideways a little bit."
BYU was pretty solid in '12 and Golson was out that game from a late game injury Vs Stanford.
That game (while a close win) was maybe the best game plan he's utilized his entire time here.
I've often said that Brian Kelly is a GREAT coach, at everything else that goes on outside of game day. But as far as game day coaching and game plans/adjustments, he is very poor.
But keeps leaving the infant in the hot car.
Truly, so many other things done quite well and better than most that you could find, but the shortcomings are absolutely inexcusable deal-breakers.
the got a good laugh out of me.
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Because I truly believe he has tried his best.
But what my eyes have seen for 7 years (even during the 2 good ones, to a lesser degree) tells me he isn't the answer and he isn't going to change.
He will continue to be a high 600's winning pct coach and occasionally cross the .700 barrier. He's basically the modern day Elmer Layden.
faust deserves credit for accepting the hard truth that he couldnt get it done..
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Gerry qualifies as the eternal optimist...
He's a program builder, and he rebuilt the Irish program, exactly what we needed at the time.
The next coach, a better gameday coach, should be able to take us to the next level, consistently competing for championships and finishing in the Top 10.
Kelly has done a lot of good things, particularly fixing some of the institutional problems that plagued the program from 1997 through 2009.
But name five times, in seven years, where Kelly outcoached the other guy. Five "signature wins." Anyone?
Our next coach needs to be that kind of coach.
Go Irish Go
Besides some good freshman in the defensive backfield, we are a three-star filled defense, and I may post an analysis later on (probably on the other board), but our junior/senior classes this year (13 and 14 in particular) have been utter disasters.
I was worried when we hired him about this, and it has proved true. After some initial momentum we have really fallen far behind, especially on defense.
Like, the odds truly defy how frequently he has underperformed vs. the points spread in Vegas. Someone once posted a blurb about it in a column, and it should have gotten national attention, because it was such an amazing disparity. You might chalk that up to the "Notre Dame is frequently overrated" party line, but this isn't an A.P. Poll done by idiots who don't watch the games. It's done by professionals who are trying to set a spread that evens most of the wagers and makes them money. And he is very, very frequently worse than those projections.
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type of offense by opponents. We need better LBs and corner backs.
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...both times.
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the bigger question is, do they wanna do it in the pressure cooker that is ND football?
Plenty of good coaches are willing to come to South Bend. The question is would they recruit as well? If they can, there is no reason ND can't be vastly improved.
A good goal for ND these days is to have every class participate in the playoff once. So that's once every four years. Is it realistic? Maybe not. But it should be the goal.
We don't have one recruiting advantage against Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, Florida, Florida State, etc..we cant recruit the kind of depth these schools have.
We have been closer to the national championship discussion in the last 5 years than we have been since 1989.
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as they got blown out by Ohio State way more than we did and had half the schedule.
We have finished in the top 10 only once in 7 years under Kelly, and that just ain't good enough.
Link: 2015 Final Rankings
roster
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How about being in a position to have the game put away in the 3rd quarter n most of our games Brian?
If you think that you need to be in a position to win it at the end, then you are going to be a 7-5 coach.
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because you are empty backfield 70% of the time.
Tom Brady and Peyton Manning would have spent the majority of the day handing the ball off to RBs in that hurricane game where Kelly had Kizer throwing all over the yard.
Kelly's mindset on offensive football is flawed. period.
I don't think he means that literally against weaker teams. I think he means that against teams he knows are challenging teams. Just like when so many take Trump literally when he means what he says applied to certain things or parameters.
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