OT-Kelly and "Fixing ND Football"
More often then not most ND football articles never sight anything to be "fixed" with football. I found this piece an intersting admission and account of what needs to be repaired.
http://ndnation.com/archives/1912
This final point will make some cringe, but Kelly has brought ESPN hype to the program. The highlight video and the effects and the framework for the banquet were all “ESPNized” presumably in an effort to make the program more fun and appealing without losing tradition. Kelly’s also attempted to breathe life into the “on life support” pep rally as well. Whether it’s working or not, change is happening. If you’re wondering what that looks like you can judge for yourself: Watch the Highlights | Watch the Awards Show
March 30th, 2011 at 11:23 AM ^
It's ashame Freakbass was already booked and unable to attend the pep rally this year.
March 30th, 2011 at 11:39 AM ^
it's always disappointing to call Freekbass and have him respond, "WE ARE BU-SY, we are occupied; WE ARE BU-SY, call another time."
March 30th, 2011 at 11:24 AM ^
If he told his team to stop raping people, it would probably be an improvement.
you never really know.
March 30th, 2011 at 11:28 AM ^
fixing is a synonym for cheating and neutering.
March 30th, 2011 at 11:30 AM ^
I must have missed those years where ESPN didn't hype the crap out of ND every year no matter what they were actually doing on the field.
March 30th, 2011 at 11:34 AM ^
Try not having a school with a French name have their mascot be the Fighting Irish.
March 30th, 2011 at 11:34 AM ^
While ND did show some good progress at the end of the season, I am still not as concerned as people tell me I should be. Michigan's defense wasn't good last year or the year before and we still took them out with extremely young offenses. This is still a team for all intents and purposes lost to Tulsa and Navy last year. Their bowl win was against a Miami team that looked like they didn't even want to be on the field. I still think we will beat them in AA this season as well.
March 30th, 2011 at 11:46 AM ^
We took them out by the hair on our chins in a game in which their starting QB barely played over a half of football, and got to play against the bad Montana.
March 30th, 2011 at 11:56 AM ^
While its definitely true that we barely won last year, that doesn't mean we should be scared of ND.
We were playing on the road, with a first year starting QB, and a defense that gave up a 98 yard TD to a TE while in prevent mode.
Also, its not like ND is returning their entire team. Rudolph...gone, Floyd...unlikely to play against us, 2-3 offensive lineman...gone, some key defensive players...gone.
We've beat them the past 2 years and 4 of the last 5, we return almost our entire team, and the game is in Ann Arbor.
I'm not guaranteeing a win or anything, but to think we should be horrified of their team seems a bit much.
I'm really glad that Rudolph is gone. That ginger was a nightmare matchup for us.
March 30th, 2011 at 11:59 AM ^
But, we beat them the year before, with arguably one of their most stacked offenses they've had in a long time. Also, we know our defense was terrible last year, and that was one of our better performing games bar none. We only saw the bad Montana for what?, 2 series, before Rees came in? Also, Rees has a good chance at being the starter this year for the Irish. It's just my opinion but, I just don't buy the hype especially their pre-season ranking. Lastly, if they don't have Floyd that's really going to hurt their offense, he is a mismatch no matter what corner he goes against...
What happened two years ago, when we had RR and Forcier and they had Weis and Jimmy Clausen, hardly is relevant now.
Regarding last year, you've got it backwards. Rees came in, attempted one pass (an INT), and was benched in favor of Montana, who played the rest of the half. Crist played the second half, possibly while experiencing concussive symptoms.
I don't know what to predict this time around. ND certainly finished last season stronger than we did, and they have coaching continuity. OTOH, we're at home, return basically our whole offense and get to play them at night. I feel like it's a tossup.
March 30th, 2011 at 12:00 PM ^
Our defense made Indiana's QB look like the good Montana. They weren't the only ones playing with half a deck.
But will our deck be sufficiently reshuffled in time for this one? I'm a big Mattison fan, and I think we'll see improvement over the course of the season, but I'm not sure how good we'll be in September.
March 30th, 2011 at 11:40 AM ^
Not "sight."
March 30th, 2011 at 11:44 AM ^
Most of the changes are internal and bureaucratic in nature. On one of them, though, Mr. SEE (the initials given at the end of the article) is drinking the Kool-Aid for sure:
Both Kellys run up tempo practices which, over the course of a season, gives them a significant advantage in development time. If you can squeeze 25% more into a practice,over the course of week, you’ve engineered an extra full practice of repetitions.
Sound familiar? Remember Barwis-ization, or the "decided schematic advantage" of Mr. Weis? I think this up tempo practice business is pure hype to appease the fans.
Who are these lazy coaches that are running half-tempo practices?
Or the inability to do anything to counter the DL shifts that you guys used in the second half.
There is only so much you can expect from a first year starter behind center. They get rattled
Scoreboard.
March 30th, 2011 at 11:55 AM ^
The book "Under the Tarnished Dome" brought down the program. When it was written, ND was seen as an idyllic place and Lou Holtz as a benevolent, clever leprechun. By the time enough people read it, ND was seen as just another football factory in the eyes of many, and Holtz was seen as someone who only cared for players who could help him right now and didn't care about them as people.
I think it's safe to say that a lot of parents of ND recruits were given copies of that book by rival recruiters until Holtz left. It's also safe to say that, since he left, ND football hasn't been close to the same program it was under Holtz.
Hopefully he doesn't let any kids die by neglience this year.
That's tarnished BK in my eyes forever. I know a lot of people probably don't want to hear about it but it happened and justice has never been served and I'm going to keep bringing it up because it still bothers me. A kid's dead. It's clearly somebody's fault. And yet it's inconveninent and the family isn't pressing the matter (which is their own business) and that's that.
Why do you say you are going to keep bringing up the kid's death, then say, "that's that"?
Cynicism.
To hell with double posts....
March 31st, 2011 at 11:22 AM ^
Frankly, Notre Dame under B.Kelly scares the crap out of me. Having seen firsthand what he did with GVSU & elsewhere he clearly knows how to win big time.
With some admitted local bias, he was my 1st choice to fill the opening at Michigan and I was quite dissappointed when he was never even seriously considered.