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He wanted nothing to do with Willingham. He first tried to hire John Gruden, which was nixed by Malloy. He then hired George O'Leary. After that fell through he had to be goaded to hire TW by others due to the desperation of the job search.
I think his defense of him in 2004 was more personal than professional, as Willingham was actually fired by the board of trustees, and not the school administration. He had to know how this looked for him in his position as well. Thankfully, he stepped down anyway several years later.
I am not sure he ever liked it at ND, however. Too much politics, and he never seemed fully comfortable with the size and scope of the football program.
The notion that he "wanted nothing to do" with Willingham isn't supported by facts.
Willingham was the 1st candidate White really approached (allegedly after Gruden was nixed by Malloy and there is little indication that Gruden was a White initiative anyway), both from the fact that he thought he was a good fit and he knew him from the PAC 10( White had tried to hire Ernie Kent, another PAC 10 connection,for bball before hiring Brey ). Willingham (according to Willingham himself) was ambivalent and more or less passed. White then went to O'Leary. After O'Leary's firing, White went back to Willingham who regretted that he had passed the first time and had been persuaded by outside forces to be open to the job.
White had his strengths -- he was the first truly professional AD at ND -- but he was in over his head re: big time college athletics and it showed when he tried to hire Meyer(Meyer badly played him) and how he he was manipulated by Weis -- that contract is all on White, nobody else.
Willingham was fired because he was an inept recruiter as well as other obvious failings as a football coach and it was learned that he was secretly negotiating with Washington. White understandably didn't like it more because it usurped his position more than anything else. He wasn't close to Willingham.
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He was following unambiguous orders.
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Things have reached that stage...
Not sure how you pin that on Kevin White.
Jack is tied to Kelly. I think that will ultimately do him in.
Obviously I hope Kelly turns it around...but I don't see it happening. (And by "turn it around", I don't mean go from 4-8 back to 8-5.)
Not that I disagree, I like to get opinions.
1) Kelly's coaching malpractice in 2016 was so severe that I don't think he can engender the faith and respect necessary to turn the program around now in one year's time.
2) His mean at ND is really 8-5. It's more likely he'll deliver that than anything...and that should no longer be enough. (If it is, this then falls on other parties who also deserve to go.)
3) He has an unproven quarterback going in. Last year he had a pre-season top Heisman candidate.
4) Defensive line is a problem...and I also see a hangover for this defense recovering from Van Gorder.
(Off topic, and certainly not an actual reason, all of my teams are on a terrible roll and I don't think Kelly's gonna stem that tide.)
1.) Going into the offseason I wasn't surprised he was retained. There weren't a lot of good options. But, given what we've learned over the last few months, I'm actually amazed he kept his job. It sounds like it got really bad.
Funny thing is, reports from all the beat sites are the players like him, for the most part. It's probably the only reason he's still around actually.
2.) That is hard to dispute. Even prior to last season, he had two seasons at double digit wins at the end of the regular season, one with 8 wins, and three with 7.
3.) Of all the things that concern me, this is among the least. If anything it's a positive.
4.) I don't see a hangover coming. Even VanGorder looked good early before teams knew what to expect. But, as you say, the defensive line is weak on paper and that's a really bad thing.
One and two are really all that needs to be said by anyone who is skeptical. He let the program slide into dysfunction in year 7. And his performance prior to that was hot and cold.
...from my perspective.
Not sure if you saw my piece from last week, but I stated Kelly is essentially a missed hire, even if he did turn it around. A coach going through some sort of re-birth in the 8th season with just two double digit win seasons that were three years apart has failed. Knowing what they know they wouldn't hire him again.
And I think one of the bigger, underplayed parts of that miss is in recruiting. I should have had it in the piece. He recruits better than Weis or Willingham, but not at a level that gets Notre Dame over the hump as a program. He's had one top 5 class in 7 cycles. That's not going to work. He develops the guys he brings in pretty well, but they don't recruit like an elite program.
It's mentioned a lot they are so far from being elite, which I don't think is true. He's competed with Oklahoma, Clemson, Florida State, and Stanford. The problem is while they aren't that far from the elite, they aren't that far from the mediocre either, which has bit them in the ass multiple times when they play poorly.
That wasn't what he was hired to do. He was hired to be Meyer or Harbaugh. He's not. He's just better than Weis and Tyrone.
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but has he learned to play quarterback yet? Remember the great individual plays he made in his debut, yet when inserted against Pittsburgh, appeared to be an athlete more than a QB and let his athleticism get in the way of playing smartly. I am sure he will play smarter, because he will not be trying to do too much knowing he is the man. Of course the defense has to get a few stops too. Help is on the way recruiting wise, but it won't be there yet, so players from this year that got some time hopefully will show up and perform.