OT: Opinion Piece About why Kelly may Leave ND

and then at ND's  future schedules(ACC) I would say that Kelly is on track to a sustained run of success at ND.  

That said, Kelly, like most coaches, has supreme confidence in his abilities. If he goes to the NFL it is because he wants to prove that he can win at the highest level in football. It isn't about money, but ego.

You have to look at every opportunity.  There's an opening for an NFL job and they are considering Kelly.  He'd be stupid not to interview.

It might not ever happen again!

Brian Kelly has always been good at gettin' out while the gettin' is good. He leaves Grand Valley after going 28-1 over two seasons. He leaves Central after going 9-4 (7-1 in the MAC). He leaves Cincinnati after going 12-0. Seems perfectly reasonable to assume he leaves Notre Dame after going 12-1

You might want to change the title. I came in here thinking Kelly had decided to leave.

Fix the title please.  I thought you were breaking news that Kelly had made the jump.

Good info though; thanks for the post. 

I think the premise of the article is a bit flawed. Usually a 12-win season buys a college coach at least a couple years of a honeymoon period--I would think that's especially true at ND, which has endured some rough seasons of late. I think most ND fans would be pretty happy if 10 wins becomes their new normal.

This has become a ritualistic dance for college coaches.

Why interview for the NFL? It's always the same thing.

1. Ego.  It says, you good enough to be invited to the game.

2.  Leverage for a pay raise.

3.  Prestige -- gives you an incremental reason to look better with recruits, asst coaches, etc.

4.  Why not?  Strike when the iron is hot.

5.  Most coaches probably look at the NFL as a fantasy job -- not only insane paydays, but, if you're a competitive person, why not compete at the highest level.  Harbaugh's the example of that.

So Kelly is probably subject to at least 3-4 of these reasons.  Whatever.  I can't be more clear:  There's nothing to see here.

Saban turning down the NFL is more newsworthy than Kelly, or anyone who just made a BCS case, in talking to the NFL.

His stock will never be higher. This team overachieved, and as I've stated several times on this blog, he was overrated before. If he intends to go, now is the best time.

Really? We are supposed to believe that someone at this high a level is going to leave a job because the expectations are too high? These college football coaches get to where they are by going up against unfairly high expectations their whole careers. Plus, are you kidding me? The NFL? Because the expectations aren't high in the NFL are they.

ND beat Purdue by 3, Michigan by 7, BYU by 3, Stanford in OT, and Pitt in 3OT, all at home.  They beat USC, without their starting QB, by 9. 

And it isn't like any of those programs had great years, outside of Stanford (and they had issues on offense all season long).

If Te'o hadn't come back, what is ND's record this year?  With him leaving, not to mention a bunch of key components on offense, and the schedule probably getting more difficult before it gets easier, I'm sure Kelly sees a difficult task in front of him, especially when you consider 9-3 and missing out on a BCS bowl would probably be viewed as a failure. 

Especially with the way the title game went, a few 8-5 seasons could easily put him back on the hotseat in South Bend.  I see that as more likely than continued 10+ win seasons. 

Looking at it from Kelly's point of view, he can stay at ND where he will have to maintain an extremely high level of success from here on out or potentially get canned in 2-3 years (let's not forget how quickly fans forgot Chizik's success, and he actually won a national title at a school with no history of doing so in modern times).  Or he can get a raise to go coach in the NFL where he only has to focus on X's and O's and where 4-5 losses a year is considered a great season.  And even if he lands in a bad spot and fails to win games, he can always go back to college where he'll still be a highly prized asset.

If he ever had designs on going to the NFL, this is probably the best chance for him.  He has taken a team and greatly improved them year to year which culminated in an undefeated regular season.   Take that plus the extraordinary amount of NFL jobs available and it stands to reason his position would never be better.    Thats why he would go, not because of the pressure to duplicate his efforts again because its only going to increase in multiples once he deals with NFL fans (and increase exponentially if those NFL fans reside in Philly)

Not sure what their turnover margin was this year either, but I'm sure it was astronomical and unlikely to repeat.  Teo had like 7 INTs alone.

But Kelly is a good coach and has been successful everywhere he's been: GVSU, CMU, Cincy, NDame.

Notre Dame would lament this loss, but I think more kudos should be given to the Eagles for considering it. 

So far Kelly has proven to be very opportunistic with new job offers, but I have the feeling he has unfinished business and will stay with the Irish.

It's nice to have a coach that you know won't be interviewing with any NFL teams.

as I was that Lewan will leave college for the NFL.

The only reason why Kelly would leave for the NFL is because he would have high expectations for himself. You always want to progress forward, move forward.

Kelly is worried about keeping up his high level of success, so he's considering a job with.... the Eagles?

Les Miles.  This strategy always gets more cash for Les.  [bad pun intended]

He strikes me as the type of guy who gets irritated rather quickly. I imagine dealing with boosters and parents probably aren't his favorite things about college coaching. 

Urban didn't go to ND before because they won't relax the academic standards for the football program.  Urban tried to get that deal and they said no.   He's not stupid, he coached against Miles and Saban, he knows you can't compete aginst that kind of talent unless the Administration looks the other way when it comes to restrictions and high standards.

Heck, we're going to have a very tough time getting anywhere near Bama's stature because, it's win at all costs down there. Signing 4-6 more kids thanh everyone else and booting the lower end schollie kids that don't make the championship cut.  Every year Saban signs 3-5 more kids than we do and has more 5-star and 4-stars than we do.  Stars don't guarantee anything, but the potential for greatness is higher and the pct is on his side.

Plus the school will let him hire ANY assistant he wants at any $$$.  It's tough to compete against that all the time.

Kelly is fighting for more $$ for assistants so he can get a better defense.  That's what ND needs, they'll get the recruits.

Why do you think Brandon let Hoke get whoever he wanted on defense?  You have to spend the $$$ to be able to compete today.  The playing field has decidely tipped the SEC's way and it ain't leveling out any time soon.