And he's had some sh!t luck over the last two years. It's
almost as if he has very little room for error with the roster management issues that are inherent at ND, which prevents us from overcoming misfortune like other programs can.
And what luck would that be? The turnover machine known as Everett Golson being suspended last year or the frozen 5 this year? Roster restrictions and all, we are still fielding better talent on Saturdays then most of the college football universe, and while it sucks, are the roster management issues always going to be the "get out of jail free" card for Kelly? Apparently for some it will be.
Take a look a
the 2-deep. At least half of those guys were Kelly recruits.
Did you read my post? I was referencing starting players and the major contributors on that roster were Weis recruits. Not the 2-deep.
71% is "good, not great"? Did you even click on that link I provided in my last post. There are only
11 active coaches out of 128 in I-A that have a win percentage of 71% with over 100 games coached. Thank you for proving my point about unrealistic expectations.
I really don't care about him stacking on wins or "games coached" at Grand Valley State and Central Michigan, and I doubt most outside yourself do. He is 44-18 at Notre Dame (.71%) which is his first major program. That is what's at issue here...nothing more.
No one is suggesting that Kelly is beyond reproach. But if you're going to suggest that Kelly isn't an elite coach, or that we'd be better off without him, prepare to be mocked.
Why is it so hard to fathom this program doing better yearly then 8-5 for you? That is what we are getting right now from "elite" coach Brian Kelly. Not sure why you are so quick to dismiss the possibility of someone else improving on that mark.
Did you sleep through the previous three coaching regimes?
LOL
Strawman. No one here would be happy going 8-5 for the foreseeable future. That's Kelly's
floor, and his ceiling is obviously much higher than that, since he brought us to the title game in 2012. Is it high enough that we should expect to make it back there again before he leaves? I don't know. Maybe not, and if we don't, I think it'll more likely be attributable to institutional restrictions than any short-coming with Kelly himself.
Holy s**t! It's not his floor.....it's his average!!! Nice to see though you already have a built in excuse for any forseeable poor seasons from Kelly. That is called "beyond reproach" in case you were unfamiliar with the term.
The NW loss sucked, and it's perfectly natural to want to vent. But the objective data indicates that Kelly is an elite coach, and we're damn lucky to have him. If you think he's taken ND as far as he's capable of, then tell me which coach Swarbrick can go hire today who: (1) would come to ND; and (2) would
definitely do a better job than Kelly. You can't, because that guy ain't out there. Stoops, Saban and Meyer are the only coaches out there who have a more impressive body of work, and none of them would voluntarily hamstring themselves by laboring under ND's academic and roster management restrictions.
How do you ironclad know those guys are not interested? Your guessing. Some say Stoops was close last time. Who's to say Jon Gruden wouldn't be interested with his fathers ties to the program? How about Gary Patterson again? There are good candidates out there and nobody really knows what their true interest level is. Doesn't mean you don't take a swing at all of them if Kelly isn't the guy to get this program over the hump. Or would you rather they just keep going 8-5 or 9-4 under Kelly?