Contrary to the view that this thread is terrible or stupid or even ill-advised, I think it's a great discussion. For those of us who want the Irish to have top tier results, and yet keep the elements that make it, imo, the finest program in the country -- i.e., I think, all of us -- the issues raised are the most important ones to consider. I'd hope the administration and Swarbrick and Kelly are frequently asking themselves these questions and aren't so stubborn, or arrogant, or tunnel-vision-bound, that they don't think they need to be asked. A key element of both leadership and excellence is to ALWAYS be asking: What am I doing wrong? How can I be better? What can we change to improve and still be true to our principles? I certainly hope they are all asking these tough questions of themselves and each other.
Re where this program is, I think we've seen enough of a drop-off in the two years since the NC game to say that we're not in the top tier of five or ten schools that is always a challenger for the title. That was an ugly skein of games at the end of the regular season last year, and not the way the most elite programs play. And it showed in a few areas that seem to be customary of Kelly's teams:
1) injuries, which ties to/exposes issues of depth and perhaps technical coaching (teaching ability, direct and indirect through the coaches he hires);
2) turnovers; and
3) failure to make on the fly adjustments (maybe this goes to the "control freak" point).
I'm cognizant of how hard it is to find a coach who recognizes that this is a different sort of place and is willing to play by those rules. I think Kelly does get that and that's part of why he's as successful as he has been. I'm also cognizant of the academic challenges, travel challenges, recruiting challenges that make this the toughest job in college football, imo. The toughest jobs call for the best people. So we shouldn't be surprised that most people will fail in at least some of the aspects, and at least for some period of time (and some for most of the time).
Bottom line: I think Kelly possesses the intelligence and heart to do this job well enough to return the Irish to the top tier elite program it was under Holtz. He has shown enough of other skills to make us much better than any time SINCE Holtz left. But I do not know yet if he has a sufficient quantity of the other skills -- teaching ability, temperament, patience, flexibility, humility -- that it will require to take us to the very top again, as a consistently-elite program. And I don't know if he has the desire or willingness to further develop those traits, which is the sort of change I think we need in him.
