Ridiculous Kelly Bashers - Who's your answer??

[jonesman]

As I look over the threads online this morning, I chuckle at many of the suggestions. I see the folks calling to Fire Kelly, Bring Back Lou, Kelly is Losing it, CW should not have been fired. So, I want to know from all those spewing these thoughts. Who is the next Messiah??? Before you get started, let me first make some things very clear.

COACHES: Urban is not leaving FL for ND, Lou is not coming out of retirement to coach at ND, his son Skip is holding on for dear life at USF, Stoops is NOT leaving OK, the other Kelly is not leaving Oregon for the stiff admissions at ND, Harbaugh is headed to UM in a couple months, Tressel is a lifer at OSU(would not want him anyway), Patterson at SMU has some major character issues which would prevent him from coming to ND, and Chris Peterson would not want to have the target on his back every week. Oh, I almost forgot to mention for those delusional enough to think ND could offer enough $$, Saban wants no part of being regulated to play within the recruiting rules. SO, who are you suggesting??? Oh, you are wanting CW back. Do you not forget that he was just as bad WITH a healthy QB and the best slot WR ND has had in many years. Further, he hired that winning personality of Tenuta.

THERE IS NOBODY COMING TO SAVE ND. We have the right guy. He needs some time to get things going. The guy who has had like 4 seasons of 10 wins in the last 6 years has not forgotten how to coach. He is not a conservative guy, so you will see him make some decisions at times that may frustrate. But, he is also going to make some calls which we all will cheer in years to come.

OFFENSE WILL FLOURISH. We have all seen flashes this year of how this O can really click when things get rolling. Reality is that we have a QB(Crist) who is really a pro-style guy. He has struggled with his accuracy and some decisions. I firmly believe that Kelly has a couple kids on the QB roster who will take this O to the next level. When the O is scoring, it forces the opponent to keep up. This makes it easier on the D to predict what is coming.

SPEAKING OF DEFENSE. Other than Manti and Ian, there are no real big time NFL talents on this squad. They are a good group, but do not put the fear into anyone. So, we are watching a group that has given great effort and is growing. For those of you that believe Diaco is not the guy, don't think for one minute that Kelly will hesitate to replace him if needed. Kelly fired his DC at Cincy after a bad year. I still think Diaco is the guy, but we will see at the end of the season.

INJURY PANDEMIC. I do not believe I have ever seen a team so laden with injuries in one season. If you were asked before the season how many games ND would lose if Rudolph, Floyd, Crist, Allen, Riddick and Gray would all miss multiple games on O and Ian Williams, Slaughter and Calabrese would miss multiple games on D, what would you answer?? I do not believe for one minute that we would have won at Stanford, but I give us a major chance several games. UM, we lose Crist for a full half. Navy, it would not have changed our pourous D, but with Floyd, Allen, Rudolph and Gray I see ND scoring way more points and possibly changing the outcome. This past week at Tulsa, I see a very different game on O with Rudolph and Allen in particular. We missed Allen's running game and Rudolph as a safety valve. How about Theo's playmaking ability. Do you think Ian would have made a difference on the running game? How about Carlo plugging the middle?? Even when some of these guys have played, they have been hobbled. Rudy was gimpy all season. Floyd was struggling for a few games. Allen was banged up for a few games.

I had a friend who is an OSU fan ask me this weekend, "what is wrong at ND? How do you lose to Tulsa and Navy?". So, I asked him this question. "How would you guys do playing without Pryor at QB, Saine at RB, Sanzenbacher at WR, Stonebrunner at TE, Heyward at DL, Homan at LB and last week take Posie your WR off the field too???" He looked at me and said, "you are not missing all those guys??". I said, "damn right we are!!" I told him we just got Floyd back this week, but not Rudolph, Crist, Allen, Riddick, Williams, Calabrese. He hates ND and he even said, "WOW, you guys have been decimated!" Remember last year when Oklahoma fans were ready to run Stoops out of town? He was suffering lots of injuries.

So, let's give this Kelly guy a chance to build his plan for a couple years. I think we will like the results. Stay strong Irish Nation!! We are a proud and valiant fanbase.

 

[Shamrocks and Shenanigans]

Very well stated Jonesman, I'm all in with Kelly, but if he doesn't kick the damn ball next time I will hunt him down.

 

[CanadianIrish]

I suppose I can't speak for everyone who is worried, but I am the one who started the thread on what if Charlie hadn't been fired.

I'm not so much worried about the future if things stay together as I'm worried about a tidal wave just destroying any ability to build a future. If Kelly is able to hold this recruiting class together and make it to next year we'll be fine. The concern is whether or not that can happen. If we lose Tuitt in addiiton to Prestwood, Lynch and Burton it might start a stampede for the exits.

You need to understand that recruiting is a great deal of group think, just like lots of other parts of our lives. If recruits decide Kelly is a failure and ND can't recover, that becomes the truth irrespective of anything else.

If the recruiting class gets decimated, then no coach can save the program in the short term - Urban, Lou and Vince Lombardi included. If Kelly keeps it together, we'll be fine in a couple of years. It's as simple as that.

 

[ndcoltsfan2010]

As I look over the threads online this morning, I chuckle at many of the suggestions. I see the folks calling to Fire Kelly, Bring Back Lou, Kelly is Losing it, CW should not have been fired. So, I want to know from all those spewing these thoughts. Who is the next Messiah??? Before you get started, let me first make some things very clear.

COACHES: Urban is not leaving FL for ND, Lou is not coming out of retirement to coach at ND, his son Skip is holding on for dear life at USF, Stoops is NOT leaving OK, the other Kelly is not leaving Oregon for the stiff admissions at ND, Harbaugh is headed to UM in a couple months, Tressel is a lifer at OSU(would not want him anyway), Patterson at SMU has some major character issues which would prevent him from coming to ND, and Chris Peterson would not want to have the target on his back every week. Oh, I almost forgot to mention for those delusional enough to think ND could offer enough $$, Saban wants no part of being regulated to play within the recruiting rules. SO, who are you suggesting??? Oh, you are wanting CW back. Do you not forget that he was just as bad WITH a healthy QB and the best slot WR ND has had in many years. Further, he hired that winning personality of Tenuta.

THERE IS NOBODY COMING TO SAVE ND. We have the right guy. He needs some time to get things going. The guy who has had like 4 seasons of 10 wins in the last 6 years has not forgotten how to coach. He is not a conservative guy, so you will see him make some decisions at times that may frustrate. But, he is also going to make some calls which we all will cheer in years to come.

OFFENSE WILL FLOURISH. We have all seen flashes this year of how this O can really click when things get rolling. Reality is that we have a QB(Crist) who is really a pro-style guy. He has struggled with his accuracy and some decisions. I firmly believe that Kelly has a couple kids on the QB roster who will take this O to the next level. When the O is scoring, it forces the opponent to keep up. This makes it easier on the D to predict what is coming.

SPEAKING OF DEFENSE. Other than Manti and Ian, there are no real big time NFL talents on this squad. They are a good group, but do not put the fear into anyone. So, we are watching a group that has given great effort and is growing. For those of you that believe Diaco is not the guy, don't think for one minute that Kelly will hesitate to replace him if needed. Kelly fired his DC at Cincy after a bad year. I still think Diaco is the guy, but we will see at the end of the season.

INJURY PANDEMIC. I do not believe I have ever seen a team so laden with injuries in one season. If you were asked before the season how many games ND would lose if Rudolph, Floyd, Crist, Allen, Riddick and Gray would all miss multiple games on O and Ian Williams, Slaughter and Calabrese would miss multiple games on D, what would you answer?? I do not believe for one minute that we would have won at Stanford, but I give us a major chance several games. UM, we lose Crist for a full half. Navy, it would not have changed our pourous D, but with Floyd, Allen, Rudolph and Gray I see ND scoring way more points and possibly changing the outcome. This past week at Tulsa, I see a very different game on O with Rudolph and Allen in particular. We missed Allen's running game and Rudolph as a safety valve. How about Theo's playmaking ability. Do you think Ian would have made a difference on the running game? How about Carlo plugging the middle?? Even when some of these guys have played, they have been hobbled. Rudy was gimpy all season. Floyd was struggling for a few games. Allen was banged up for a few games.

I had a friend who is an OSU fan ask me this weekend, "what is wrong at ND? How do you lose to Tulsa and Navy?". So, I asked him this question. "How would you guys do playing without Pryor at QB, Saine at RB, Sanzenbacher at WR, Stonebrunner at TE, Heyward at DL, Homan at LB and last week take Posie your WR off the field too???" He looked at me and said, "you are not missing all those guys??". I said, "damn right we are!!" I told him we just got Floyd back this week, but not Rudolph, Crist, Allen, Riddick, Williams, Calabrese. He hates ND and he even said, "WOW, you guys have been decimated!" Remember last year when Oklahoma fans were ready to run Stoops out of town? He was suffering lots of injuries.

So, let's give this Kelly guy a chance to build his plan for a couple years. I think we will like the results. Stay strong Irish Nation!! We are a proud and valiant fanbase.

Good post. I agree that BK is the right guy too. This year has been horrible on the injury front. Rarely have I ever seen a team so destroyed by injuries at key positions. This year has been hard enough, learning new systems, new coaching staff etc..., but then add all of the injuries to the mix and is it really that surprising we have the record we do right now? It's one thing to miss one or two players, but we are talking about QB, TE, NT, WRs, RBs, LBs and Safety positions. We have been unhealthy for awhile now and the rest of the season will be about playing alot of kids with little or no experience trying to step in and play in place of the starters. I understand the "next guy in" philosophy but at a certain point you also have to stay reasonably healthy to be able to win consistently.

 

[ubet49]

I for one would have found the loss easier to accept if we tried the field goal and he missed it. The interception should never have happened. Kelly says Tommy is a gamer. Well a gamer sometimes tries to force the ball into a players hands that is well covered. He was picked 3 times anyone remember that?

 

[Jerry]

I agree Kelly isn't going anywhere. He will get at least 3 years. I was worried when Weis was on his way out that we wouldn't even get someone like Kelly.

But what I don't get is how ND can get physically beaten up by teams like Stanford and Navy? Our lineman were higher rated out of high school, bigger, stronger, ect. and still got manhandled by those teams? And they are all 4 star recruits. Which is what all our recruits are coming in? So I'm hoping there is some magic that Kelly can perform with these younger guys learning his system because the holdovers from the previous staff clearly aren't making the transition.

 

[CanadianIrish]

I agree Kelly isn't going anywhere. He will get at least 3 years. I was worried when Weis was on his way out that we wouldn't even get someone like Kelly.

Not that I'm advocating it, but I wouldn't be so sure about that. If we lose out and drop a bunch of recruits, something big is going to happen. Might be just firing a ton of staff, might be a new AD, might be Kelly, might be something else - who knows. But if we lose out and lose some recruits things won't be the same come spring practice.

 

[phgreek]

As I look over the threads online this morning, I chuckle at many of the suggestions. I see the folks calling to Fire Kelly, Bring Back Lou, Kelly is Losing it, CW should not have been fired. So, I want to know from all those spewing these thoughts. Who is the next Messiah??? Before you get started, let me first make some things very clear.

COACHES: Urban is not leaving FL for ND, Lou is not coming out of retirement to coach at ND, his son Skip is holding on for dear life at USF, Stoops is NOT leaving OK, the other Kelly is not leaving Oregon for the stiff admissions at ND, Harbaugh is headed to UM in a couple months, Tressel is a lifer at OSU(would not want him anyway), Patterson at SMU has some major character issues which would prevent him from coming to ND, and Chris Peterson would not want to have the target on his back every week. Oh, I almost forgot to mention for those delusional enough to think ND could offer enough $$, Saban wants no part of being regulated to play within the recruiting rules. SO, who are you suggesting??? Oh, you are wanting CW back. Do you not forget that he was just as bad WITH a healthy QB and the best slot WR ND has had in many years. Further, he hired that winning personality of Tenuta.

THERE IS NOBODY COMING TO SAVE ND. We have the right guy. He needs some time to get things going. The guy who has had like 4 seasons of 10 wins in the last 6 years has not forgotten how to coach. He is not a conservative guy, so you will see him make some decisions at times that may frustrate. But, he is also going to make some calls which we all will cheer in years to come.

OFFENSE WILL FLOURISH. We have all seen flashes this year of how this O can really click when things get rolling. Reality is that we have a QB(Crist) who is really a pro-style guy. He has struggled with his accuracy and some decisions. I firmly believe that Kelly has a couple kids on the QB roster who will take this O to the next level. When the O is scoring, it forces the opponent to keep up. This makes it easier on the D to predict what is coming.

SPEAKING OF DEFENSE. Other than Manti and Ian, there are no real big time NFL talents on this squad. They are a good group, but do not put the fear into anyone. So, we are watching a group that has given great effort and is growing. For those of you that believe Diaco is not the guy, don't think for one minute that Kelly will hesitate to replace him if needed. Kelly fired his DC at Cincy after a bad year. I still think Diaco is the guy, but we will see at the end of the season.

INJURY PANDEMIC. I do not believe I have ever seen a team so laden with injuries in one season. If you were asked before the season how many games ND would lose if Rudolph, Floyd, Crist, Allen, Riddick and Gray would all miss multiple games on O and Ian Williams, Slaughter and Calabrese would miss multiple games on D, what would you answer?? I do not believe for one minute that we would have won at Stanford, but I give us a major chance several games. UM, we lose Crist for a full half. Navy, it would not have changed our pourous D, but with Floyd, Allen, Rudolph and Gray I see ND scoring way more points and possibly changing the outcome. This past week at Tulsa, I see a very different game on O with Rudolph and Allen in particular. We missed Allen's running game and Rudolph as a safety valve. How about Theo's playmaking ability. Do you think Ian would have made a difference on the running game? How about Carlo plugging the middle?? Even when some of these guys have played, they have been hobbled. Rudy was gimpy all season. Floyd was struggling for a few games. Allen was banged up for a few games.

I had a friend who is an OSU fan ask me this weekend, "what is wrong at ND? How do you lose to Tulsa and Navy?". So, I asked him this question. "How would you guys do playing without Pryor at QB, Saine at RB, Sanzenbacher at WR, Stonebrunner at TE, Heyward at DL, Homan at LB and last week take Posie your WR off the field too???" He looked at me and said, "you are not missing all those guys??". I said, "damn right we are!!" I told him we just got Floyd back this week, but not Rudolph, Crist, Allen, Riddick, Williams, Calabrese. He hates ND and he even said, "WOW, you guys have been decimated!" Remember last year when Oklahoma fans were ready to run Stoops out of town? He was suffering lots of injuries.

So, let's give this Kelly guy a chance to build his plan for a couple years. I think we will like the results. Stay strong Irish Nation!! We are a proud and valiant fanbase.

I follow what you are saying...although Jimmy was not healthy dude. He was however still upright.

...My personal opinion is that Kelly has made his life hell by failing to win against Navy and Tulsa...(recruits don't care how banged up you are...they just know you got punked by Navy) recruiting gets tougher, and buy-in from his current team becomes tenuous...I don't believe Kelly is in any jeopardy, but he has made the turn around such that it will take at least another year before we compete well with BCS teams, and we consistently handle lesser opponents. 2013 is what we are looking at before we do anything...just MHO.

 

[Mr. McGibblets]

I am good with Kelly for now. I'd like to see what he can do with this offense if they gave him 6 years. My emotion is out of this season. I still watch, but I am at the point where I just want to know who can play and who cant. Who wants to be on the field and who doesnt.

These injuries could be a slight blessing in disguise because a lot of younger guys are filling in and we can see what type of stones they have. Kelly can evaluate the younger players at game speed and see what is needed going forward. I admit I over-reacted after Michigan. It's tough to be realistic because I thought ND would win 6-8 games, but when I how close they were to possibly winning more than I originially thought, I got excited then disappointed. Willingham won like 4-5 close games his first season (if i recall-not looking that up). That was a big smoke screen of his coaching ability.

Dont wanna be "that guy" because we have enough on IE but Patterson coaches TCU not SMU---Wait-----I want June Jones! He beat Tulsa this year.

 

[jonesman]

Thanks for pointing out the Patterson typo. I did know he is at TCU, but missed that one. By the way guys, I do not give kelly a pass on the poor decision this past Saturday. I was screaming at the TV just like one million other ND fans when I saw Rees throwing it with less than a minute left. Kelly may not admit it, but he learned from that one. Remember, coaches are a proud bunch. When have you ever seen a coach admit he blundered?? Not often enough.

 

[aaronb]

Very well stated Jonesman, I'm all in with Kelly, but if he doesn't kick the damn ball next time I will hunt him down.

That is twice this year Kelly has hurt us by not kicking. I hate when guys get ridiculously conservative. Yet at some point you need to be grounded in your decision making. Both Weis and Kelly seem to roll the dice a little too much.

 

[Mr. McGibblets]

Thanks for pointing out the Patterson typo. I did know he is at TCU, but missed that one.

Figured you knew, I just wanted to work in a new coaches name who you hadnt mentioned.

 

[mick2]

i thought kelly was the answer for all the ridiculous Weis Bashers.

Ironic?

 

[irishtrain]

Until they get it right with allowing a roster full of football players to compete with the big boys what you see is what you are going to get. Kelly is a fine coach no better no worse that any other top tier guy. The problem at Notre Dame is they cant fill a roster out with studs who are there to play football first. The admn wont allow it. When is the last time you heard Alabama talk about the excellance in the classroom--they simply dont care. Its the way it is today and if you dont want to play it that way go to the MAC. This is as simple as someone who has the authority saying 'OK' we need to win football games-bring 'em in and will try to make them Notre Dame men. Without this happening your just $%##@&^ in the wind.

 

[aaronb]

i thought kelly was the answer for all the ridiculous Weis Bashers.

Ironic?

Gotta agree here. It seems our fanbase and the ghost of the program are sometimes our own worst enemies.

You are going to have to give SOMEONE a decent amount of time to build a program here. And the negativity that some fans bring to the table flat out SUCKS.

It's tough to build a program and recruit when you have a fanbase screaming for a pound of flesh every time a couple of losses happen. Be it Kelly now or Weis in 2007.

It's been 20 years since this has been a top level program, and 30+ since it has been on a consistent basis.

 

[Irish Houstonian]

...So, I want to know from all those spewing these thoughts. Who is the next Messiah???...

I personally think that Kelly should stay for at least 2 years, barring some sort of major scandal.

That said, I'd replace Kelly with Jon Gruden in a South Bend minute. You know eventually he's going to get sick of doing his cheerleader routine with Jaworski once a week.

 

[TerryTate]

Until they get it right with allowing a roster full of football players to compete with the big boys what you see is what you are going to get. Kelly is a fine coach no better no worse that any other top tier guy. The problem at Notre Dame is they cant fill a roster out with studs who are there to play football first. The admn wont allow it. When is the last time you heard Alabama talk about the excellance in the classroom--they simply dont care. Its the way it is today and if you dont want to play it that way go to the MAC. This is as simple as someone who has the authority saying 'OK' we need to win football games-bring 'em in and will try to make them Notre Dame men. Without this happening your just $%##@&^ in the wind.

Don't give me that academics bs. It's flat out not true. The admissions guys may stop 2 or 3 guys a class. But the standards for acceptance for a football player are SIGNIFICANTLY lower. Enough of this academic requirements excuse.

This is a culture thing. These upperclassmen have had some terrible losing seasons. Mental toughness is the answer.

I'd vote to have all freshman and sophomores play. They have the fire we need. TJ, Toma, Schwenke, Shembo, Manti, Carlo, Jackson

ND looks like a team that is playing scared and mentally-broken.

 

[smerky]

I am good with Kelly for now. I'd like to see what he can do with this offense if they gave him 6 years. My emotion is out of this season. I still watch, but I am at the point where I just want to know who can play and who cant. Who wants to be on the field and who doesnt.

These injuries could be a slight blessing in disguise because a lot of younger guys are filling in and we can see what type of stones they have. Kelly can evaluate the younger players at game speed and see what is needed going forward.


I agree completely. The current players on the roster may not be what BK needs to run his system, but as stated above, this may allow him an opportunity to better evaluate who is more suitable to be productive in it, until he can get the kids he needs (assuming they will come). <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
<o></o>
I too have disassociated myself from the emotions with the remainder of this season. Not because I don’t care, but because I don’t want to break anything in the house. I’ll still be watching and rooting the IRISH on to victory faithfully. Heck, I lived through the Faust era, so I won’t give up that easily. <o></o>

 

[rikkitikki08]

As I look over the threads online this morning, I chuckle at many of the suggestions. I see the folks calling to Fire Kelly, Bring Back Lou, Kelly is Losing it, CW should not have been fired. So, I want to know from all those spewing these thoughts. Who is the next Messiah??? Before you get started, let me first make some things very clear.

COACHES: Urban is not leaving FL for ND, Lou is not coming out of retirement to coach at ND, his son Skip is holding on for dear life at USF, Stoops is NOT leaving OK, the other Kelly is not leaving Oregon for the stiff admissions at ND, Harbaugh is headed to UM in a couple months, Tressel is a lifer at OSU(would not want him anyway), Patterson at SMU has some major character issues which would prevent him from coming to ND, and Chris Peterson would not want to have the target on his back every week. Oh, I almost forgot to mention for those delusional enough to think ND could offer enough $$, Saban wants no part of being regulated to play within the recruiting rules. SO, who are you suggesting??? Oh, you are wanting CW back. Do you not forget that he was just as bad WITH a healthy QB and the best slot WR ND has had in many years. Further, he hired that winning personality of Tenuta.

THERE IS NOBODY COMING TO SAVE ND. We have the right guy. He needs some time to get things going. The guy who has had like 4 seasons of 10 wins in the last 6 years has not forgotten how to coach. He is not a conservative guy, so you will see him make some decisions at times that may frustrate. But, he is also going to make some calls which we all will cheer in years to come.

OFFENSE WILL FLOURISH. We have all seen flashes this year of how this O can really click when things get rolling. Reality is that we have a QB(Crist) who is really a pro-style guy. He has struggled with his accuracy and some decisions. I firmly believe that Kelly has a couple kids on the QB roster who will take this O to the next level. When the O is scoring, it forces the opponent to keep up. This makes it easier on the D to predict what is coming.

SPEAKING OF DEFENSE. Other than Manti and Ian, there are no real big time NFL talents on this squad. They are a good group, but do not put the fear into anyone. So, we are watching a group that has given great effort and is growing. For those of you that believe Diaco is not the guy, don't think for one minute that Kelly will hesitate to replace him if needed. Kelly fired his DC at Cincy after a bad year. I still think Diaco is the guy, but we will see at the end of the season.

INJURY PANDEMIC. I do not believe I have ever seen a team so laden with injuries in one season. If you were asked before the season how many games ND would lose if Rudolph, Floyd, Crist, Allen, Riddick and Gray would all miss multiple games on O and Ian Williams, Slaughter and Calabrese would miss multiple games on D, what would you answer?? I do not believe for one minute that we would have won at Stanford, but I give us a major chance several games. UM, we lose Crist for a full half. Navy, it would not have changed our pourous D, but with Floyd, Allen, Rudolph and Gray I see ND scoring way more points and possibly changing the outcome. This past week at Tulsa, I see a very different game on O with Rudolph and Allen in particular. We missed Allen's running game and Rudolph as a safety valve. How about Theo's playmaking ability. Do you think Ian would have made a difference on the running game? How about Carlo plugging the middle?? Even when some of these guys have played, they have been hobbled. Rudy was gimpy all season. Floyd was struggling for a few games. Allen was banged up for a few games.

I had a friend who is an OSU fan ask me this weekend, "what is wrong at ND? How do you lose to Tulsa and Navy?". So, I asked him this question. "How would you guys do playing without Pryor at QB, Saine at RB, Sanzenbacher at WR, Stonebrunner at TE, Heyward at DL, Homan at LB and last week take Posie your WR off the field too???" He looked at me and said, "you are not missing all those guys??". I said, "damn right we are!!" I told him we just got Floyd back this week, but not Rudolph, Crist, Allen, Riddick, Williams, Calabrese. He hates ND and he even said, "WOW, you guys have been decimated!" Remember last year when Oklahoma fans were ready to run Stoops out of town? He was suffering lots of injuries.

So, let's give this Kelly guy a chance to build his plan for a couple years. I think we will like the results. Stay strong Irish Nation!! We are a proud and valiant fanbase.

Amen bro, im trying to stay positive this year but one thing is for sure, ND will always be my team winning or losing

 

[jonesman]

JOHN GRUDEN??? Are you kidding?? I just saw this. John Gruden is salivating for the job in Dallas. He will be the next coach of the Cowboys. Further, he is not interested in college football. He is an NFL guy.

NEXT????

The one guy my buddies keep talking about is Pat Fitzgerald at Northwestern. He actually intrigues me somewhat. He is a passionate guy, deals with the admissions crap and is a young guy. He is someone ND could think about a few years from now IF Kelly does not work out. Until then, Go Kelly.

 

[NDOM]

JOHN GRUDEN??? Are you kidding?? I just saw this. John Gruden is salivating for the job in Dallas. He will be the next coach of the Cowboys. Further, he is not interested in college football. He is an NFL guy.

NEXT????

The one guy my buddies keep talking about is Pat Fitzgerald at Northwestern. He actually intrigues me somewhat. He is a passionate guy, deals with the admissions crap and is a young guy. He is someone ND could think about a few years from now IF Kelly does not work out. Until then, Go Kelly.

My friend from Chicago said Pat Fitzgerald would be an AWESOME fit a ND. He did'nt like the Kelly hire from the start. He said: "We missed out on the right coach". Personally I'm not ready to throw Kelly under the bus just yet. I will give him a few more years but to tell ya the truth, the schedule only gets nastier.

 

[I Dont Miss Charlie]

JOHN GRUDEN??? Are you kidding?? I just saw this. John Gruden is salivating for the job in Dallas. He will be the next coach of the Cowboys. Further, he is not interested in college football. He is an NFL guy.

NEXT????

The one guy my buddies keep talking about is Pat Fitzgerald at Northwestern. He actually intrigues me somewhat. He is a passionate guy, deals with the admissions crap and is a young guy. He is someone ND could think about a few years from now IF Kelly does not work out. Until then, Go Kelly.

You certainly have answers for everything dont you?

 

[jonesman]

Missing Charlie,
Do you really think that Gruden would be an option? Do you think that he is not looking at Dallas?? They are a talented team that just needs the right guy and they will be in the playoffs.

 

[NDOM]

You certainly have answers for everything dont you?

I will say in jonesmans defense, he knows quite a bit. He knows what he's talking about. We dont agree all the time him and I but for the most part he is one of the more knowledgeable posters on here. Me? I'm just a moron who likes to hear himself post. LOL

 

[DCirishfan]

As I look over the threads online this morning, I chuckle at many of the suggestions. I see the folks calling to Fire Kelly, Bring Back Lou, Kelly is Losing it, CW should not have been fired. So, I want to know from all those spewing these thoughts. Who is the next Messiah??? Before you get started, let me first make some things very clear.

COACHES: Urban is not leaving FL for ND, Lou is not coming out of retirement to coach at ND, his son Skip is holding on for dear life at USF, Stoops is NOT leaving OK, the other Kelly is not leaving Oregon for the stiff admissions at ND, Harbaugh is headed to UM in a couple months, Tressel is a lifer at OSU(would not want him anyway), Patterson at SMU has some major character issues which would prevent him from coming to ND, and Chris Peterson would not want to have the target on his back every week. Oh, I almost forgot to mention for those delusional enough to think ND could offer enough $$, Saban wants no part of being regulated to play within the recruiting rules. SO, who are you suggesting??? Oh, you are wanting CW back. Do you not forget that he was just as bad WITH a healthy QB and the best slot WR ND has had in many years. Further, he hired that winning personality of Tenuta.

THERE IS NOBODY COMING TO SAVE ND. We have the right guy. He needs some time to get things going. The guy who has had like 4 seasons of 10 wins in the last 6 years has not forgotten how to coach. He is not a conservative guy, so you will see him make some decisions at times that may frustrate. But, he is also going to make some calls which we all will cheer in years to come.

OFFENSE WILL FLOURISH. We have all seen flashes this year of how this O can really click when things get rolling. Reality is that we have a QB(Crist) who is really a pro-style guy. He has struggled with his accuracy and some decisions. I firmly believe that Kelly has a couple kids on the QB roster who will take this O to the next level. When the O is scoring, it forces the opponent to keep up. This makes it easier on the D to predict what is coming.

SPEAKING OF DEFENSE. Other than Manti and Ian, there are no real big time NFL talents on this squad. They are a good group, but do not put the fear into anyone. So, we are watching a group that has given great effort and is growing. For those of you that believe Diaco is not the guy, don't think for one minute that Kelly will hesitate to replace him if needed. Kelly fired his DC at Cincy after a bad year. I still think Diaco is the guy, but we will see at the end of the season.

INJURY PANDEMIC. I do not believe I have ever seen a team so laden with injuries in one season. If you were asked before the season how many games ND would lose if Rudolph, Floyd, Crist, Allen, Riddick and Gray would all miss multiple games on O and Ian Williams, Slaughter and Calabrese would miss multiple games on D, what would you answer?? I do not believe for one minute that we would have won at Stanford, but I give us a major chance several games. UM, we lose Crist for a full half. Navy, it would not have changed our pourous D, but with Floyd, Allen, Rudolph and Gray I see ND scoring way more points and possibly changing the outcome. This past week at Tulsa, I see a very different game on O with Rudolph and Allen in particular. We missed Allen's running game and Rudolph as a safety valve. How about Theo's playmaking ability. Do you think Ian would have made a difference on the running game? How about Carlo plugging the middle?? Even when some of these guys have played, they have been hobbled. Rudy was gimpy all season. Floyd was struggling for a few games. Allen was banged up for a few games.

I had a friend who is an OSU fan ask me this weekend, "what is wrong at ND? How do you lose to Tulsa and Navy?". So, I asked him this question. "How would you guys do playing without Pryor at QB, Saine at RB, Sanzenbacher at WR, Stonebrunner at TE, Heyward at DL, Homan at LB and last week take Posie your WR off the field too???" He looked at me and said, "you are not missing all those guys??". I said, "damn right we are!!" I told him we just got Floyd back this week, but not Rudolph, Crist, Allen, Riddick, Williams, Calabrese. He hates ND and he even said, "WOW, you guys have been decimated!" Remember last year when Oklahoma fans were ready to run Stoops out of town? He was suffering lots of injuries.

So, let's give this Kelly guy a chance to build his plan for a couple years. I think we will like the results. Stay strong Irish Nation!! We are a proud and valiant fanbase.

Weis' last 3-4 recruiting classes were top 15 to top 10. Without our key starters we should still be able to field a team that is easily able to beat navy and tulosa. If you took those players off of OSU they would wipe the field with Tulsa and Navy....next

 

[Irish Houstonian]

JOHN GRUDEN??? Are you kidding?? I just saw this. John Gruden is salivating for the job in Dallas. He will be the next coach of the Cowboys. Further, he is not interested in college football. He is an NFL guy.

NEXT????

.

I'm clearly not as close with him as you are, so I'm not going to speculate as to what other jobs he wants. You asked who I thought the savior could be, and that's my answer. Fact is, the guy had the ND fight song playing in his head while he was losing his virginity. You don't lose that.

And since you two are so close I'm sure he'll give you a pass on spelling his name wrong.

 

[DCirishfan]

I am not a Kelly basher as I have said I love him and think he is a great coach, or at least thought. What I am seeing on the field does not not look like the product of great coaching.

As far as what to do next, nothing. We have to give him 3 years to see where we are and hopefully we are better. I think the admission standards are an issue, although I know I am in the minority on that.

 

[I Dont Miss Charlie]

Missing Charlie,
Do you really think that Gruden would be an option? Do you think that he is not looking at Dallas?? They are a talented team that just needs the right guy and they will be in the playoffs.

There is a difference between stating an opinion, and parading your opinion as being a fact. Can you have a discussion, without answering questions as being fact?

Do I think Gruden would be an option? No. Why? I haven't seen anything suggesting Gruden has shown any interest in coaching in the college ranks. Hes been coaching in the NFL for a majority of his career, and I just cant see him making the switch now. Seriously, how many times has his name been mentioned this decade.

Do I think Gruden is looking at Dallas? No. Why? Jerry Jones. There is no difference between what Jerry Jones is doing in Dallas than what Al Davis is doing in Oakland, outside of interviews/comments towards former players. Gruden coached under Al Davis and left to Tampa to get away from Davis' meddling, and it would be worse in Dallas under a larger spotlight. I think Gruden has his eyes on the Minnesota job due to the talent already in place, and his love for Adrian Peterson.

 

[DCirishfan]

Gruden is interested in the Dallas gig. He has stated on numerous occasions that he does not want GM responsibilities and only wants to coach, he is currently a clear leader to be in Big D next fall.

Also, talking about firing Kelly after one year is crazy and a waste of computer bits, it aint happening nor should it. If Chuck coached past that Syracuse loss a few years ago then Brian is safe and sound.

 

[k1ssme1m1r1sh]

This is like blaming Obama for everything wrong with out country. Yeah, he's made mistakes and bad calls, terrible calls, but this is not his team. Not his recruits. Notre Dame isn't national champ material yet. Who's to say they can be in 5 yrs? I love ND have for 25 years and I won't give up on them. Let's face it, high school kids want to go where the action is, and right now, it's not South Bend. I feel most sorry for Touchdown Jesus, he's got a ringside seat for this chaos, someone get the poor guy a shot!!