UHND.com - Notre Dame Football, Basketball, & Recruiting

Kelly haters gonna hate Kelly.

managing the change, perhaps even insisting on it, as BK's boss.

(no message)

He isn't necessarily right in T Rees taking over at OC nor is he wrong. So far we can say he's gotten away with it.
The big change in the QB situation this year has been the rise of Kyren Williams as a blocker which in turn has created a better offense.
Why it took this long to work on blocking for a run game is beyond not getting it right after 11yrs at ND (add on all his other years as coach too).
Not giving PJ playing time loses ND a quality athlete in a back-up situation should Book be injured. He's doing the same thing with
Clarke keeping him on the sidelines not giving him game experience. What happens if Book is out for the next Clemson game and
subsequent playoffs?

I'm not sure why you wrote you piece the way you did but it sure seems like the "I told you so article" that is written way to early
as Kelly has only had 1 signature win to his name in 11 yrs.

Part of what we do as fans is question the decisions of coaches and teams - we're not necessarily right but we're not wrong either.

However, I did like your time-line writing.

He was at best mediocre with one real good season.

He’s still a mixed bag all around for me, but I give him all the credit for where the team is now. I also give him the blame for the shit show before.

He gets killed for losing to Navy and Tulsa his first yr, but after the Tulsa debacle, no one mentions he took 15th ranked Utah to the woodshed, 28-3, won 4 straight including over arch rival USC in LA, and the Sun Bowl over hated Miami, THEN IN YEAR 3, UNDEFEATED REGULAR SEASON, AND PLAYS FOR THE TITLE...Won bowls, albeit minor ones, in '13, and '14, beating SEC perennial LSU in MUsic City..AS other have said, '15 was a very good yr, lost heartbreaker at Stanford, 38-36 , a win there , ND is in playoffs..
Yes' 16 was a disaster, but thats the only one disastrous yr in 11..

10-3 with the three losses to teams that finished 2, 3, and 4 in the final rankings, and 2 of those losses (Clemson and Stanford) could have gone either way.

That said, I agree with your overall premise...His first 7 seasons were just okay. Good enough for 90% of schools, but not good enough at ND. His last 4 seasons have been great, and he has become a great coach.

Van Gorder's ineptitude easily swung the two regular season losses that way. With even a mediocre defensive coordinator, that should have been an undefeated regular season.

The thing that saved Van Gorder's job that year was the fact that Jaylon Smith was on that field, and that helped compensate for Van Gorder's piss poor playcalling. Who else would run a cover three scheme against a run-heavy team (Stanford)?

Clemson didn't score much in their win over us. Hard to say if ND would have gotten in if they beat Stanford.

He has made good hires and the promotion of Rees is working. I was skeptical.

If he pulls this off, I will be eating crow big time...

...very happily so.

Until Kelly wins a National Title, being "right" or "wrong" is moot.

He’s just now figuring it out?

Rep before that of not being able to win the big games. So there's that

Tom Osborne was all but guaranteed to get the Cornhuskers a Top 10 finish, year after year. With the exception of a four year stretch (they were still top 20), he pretty much finished in the top 10, and occasionally the top 5, every year. That will definitely buy a lot of patience with the faithful. I'm not sure if there were a more consistently excellent coach during the entire history of college football at the IA / FBS level.

Brian Kelly has had several excellent seasons now, but only two were top 5, and until this year, we were stuck in the stage of "can compete for a top 10 finish."

a horrendously weak schedule, lost to Okla on yearly basis, never did shit until he brought in bunch of thugs, ran a dirty program, steroids,rape, hid guns from police, Lawrence Phillip's, Johnny Rodgers, the list goes on. He would have been fired in today world, and rightfully so. So yes, it is a different situation

Dead on about it being Thug U even before the Miami Hurricanes under Jimmy Johnson wrested that title.

(no message)

(no message)

Dumpster-fire prior 3 HCs. No explanation needed on how bad the prior coaches were, but it's rare to have a team alternating losing seasons all of a sudden become elite. Turnarounds usually happen at schools with mediocre competition. ND developed a reputation as a way overrated program, and that stink takes time to lift in recruiting.

Scheduling. The schedule for ND is the schedule of an elite team. Even when the competition is down, ND is the only school besides Hawaii that regularly leaves their home time zone. That makes return to glory that much tougher. And as we can see this year, and the past few years as a half-ACC member, it is much easier to win the games you're supposed to win when it's verses conference competition. Familiarity is good for top programs.

Laughable facilities. Barely Power-5 level, much less elite. This was not fixed immediately. Couple that with real academic standards (I won't call them tough - you can be pretty mediocre academically and get into ND as a football player, but compared to other revenue teams at P5 schools, there is a huge talent pool that is simply off-limits to ND), and you again have off-limits top recruits.

Lots of bad fans (see Nebraska, Georgia games, although red is admittedly a color that stands out). ND stadium should be one of the toughest to play in the country. Until rather recently, with changes that many old farts on this board hate (d), it was like playing at a golf course. There still is a large "down in front" contingent, but the atmosphere is so much better now.

I reject your thesis he "took so long to get it right." 2012 was an undefeated season. The NC game was an embarrassment, but still. Teams were in the hunt until the disastrous 2016 season, if always a cut below the elites. Brian has steadily built the program, and evolved his approach. Is he less rah-rah and more of a politician than say a Lou Holtz? Sure. But I don't believe a 2010's Lou equivalent would have taken the 2010 ND job, and would not have lasted this long. That politician approach helped save his job when things weren't going well, which helped save the program. Go back to the message boards in 2015/2016 and look at the names being thrown around to take over. What have they done since then, and what has Brian done?

He’s had too many loser assistants. Some of them friends of his. Epic losses
where he clearly had more talent.

He gets OL and TE recruits. He needs to step up his game when recruiting skill players.

He admitted his recruiting needed to be better.

It’s taken a long time. IMHO longer than it should have.

But gave him the benefit of the doubt and short leash of support after his revamp.

(no message)

(no message)

Tommy Bowden had 9 straight winning seasons, won 3 of 8 bowl games (no bowl in 2004 as punishment for a brawl). They certainly weren't elite, but also no Willingham / Weis trainwreck.

Regularly recruited well, if not elite. Lower expectations, and a much easier schedule than ND plays year-in, year-out. Great facilities, great gameday atmosphere, closer to southern talent.

He also won only 1 conference title in his first 8 years, and has 2 undefeated regular seasons in 12 years. He has a NC, but it took him 9 years to get there.

In their first 10 years (ND's ridiculously vacated wins included here):
Swinney / Kelly
1 undefeated regular season / 2 undefeated regular seasons
7 10+ win seasons / 5 (had 4 earlier) 10+ win seasons
6 bowl wins / 5 bowl wins
3-2 NC & playoff games / 0-2 NC & playoff games
1 NC / 0 NC
1 Coach of the Year / 2 Coach of the Year
1 losing season / 1 losing season

They aren't that far apart, all other things being equal. If ND wins the title this year, I'd say their resumes are about equal for 11 years of coaching.

(no message)

(no message)

This is Brian's 11th season.

(no message)

(no message)

(no message)

(no message)

(no message)

or just were not clutch when they had talent.