ND... Be careful what you wish for.
Does anyone see a chance of Tom Herman ending up at ND if Kelly and the Irish go belly up this year? I really don't want to see him at one of our rivals.....hoping Texas or another school down there gets to him before OSU, ND or even PSU eventually come calling.
September 25th, 2016 at 7:10 PM ^
It'll be Texas or LSU first, no doubt. Way easier to recruit.
September 25th, 2016 at 7:37 PM ^
September 25th, 2016 at 7:42 PM ^
There is more talent in Texas/Louisiana than there is in the Big Ten region. But beyond that, Herman's spent most of his coaching career in Texas and must have deep contacts there by now.
September 25th, 2016 at 8:05 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
September 25th, 2016 at 10:35 PM ^
September 25th, 2016 at 7:42 PM ^
and I have a feeling it lies w/in the administration. Since they reinstated their admissions standards, no one has had great success since Holtz who, of course left the year they reinstated the standards. However, Kelly has done a better job than anyone since and it's puzzling to understand, minus his brief stint at CMU which was a total rebuilding job, his lifetime winning pct has gone done despite his on-field talent. This is why I think the reasons go far beyond the fb field.
September 25th, 2016 at 7:56 PM ^
There is more to it than that. They still land very highly-rated recruiting classes, and it can't just be a case of their guys being overrated, because they get a lot of recruits that other major programs want. I don't know exactly why but there seems to be something with with their player development.
September 25th, 2016 at 8:04 PM ^
September 25th, 2016 at 8:11 PM ^
September 25th, 2016 at 8:16 PM ^
Luke Fickel doesn't count. He was OSU's Ed Orgeron.
All Tressel did was win at least 11 games a year and kick our ass. He won a title and was playing for 2 more.
September 26th, 2016 at 12:28 AM ^
OSU went 12-1, 6-7, then 12-0. With Tressel, Fickell, then Urban. Spot the outlier.
September 26th, 2016 at 10:40 AM ^
"Believe the ND job has become a not so good one "
That's what people were saying before Kelly got to ND- what with academic restrictions, population shifts, etc. But he's had a decent run, and highly ranked recruiting class this past year..
I don't really get all this "ND is irrelevant" talk around here. A lot of similar talk was going around about Michigan not too long ago. I realize they are a hated rival, but some of the talk is just silly. Yes, it's located in a drab town in Rust Belt northern Indiana. It's a small school, but has become academically prestigious. Gorgeous campus, on-campus stadium. Not only do they have the Catholic school "in", a lot of mothers from big cities and small town across the country consider it a good, safe place to send their football-playing sons to school. They have their own network TV contract, and giant revenue stream which they don't have to share with anybody. They still have a huge widespread fanbase- most college fans love or hate them.
Under Armour wouldn't be dropping $90 million on them if they thought they were irrelevant. Yes, they had dry years, but so has nearly every program, including Michigan. They've at least been to an NC title game in recent memory. Much as we love Harbaugh and Michigan, we ought to wait until we get there before talking about anybody else; and then at that point, it wouldn' really matter. Such talk of other programs would just be...unseemly.
September 25th, 2016 at 7:51 PM ^
September 25th, 2016 at 8:32 PM ^
September 26th, 2016 at 6:56 AM ^
few years, I'm not sure ND is really in such a great position. Half in, half out of an ACC in which several schools are on the rise, watching MSU, UM, and OSU all rise around them. . . very little is guaranteed them any more. And I would argue that a certain virtuous cache that they hung onto for decades is pretty threadbarren after deaths, rapes, fat guys with mafia rings, exploding red faces, and talking to the dead. I'm probably in the minority, but I was one of the few that wasn't so overjoyed with renewing the rivalry; I'd prefer to let them stew awhile in their mini Big House in SB. . .
September 25th, 2016 at 7:10 PM ^
I would love to see Herman at LSU to make Saban work harder. Let Kelly have another year or two of discord at ND.
September 25th, 2016 at 7:12 PM ^
September 25th, 2016 at 7:24 PM ^
And even if he's there for a while longer, the inevitable old-age decline will come, even for Saban.
September 25th, 2016 at 8:23 PM ^
Bobby Bowden coached until he was 79. Admittedly he wasn't a very effective coach in his last years.
September 26th, 2016 at 12:00 AM ^
Bowden's birthday is November 8, 1929. He went downhill AFTER 70.
In seasons where he turned 65+
September 26th, 2016 at 12:14 PM ^
Won't affect the recruiting base much and as you said, it takes a little off of Saban's invincible aura.
With all the UM-USC history back in the PAC10 days, I'd prefer to see them continue to swim in their own mediocrity for as long as possible. Plus, that helps keep the CA recruiting territory open to all comers.
September 25th, 2016 at 7:12 PM ^
He's from Southern California and has spent most of his coaching career in Texas. I doubt he'll return to the Midwest.
Next year he'll almost certainly be at one of the following four schools: Houston, LSU, Texas or USC.
September 25th, 2016 at 7:13 PM ^
And that is AMAZING opportunity for any coach. WOW.
September 25th, 2016 at 7:27 PM ^
September 25th, 2016 at 7:47 PM ^
Both of those guys (Patterson at Texas, Haden at USC) are gone.
September 25th, 2016 at 8:55 PM ^
September 25th, 2016 at 9:44 PM ^
who got his post deleted. Unfortunately when that happens, the post comments go to the next highest up in that thread, aka, yours. They're not yelling at you.
September 25th, 2016 at 7:59 PM ^
September 25th, 2016 at 8:03 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
September 25th, 2016 at 8:10 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
September 25th, 2016 at 8:27 PM ^
September 25th, 2016 at 7:12 PM ^
The seat may get hot...but there's no shot they fire Kelly. They were AWFUL before he showed up, wildly inconsistent year after year after year. LSU won a national championship right before Les got there. It's a different situation.
September 25th, 2016 at 7:17 PM ^
I don't think he'll be fired this year but apparently, the dismissal of Van Gorder was dictated by the AD over Kelly's objections. He's in trouble if that's the case.
September 25th, 2016 at 7:17 PM ^
Brian Kelly hasn't really done much besides that national championship game year where they weren't really that good just lucky.
September 25th, 2016 at 7:19 PM ^
LAST YEAR. They were 1 play in two games from being in the playoffs.
September 25th, 2016 at 7:23 PM ^
They had a number of close wins last year too, though. Their record ended up being about right.
September 25th, 2016 at 7:44 PM ^
He's 56-26 at ND...
The guy before him (Weis) was 35-27
...the guy before that (Willingham) was 21-15
...the guy before THAT (Bob Davie) was 35-25
The days of Lou Holtz are long gone, but Kelly has been the closest thing record wise and it's not even close.
Holtz last coached in 1996, exactly 20 years ago. Brian Kelly is the best coach they've had in 20 years...that's insane.
September 25th, 2016 at 7:51 PM ^
But ND still regards itself as a national power. The Three Stooges that coached before Kelly aren't their benchmark. Visit any ND message board and their fans are out for blood, and really, have been since the Texas game.
September 25th, 2016 at 8:40 PM ^
Notre Dame fans are delusional at best if they truly believe they are still a national powerhouse. They are still a national historic powerhouse and with the right coach could quickly regain their status, but the fact is they haven't won a national championship in almost 30 years and played for one national championship in those 30 years 4 seasons ago. Since Holtz left 20 years ago they have only been in the final rankings 6 times. That is not what I would call a national powerhouse.
September 25th, 2016 at 9:07 PM ^
ND could quickly regain their status as a national powerhouse. I'm not going to their boards, but that sounds like what they're saying too. I agree, but I don't think they're going to get that coach.
September 25th, 2016 at 10:24 PM ^
We all know the big 3.
Then what?
Swinney? Fisher? Shaw? Dantonio? Stoops? Petersen?
Is Kelly really THAT far behind all of those guys?
I think that's what teams like LSU and ND fail to realize. Everyone wants Meyer, Saban and Harbaugh...but there aren't too many guys that are going to show up and change your program from day one.
Is Bob Stoop REALLY that much of an upgrade over Brian Kelly? They feel like just about the same thing to me.
You're not getting Swinney, Fisher or Shaw. So what now, Patterson, Petersen and a young hot name like Herman is all that's left.
...or have we not gotten over the Gruden to ND predictions?
Regardless, most would say Kelly is one of the 15 best coaches, maybe 10 best coaches in the country. There really isn't much seperation between him and the guys ahead of him until you get to the big 3. It just comes down to timing and fit for the guys 4-15.
September 26th, 2016 at 9:27 AM ^
To lambast ND for not winning a championship in the last 30 years is a little bit out of touch. We're coming up on 20 years ourselves.
September 25th, 2016 at 8:08 PM ^
There are plenty of ND fans still pissed about Kelly's flirtation with the NFL during the build up to their national title game.
September 25th, 2016 at 7:44 PM ^
They played a ton of cupcakes last year and came away with some extremely close wins in many of them. But they somehow played Clemson and Stanford down to the wire, which I still can't explain. OSU handled them pretty easily in the bowl game.
September 25th, 2016 at 8:09 PM ^
But they've also had loads of injuries these past 2 years. I think ND would be dumb to fire Kelly unless they already have some top coach they know they can get. Urban already passed on them didn't he?
September 25th, 2016 at 7:44 PM ^
September 25th, 2016 at 7:12 PM ^
September 25th, 2016 at 7:13 PM ^
However, they probably weren't motivated to be in the Peach Bowl.