Restoring the Glory, Since 1993

Written by The Architect

After five years of downright, expensive awfulness, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have finally made (yet another) change in coaching. Charlie Weis, who received a ten year contract extension that was as excessive as the length of his belt (estimated at $40 million in 2005), was let go on November 30. He, along with golden boy Clausen, were anointed the saviors of Notre Dame football from the very start, yet struggled to obtain a 35 – 27 record. More over, the Irish have won only one game in their last ten bowl appearances. It is far too easy to find humor in their recent history, so we’ll leave Charlie with his obese arrogance and move on…

A new leader has been brought in to correct the failures of his forefathers: Brian Kelly. Kelly and I grew up together near the beautiful shores of Lake Michigan. Sure we’re separated by twenty four years in age, but since when does age matter? In reality, Kelly grew up in terms of his coaching career at Grand Valley State University while I was learning to ride a bike and read just a few miles east of his campus. Kelly was a local god, taking the GVSU Lakers on a 20 game win streak, winning multiple DII national championships, and a pair of AFCA Coach of the Year honors. He was promoted to the big leagues in 2004 when the Central Michigan Chippewas hired him to replace Mike DeBord. His astonishing numbers from the past were not repeated, yet he did take the lowly Chippewas from a three win team to a competitive nine win squad in just three years. In December of 2006, he made yet another move, this time even deeper into DI football. The Cincinnati Bearcats took him on to replace Mark Dantonio. He had already won Big East Coach of the Year honors after his second year, and at the end of his tenure there would have established a fantastic 34 – 6 record. As I research the data behind the man (Kelly) and the school (Notre Dame), it is eerily similar to their rivals in the north and their hiring of Coach Rich Rodriguez…but that’s a whole separate topic.

So we come to today’s issue: What are your thoughts on Notre Dame’s hiring of Brian Kelly? Can he undo all of Weis’s doings, or is it simply too late? If he can be successful, how long will it take? In response, we have Ryan Guerra (Here on out ‘The Bus Driver’) and David Bixler (Here on out ‘The Rookie’ (who, rumor has it, wanted Kelly to coach at Michigan in years past)) throwing in their four cents and starting things off right. Fight!

Sounding Off: The Bus Driver

Ok, so first off let’s make this clear…Notre Dame annoys me. I’m annoyed by the way the media looks for any excuse to hype them up as if they are their darling child. I’m annoyed by the way that they have an unfair recruiting advantage with all their home games being televised. It annoys me the way schools like USC (and Michigan) get overrated wins when they beat them. I’m annoyed by the way everyone wants to believe that they are the Notre Dame of old…but to say I hate them, well that may be a bit of an overstatement. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a Michigan Man, I want to hate them. I want them to lose every time they step on the field. But it is hard for me to “hate” a rival that in recent history has been irrelevant. (Before you domers out there give me shit, yes I know Michigan has fallen off the last few years) But here is the point. College football has a far better landscape when both Michigan and Notre Dame are good…so Brian Kelly, I wish you luck…Personally, I think you are overrated just like I thought Rich Rod was for Michigan. Yes you had a prolific offense that outscored everyone. Yes you dominated the Big East. But so did Rich Rod. I guess you can take some solace in the fact that your offense will mold better to what is left at Notre Dame when you get there. Still, I feel that it isn’t going to make much of a difference.

 There is no reason for Notre Dame to have been as bad as they have for as long as they have. Why? Because they get to choose their schedule. Seriously, look at their schedule. They should almost always have 8 or 9 wins, but they don’t. And this is where being an independent actually hurts them. In recent years we have seen the greatest amount of parody in college football history. Teams that are not normally powerhouses have made names for themselves by carving out the beginnings of their traditions. So what used to help ND every year has now become a liability.

If ND truly wants to restore the glory, they would be better served joining a conference rather than trying to rebuild with a new coach every few years. After all, what is the point of being independent of they aren’t playing for the commander-in-chief’s trophy every year. (GO NAVY!) The perfect fit for them would be to join the Big Ten. Bring their tradition to the already rich tradition of the conference, not to mention the media biased they would bring to the Big Ten which would give the conference some much deserved respect. They already have rivals in Michigan, Sparty and Purdue and joining the conference would give them a more stable competition base that would help their style of play. Plus they would get bigger headlines playing the likes of OSU, PSU and Iowa more often. And with making them the 12th team in the Big Ten we might actually have a conference championship game which would cause our BCS representative to not have to sit for 50+ days before playing in the bowl game. Both would benefit greatly.

But hey, I’m not biased. As much as I would love to see them join the Big Ten and fight for mediocrity as middle to bottom feeder in the conference (couldn't resist) they would be better served joining the Big East like their basketball team. Hell, we already know that Brian Kelly can dominate that conference so all signs point to yes….right?

Sounding Off: The Rookie

With the hire of Brian Kelly today, Notre Dame officially put the Charlie Weis debacle behind them (Goodbye Charlie, you will be sorely missed in Ann Arbor, we will never forget your late inning heroics in the game this year). Notre Dame fans around the country rejoiced. The bells rang from churches everywhere. The smoke rising from the Vatican finally burned white. The anointed one had come, the man who would lead the Irish from the desert of mediocrity into the promised land of excellence once again.

 But did they make the hire right? Personally, I think they did. The rumor floated by my good friend The Architect was completely right; I think Michigan hired the wrong coach from the Big East when they stole Rich Rod from West Virginia. Kelly has been a proven winner at every location he has coached. Since 1991 (when he first became head coach at GVSU) he has a record of 171-52-2, a .748 winning percentage. At one point he had a 32 game winning streak with the Lakers. He successfully turned around a horrible Central Michigan program to the point where now the Chips have won 3 of the last 4 MAC championships. And he set school records for Cincinnati, winning 10, 11 and now 12 games in his 3 seasons there. My esteemed friend The Bus Driver points out that Rich Rod won everywhere he coached as well, but the point I differ with him on is the aftermath. Personally I believe a sign of a good coach is when he leaves and the teams he leaves behind continue winning. Central Michigan and Grand Valley are still winning at the same rate that they were when Kelly left, yet West Virginia has dropped off its winning significantly.

 However, Notre Dame fans should temper their rejoicing for two reasons. The first is that Brian Kelly’s teams do not play great defense. In his 6 years coaching D-1 ball his defenses given up an average of 23 points per season. The adage “Defense wins championships” comes to mind, but the other fact of the matter is that Notre Dame was mediocre this season because of their defense. They gave up 311 points this season, an average of 26 points per game. They had the offense solved, and Kelly will continue that production with his spread attack. He won with 5 different quarterbacks last year and put up video game numbers with Tony Pike and Collaros this year. But, if he can’t find a way to create a solid defense at Notre Dame, he won’t be able to win as consistently as he did in weaker conferences. The second downside to Brian Kelly lies within his nature. He is a mercenary coach. He goes where the money is, and has no compassion for the people he leaves behind. While I respect him for the consistency, Notre Dame had better be prepared to be the latest team to be burned. If the NFL comes calling, I wouldn’t be in the least bit surprised to see him take off faster than Usain Bolt.

 This hire is Notre Dame’s Alamo. If Brian Kelly, a proven winner in every other program he has coached, can’t win at Notre Dame, it will officially signal an end to the rich tradition at Notre Dame. Short of stealing Urban Meyer from Florida, the school won’t be able to return to a national powerhouse without either drastically changing its standards academically or joining a conference. No pressure Brian.