I hear what youre saying but I wouldnt say its a trend because back to back coaches had this "surge"
Davie had no surge, Holtz had no surge. If it goes back 5 coaches deep then I would put stock in it.
The thing is, Davie-to a degree, Wilingham, and Weis are the first three coaches of the 24 hour news cycle+ Internet era. Sites like this one, blogs across the country, ESPN, newspapers, everybody wants something to talk about when it comes to ND. There's excitement at the start and the second the going gets tough the meme becomes the coach is struggling...leading to what should be no stories building a momentum of their own. (Swarbrick not saying anything last year for a week at the end of the season as to whether or not he would keep CW is a great example of this...usually, you assume its a non-story because the man had like 27 years left on his contract, but speculation fed on itself and it soon came to define this year.)
Right now everybody's in the fluff phase. Kelly has a great record, everybody's interested in his generic quotes/twitter account/where he wants to move, he has an interesting system, etc...etc... its easy to talk about and it sells stories. But all the evidence is that when the going gets tough, and it will at some point, the same forces that are currently building Kelly up will turn on him, and it will be ugly. And I know the point I'm making, and I think TDHeysus is on the same page as me on this, is that in the long run this is an unsustainable way to run a program. ND can't be going through coaches every five years, it can't be hailing a new savior one day and then tearing him down the next. It's bad for the football program and, quite frankly, it seems to go against many of the institution's core values (loyalty, perseverance, hard work, faith).
I hope to see Kelly do well. I really do. I'm buying into his approach, his attitude, everything. But sooner or later he will struggle. And that's when the true test of this hire will become clear. Will he fold under pressure? Will he be chewed up like every other ND coach (even Lou did NOT leave the university on his own terms, you can tell listening to him that he couldn't take it any more). Will ND fans be willing to stick by Kelly like they've been unwilling to do with anybody else?
