Brian Kelly Gone After Next Season?
What do you guys think?
I'm thinking Brian Kelly is gone. Reasons:
1. Another 8-5 season this year. Improvement over Weis, but not good enough for ND.
2. Brian Kelly is a national joke now. Turning purple on TV all season long, taking shots at his players, not taking responsibility for poor performances, death of student filming practice, etc. All of that reflects poorly on ND.
3. Supposedly pissed off some very prominent alumni at the USF game this year. Apparently Kelly brushed them off and was very brash and rude with them and the alumni didn't take too kindly to that.
4. Most importantly, they'll be lucky to go 6-6 next season. They lose their top offensive threat in Floyd, maybe their #2 threat in Eifert, have huge QB questions, lose 3 starting OL, lose all of their starting secondary (2 CBs, 1 FS, 1 SS), lose a starting LB, lose a starting DE, lose their offensive coordinator and lose their quarterback's coach. Not the situation you want to be in when your job is on the line and you're facing a murderous schedule. They have to play at Michigan State, at Oklahoma, at Boston College and at USC. That's on top of travelling to Ireland for the season opener against Navy and travelling to Soldier Field to take on Miami. We play them in South Bend, and they also play Stanford, BYU, Pitt, and Wake Forest at home. That schedule will destroy them.
FWIW, most of the posters over at NDNation want Kelly gone after next season and think that he'll be fired. Most are also resigned to their next season just being a placeholder until they can hire a new coach.
Frankly, I love this turmoil and ineptitude at Notre Dame. It's always entertaining to watch and rejoice in.
January 1st, 2012 at 7:26 PM ^
Yes, I think BK is gone after a season they have not played yet.
January 1st, 2012 at 7:37 PM ^
speculation.
January 1st, 2012 at 10:51 PM ^
ironic.
January 2nd, 2012 at 1:06 AM ^
...is a word that doesn't mean what it seems you think it means.
January 1st, 2012 at 7:34 PM ^
Maybe.
Would it be fair to have started this thread, say, next Thanksgiving or so, and then it would be within the now-current season and we would actually have some performance metrics to discuss in regards to this? Not trying to be an ass, just curious.
I imagine they would forgive him the purpleness, but maybe not another go in the Champs Sports bowl.
January 1st, 2012 at 7:34 PM ^
and we compete against them for a fair amount of recruits. Coaching uncertainty isn't what recruits are looking for (Dee Hart), and the 2013 recruiting season is about to take off. It's speculation, yeah, but I provide a look at their schedule and their returning starters so at the very least this thread is a thread giving a very short preview of ND next year.
January 1st, 2012 at 7:38 PM ^
...the coach that meets all their requirements does not exist. In reality, Brian Kelly has a resume which shows him to be otherwise competent, as did several of the previous coaches. There are few schools which like to put coaches on pedestals and then set the pedestals ablaze in the same way that ND does, but at this point in their CFB existence, I have to believe that the environment there has been more of an issue than the coaching sometimes. That, and...*turns in the direction of South Bend*...just join a bloody conference.
January 1st, 2012 at 7:41 PM ^
ND has a very winnable schedule in my mind. Standford will be down, MSU and Mich are always toss ups. The only games I see as more likely than not losses at this point are USC and Oklahoma (depending on Jones returning). I really do not think Miami is going to pose much of a threat to that defense. If ND finds a QB they could easily be a 10 win team.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:52 PM ^
January 2nd, 2012 at 12:53 PM ^
Be able to do decent with that schedule but they lose too much talent to hope to even be in the range of 10 wins.
January 1st, 2012 at 7:32 PM ^
He should be gone After this turdstorm of a season
January 1st, 2012 at 7:33 PM ^
January 1st, 2012 at 7:34 PM ^
... that ND's previous 3 coaches have all been successful at other stops and not at ND. 1 I can see, maybe even 2, but now 3? If ND Football does not join a conference in the next few years it will be a footnote program in history. Time for them to step in to 2012. Why do I feel like Saban's ego would jump ship to ND?
January 1st, 2012 at 7:35 PM ^
Nah brah, he is totes going to Penn St.
January 1st, 2012 at 7:44 PM ^
No way, he would never be able to recruit like he does at Alabama.
January 1st, 2012 at 7:48 PM ^
Seeing how he signs a good 50 kids a year, I am sure he could find a decent 11 to put on the field in South Bend. Rumor has it he already has about a bakers dozen for the class of 2014.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:03 PM ^
Well, exactly. He effectively has an additional talent evaluation period to extend the "recruiting period" during summer camp before he cuts the additional kids from the incoming class.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:07 PM ^
to the gulf coast. He'd be a fool to walk away from that kind of fertile recruiting grounds. Just the I-10 corridor from the ATL-Houston can win you a national champion ship.
January 1st, 2012 at 10:09 PM ^
gave out a crystal football for the trophy. It's actually a ship?
January 1st, 2012 at 10:27 PM ^
for the last word in my statement,that by the way got cut off, then get on with it. Other wise,have a big cup of STFU and a good day!
January 1st, 2012 at 10:56 PM ^
"Write"
Sorry, couldn't resist.
January 1st, 2012 at 11:09 PM ^
I'm just busting balls. And, yes I'm sorry I missed your "right" vs "write".
January 1st, 2012 at 10:37 PM ^
I've been watchin teen football since the seventies. I saw the Tate kid out of Carterville get recurited by Michigan. He'd choose baseball in the end. It's a known fact in the recuriting world about the I-10 corridor and the various college/nfl players its produced.
January 2nd, 2012 at 9:45 AM ^
I believe ND has pretty high standards (comparatively speaking) for educational requirements for its student athletes (not sure how it compares with the B1G or other respectable conferences). So I agree that Saban would find it difficult to get his type of players even admitted into school.
January 1st, 2012 at 9:15 PM ^
ND's 3 previous coaches were all successful at previous stops? Davie and Weis had never been head coaches before they came to ND. Willingham had, but he hadn't been a great success, just OK at Stanford.
January 1st, 2012 at 9:50 PM ^
Of ND's previous 3 head coaches, Brian Kelly is the only one who had a legitimate track record. Weis had never been a head coach before. Willingham had two good seasons at Stanford during which he beat a grand total of four teams with a winning record. Davie had also never been a head coach before.
January 1st, 2012 at 11:13 PM ^
Not as a head coach, anyway.
Willingham was successful at Stanford but never managed to field a winning team at Washington after he was fired from Notre Dame.
January 1st, 2012 at 7:39 PM ^
January 1st, 2012 at 7:46 PM ^
Tuitt and Lynch are going to be outstanding next year, and they bring one the nation's most productive MLB's back. Their OL wasn't great, and their starting corners single-handedly lost them several games this year. They can get a Countess-like contribution from a true freshman and be much better off.
QB is a problem, as Rees' decisions in the bowl game were pretty terrible. But they've got talent on the roster there.
Most of all, their turnover troubles won't follow them like they did this year. A lot of that was bad coaching and poor play, but some of it was awful luck.
January 2nd, 2012 at 1:01 PM ^
Though? The people behind their starters weren't good enough to play ahead of their starters this year. With the QB questions, you're going to want to return an experienced OL which ND won't. Their OL wasn't good but you'd want it to improve rather than worsen.
January 1st, 2012 at 7:47 PM ^
Still think a coach deserves 4 years.
January 1st, 2012 at 7:51 PM ^
Is Te'o leaving for the NFL this year? He'd be crazy not to
January 1st, 2012 at 7:56 PM ^
one can only hope so
January 1st, 2012 at 7:57 PM ^
He's returning actually
January 1st, 2012 at 8:01 PM ^
Te'o already announced he's coming back
January 1st, 2012 at 7:54 PM ^
Don't think he'll lose his job next season unless the team totally implodes. Kelly is a lot of things, but he can coach, and I think the brass at ND is growing tired of the coaching carosel the past few years. If not for their -424 turnover ratio, they'd have at least two more victories this season. The real test will be 2013 IMO.
January 2nd, 2012 at 9:47 AM ^
January 1st, 2012 at 7:56 PM ^
I'm going to start a "Who'll be the next coach at Notre Dame?" thread now and then start another thread titled "Will Denard Robinson Jr be able to bounce back from disappointing 2039 season??"
January 1st, 2012 at 7:58 PM ^
More "Jon Gruden would be a perfect fit" remarks would work well on this post.
January 1st, 2012 at 11:02 PM ^
I think this is the chance Craig James is looking for. If his Senate run doesn't pan out, he could become a coach.
January 2nd, 2012 at 12:35 PM ^
I'm not sure there are 5 hookers worth killing in South Bend.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:04 PM ^
He might be a jackass, but his record indicates he can put together successful teams. ND would be stupid to fire him after next season unless it's a complete and total meltdown.
Just look at Frank Beamer's first six seasons at VaTech. In today's environment, VaTech would have fired him at that point. I realize that ND is never going to be that patient, though.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:07 PM ^
Was VT anything when Beamerball arrived?
January 1st, 2012 at 8:29 PM ^
Was ND anything when Kelly arrived?
January 1st, 2012 at 9:02 PM ^
Weis actually was not that bad when compared to his predecessors (although that is a low bar). I think firing Weis actually set ND back. ND would have been wise to accept some more 8 win seasons and let Weis keep stocking their roster with NFL talent. When you look at the offensive line Weis assembled, the WRs play he had, and the mileage he got out of Clausen and Quinn, it was actually pretty impressive. Some defensive issues and weird clock management cost them a lot of games though.
ND either should have come up with big money for a DC or let Weis stock the roster for a few more years before retiring him to a job in the Athletic Department and getting some hot young name to come take the talent filled roster on to bigger things. Instead they fired Weis and got a spread guy who is still struggling to find a QB, basically flushing the talent Weis brought in.
ND's problem is always that no matter how many times Stoops, Meyer, or Gruden says no, they're convinced next time they're hiring, a big name will leave his comfortable niche to come to the hell hole that is South Bend.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:19 PM ^
Keep him. Fire him. Meh. Kelly was by far THE hottest coaching prospect around two years ago, and there is no "next Brian Kelly" waiting in the wings. Give Ohio Meyer, MSU D'Antonio and ND Kelly or whoever they'd ever scrounge up to replace him and I like our chance with Hoke & Co., as they say, "going forward." Neither Petersen nor Patterson is coming so ... What. Ever.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:13 PM ^
To be fair, the loss of Gary Gray at cornerback should translate into at least two more wins for the Irish.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:18 PM ^
OMG so much this.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:20 PM ^
This.
January 1st, 2012 at 8:20 PM ^