Who do you want to replace Brian Kelly?

[T Town Tommy]

I am at the point where I think Kelly leaving is more probable then him getting fired. Wonder what his buyout is?

 

[IrishLax]

I am at the point where I think Kelly leaving is more probable then him getting fired. Wonder what his buyout is?

Massive. Like $25mil right now from what I've heard.

 

[T Town Tommy]

Massive. Like $25mil right now from what I've heard.

Wow. That's a game changer then. Thanks.

 

[IrishLax]

Wow. That's a game changer then. Thanks.

It's why I think he gets at least one (probably 2) more years. I don't know who the heck is going to pick up that tab. With Weis they got the money no problem from private donors but you can't hit them up AGAIN right after we just finished paying that shit off.

 

[Number3rockin]

I was a huge BK fan when he arrived at ND. Now, I'm out! See ya! He has shown no ability to coach on the fly and make appropriate in game coaching decisions dating back to last year. He runs when he should throw, he punts when he should go for it, 2pt conversion debacles. I'm done!

We are soft, the whole d*** team is soft, that's coaching/culture. Teams aren't afraid of ND anymore. For the passed 2 years ND has been playing against opponents, away stadiums, refs and ND coaching?!!

If ND brings Kelly back for next year, I feel like we are BK's average 8 win team. A new head coach will bring new life(possible playoff run), a breath of fresh air, Kelly is drowning.

 

[T Town Tommy]

It's why I think he gets at least one (probably 2) more years. I don't know who the heck is going to pick up that tab. With Weis they got the money no problem from private donors but you can't hit them up AGAIN right after we just finished paying that shit off.

Yep I would agree on at least one more year. Probably gets a number to hit as far as wins. I do think if he falters again the money will show back up pretty quickly.

 

[NDinBoston]

Re-ranking the 20 best coaches in college football | FOX Sports

20. BK
19. Fleck
18. Bielema
17. Niumatalolo
16. Sumlin
15. Fisher
14. Freeze
13. Whittingham
12. Herman
11. Richt
10. Patterson
9. Stoops
8. Dantonio
7. Shaw
6. Swinney
5. Peterson
4. Petrino
3. Harbaugh
2. Meyer
1. Saban

On Brian Kelly:
Some will focus on Kelly's 2-5 record this year as proof that he's not a good coach, and shouldn't sniff the Top 20. But look at the bigger picture; like the fact that Notre Dame was one game away from making the College Football Playoff last year. Or that Kelly's six 8+ win seasons are as many as the previous three head coaches at Notre Dame combined. Or that he's won everywhere he's ever coached, from Grand Valley State (three DIII national championships) to Cincinnati, where he won at least 10 games in each of his final three seasons. Or that the Irish's struggles this year might be more about a sudden talent drain (with six players selected in the first three rounds of the NFL Draft last spring) than poor coaching.

Something is up with the Irish and Kelly this year and the two sides seem to be growing more distant by the week. But proceed with caution, Notre Dame fans. Kelly is the best coach you've had in 20 years.

 

[Irish Insanity]

Pretty pathetic reasoning. He's better than you had so you should be happy. He doesn't abuse you as much as your previous relationship so you should stick it out.....

 

[irishff1014]

Re-ranking the 20 best coaches in college football | FOX Sports

20. BK
19. Fleck
18. Bielema
17. Niumatalolo Good for Navy but i doubt we would do that good else where.
16. Sumlin
15. Fisher Who is this?
14. Freeze Thats what happens when you $$$ on your side.
13. Whittingham
12. Herman
11. Richt
10. Patterson
9. Stoops
8. Dantonio
7. Shaw Haha bullshit
6. Swinney
5. Peterson
4. Petrino
3. Harbaugh
2. Meyer
1. Saban

On Brian Kelly:
Some will focus on Kelly's 2-5 record this year as proof that he's not a good coach, and shouldn't sniff the Top 20. But look at the bigger picture; like the fact that Notre Dame was one game away from making the College Football Playoff last year. Or that Kelly's six 8+ win seasons are as many as the previous three head coaches at Notre Dame combined. Or that he's won everywhere he's ever coached, from Grand Valley State (three DIII national championships) to Cincinnati, where he won at least 10 games in each of his final three seasons. Or that the Irish's struggles this year might be more about a sudden talent drain (with six players selected in the first three rounds of the NFL Draft last spring) than poor coaching.

Something is up with the Irish and Kelly this year and the two sides seem to be growing more distant by the week. But proceed with caution, Notre Dame fans. Kelly is the best coach you've had in 20 years.

Shaw is way to high on that list.

 

[NDinBoston]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Many feel a change at the top is needed for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NotreDame?src=hash">#NotreDame</a>, but history shows that isn't always what must happen: <a href="https://t.co/pvbwDNHFtt">https://t.co/pvbwDNHFtt</a></p>— Bryan Driskell (@BGI_CoachD) <a href="https://twitter.com/BGI_CoachD/status/789157551854067712">October 20, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Excerpt from the article:
What It Means For Notre Dame

Michigan State, TCU and Georgia bouncing back from down seasons does not mean Notre Dame will do so. What it does is provide hope that it can be done. It also provides a bit of a blueprint for making the quick turnaround.

Notre Dame is not struggling because it lacks talent on either side of the ball. There are things about the program that must be addressed and fixed. Kelly must be willing to take a hard look at every part of his program and take crucial steps to making real changes.

This goes beyond possible staff changes – whether it be on the coaching staff or strength and conditioning – and dives into how Notre Dame goes about its business every single day.

If the changes are made, recent history shows very clearly that a program can be down in the dumps one season and bounce back. Over-reacting and firing the coach isn’t always the answer, and sticking with the current head man can result in a very quick turnaround.

Whether or not Brian Kelly can identify and make the necessary changes remain to be seen. If he can, there is no doubt that expectations can and should be high for the Irish in 2017.

I know there are differing opinions on Brian D but I think this is a good article. I had posted previously some teams/coaches that had rebounded from bad seasons and that is the premise of this article.

So, is the problem BK or those below/around him? If it's the latter, will he make the right changes? Is it already too late? Some would say that's his fault too but others point out HCs make changes/tweaks all the time. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Not really trying to express an opinion here just present some interesting perspective from an analyst.

 

[phgreek]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Many feel a change at the top is needed for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NotreDame?src=hash">#NotreDame</a>, but history shows that isn't always what must happen: <a href="https://t.co/pvbwDNHFtt">https://t.co/pvbwDNHFtt</a></p>— Bryan Driskell (@BGI_CoachD) <a href="https://twitter.com/BGI_CoachD/status/789157551854067712">October 20, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Excerpt from the article:
What It Means For Notre Dame

Michigan State, TCU and Georgia bouncing back from down seasons does not mean Notre Dame will do so. What it does is provide hope that it can be done. It also provides a bit of a blueprint for making the quick turnaround.

Notre Dame is not struggling because it lacks talent on either side of the ball. There are things about the program that must be addressed and fixed. Kelly must be willing to take a hard look at every part of his program and take crucial steps to making real changes.

This goes beyond possible staff changes – whether it be on the coaching staff or strength and conditioning – and dives into how Notre Dame goes about its business every single day.

If the changes are made, recent history shows very clearly that a program can be down in the dumps one season and bounce back. Over-reacting and firing the coach isn’t always the answer, and sticking with the current head man can result in a very quick turnaround.

Whether or not Brian Kelly can identify and make the necessary changes remain to be seen. If he can, there is no doubt that expectations can and should be high for the Irish in 2017.

I know there are differing opinions on Brian D but I think this is a good article. I had posted previously some teams/coaches that had rebounded from bad seasons and that is the premise of this article.

So, is the problem BK or those below/around him? If it's the latter, will he make the right changes? Is it already too late? Some would say that's his fault too but others point out HCs make changes/tweaks all the time. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Not really trying to express an opinion here just present some interesting perspective from an analyst.

BK showed he CAN win. He has shown to be a good recruiter. He has shown to be pretty dedicated to the ND way. I think his weakness is some part hiring staff, and some part of decision fatigue or something. He isn't making the decisions in game to win to "7 point" games. His players wilt mentally at inopportune moments, which means he isn't growing leadership nor consistently maintaining a culture of accountability.

I think he'll figure it out.

 

[Irish Insanity]

BK showed he CAN win. He has shown to be a good recruiter. He has shown to be pretty dedicated to the ND way. I think his weakness is some part hiring staff, and some part of decision fatigue or something. He isn't making the decisions in game to win to "7 point" games. His players wilt mentally at inopportune moments, which means he isn't growing leadership nor consistently maintaining a culture of accountability.

I think he'll figure it out.

But the thing is CFB, revruiting, and coaching is a what have you done for me lately world. BK did win, but he currently isn't. We could see, as we arguavly have 1 already, our recruits look elsewhere. Holding on to the wrong coach for a year can set your program back 5 years and $ millions. I agree BK should get thru this season, but past that I'd prefer to go a different direction.

 

[Domina Nostra]

But the thing is CFB, revruiting, and coaching is a what have you done for me lately world. BK did win, but he currently isn't. We could see, as we arguavly have 1 already, our recruits look elsewhere. Holding on to the wrong coach for a year can set your program back 5 years and $ millions. I agree BK should get thru this season, but past that I'd prefer to go a different direction.

I hate to say it, but this is what I think too at this point.

BTW, does anyone think that its interesting that the defense stunk and the offense was great when Kelly was effectively the "OC." And now the defense is good and the offense stinks now that he is effectively the "DC."

Is it possible that Kelly is better than we think, and his assistants are worse than we think? I am coming to think that bad assistants that were hired for comfort and retained out of loyalty is what doomed the Kelly era.

 

[RDU Irish]

Kelly's job is to hire good assistants and delegate to them within his system. As such - he sucks. More than BVG needs to be hitting the streets this offseason and he needs to make some really good hires.

 

[Domina Nostra]

Kelly's job is to hire good assistants and delegate to them within his system. As such - he sucks. More than BVG needs to be hitting the streets this offseason and he needs to make some really good hires.

That's not the only part of his job. Coaching, recruiting, hiring, and PR are all components. I'm arguing that its that 3rd that may be his real weakness.

 

[bluengold4732]

Hiring good assistants takes a lot of weight off of recruiting and coaching responsibilities. He's had great assistants in the past...as I've said before even Urban has poached from Kelly's assistants. Kerry Coombs, Ed W., Alford, and Hinton were all assistants of Kelly. Like most bosses you have great hires, good hires and bad hires in your profession. It's up to him to re-evualte and see which of his coaches fall under what category. Even if Kelly is here after this year, I expect a shake up in staff beyond just DC.

 

[ScooterIrish]

Massive. Like $25mil right now from what I've heard.

Heard from Mike Frank? Who was just speculating by taking years remaining in his contract * salaries plus assistant salaries?

Nobody at Mike's level has a clue. It's an entirely possible but nobody knows outside of select people.

 

[gkIrish]

Massive. Like $25mil right now from what I've heard.

If true, that is a borderline fireable offense for Jack. I like the guy a lot but how in the world can you sign a contract with a $25 million buyout under the circumstances??

 

[Domina Nostra]

Heard from Mike Frank? Who was just speculating by taking years remaining in his contract * salaries plus assistant salaries?

Nobody at Mike's level has a clue. It's an entirely possible but nobody knows outside of select people.

It could be much smaller. Arguably, the impetus for the last extension was not keeping Kelly from the NFL, as much as squashing the rumors that he was leaving for the NFL. They could have extended him on pretty loose terms.

If he had any real aspirations to move on at some point, he may not have fought for huge buy-out. If I were negotiating for ND, I'd only agree to a buyout to the extent that there was a "buy-out" from his new team if he voluntarily left. I'd also make it partially contingent on some minimum performance levels--like bowl eligibility.

 

[NDohio]

So, with that buyout information put upon us, do we change our focus to "what would you like BK to do with his staff?"

BK obviously isn't going anywhere.

 

[Ndaccountant]

If true, that is a borderline fireable offense for Jack. I like the guy a lot but how in the world can you sign a contract with a $25 million buyout under the circumstances??

Is it though? Go to page 41 of this PDF (the whole thing is a great read if you have the time). Based on their data, which is comprehensive, the average contract length is four years or more for 85% of coaches. Likewise, on page 49, their data shows that nearly 60% of coaches get 4+ years of pay upon termination. Considering that ND is one of the top paying sports in the country, and would like to get a "big name" to replace Kelly at some point, they would be foolish not to meet this standard. They should exceed it. So, if you think Kelly is getting $5M a year or there about, $25M seems about right.

http://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=11192&context=ilj

 

[gkIrish]

Is it though? Go to page 41 of this PDF (the whole thing is a great read if you have the time). Based on their data, which is comprehensive, the average contract length is four years or more for 85% of coaches. Likewise, on page 49, their data shows that nearly 60% of coaches get 4+ years of pay upon termination. Considering that ND is one of the top paying sports in the country, and would like to get a "big name" to replace Kelly at some point, they would be foolish not to meet this standard. They should exceed it. So, if you think Kelly is getting $5M a year or there about, $25M seems about right.

http://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=11192&context=ilj

Only 40% of coaches get 5 years of compensation. For a school that just went through paying Charlie Weis a boatload of money, I think it's irresponsible to be essentially guaranteeing BK's entire contract. I mean there has never been a shred of real evidence that Brian Kelly ever had an offer from any other team (NFL or college) so ND was bidding against themselves here.

 

[IrishLax]

Heard from Mike Frank? Who was just speculating by taking years remaining in his contract * salaries plus assistant salaries?

No, heard back when he got the extension that it was about $4.8 base for first year with typical bonus structure for wins, bowls, etc.

Nobody at Mike's level has a clue. It's an entirely possible but nobody knows outside of select people.

Believe what you want, but none of this information is remotely hard to come by.

EDIT: I kind of missed your point. You're correct I don't know buyout terms. They could be anything, really. But most coaches have at least 80% of their salary guaranteed if fired, so that might be a decent ballpark number to guesstimate.

 

[Ndaccountant]

Only 40% of coaches get 5 years of compensation. For a school that just went through paying Charlie Weis a boatload of money, I think it's irresponsible to be essentially guaranteeing BK's entire contract. I mean there has never been a shred of real evidence that Brian Kelly ever had an offer from any other team (NFL or college) so ND was bidding against themselves here.

I guess the point is that if 40% of coaches are getting 5 years+, that is basically P5 schools or at least the upper echelon of football schools. It isn't about losing BK to another job, it is about having standard contract terms that, on the surface, appear to be table stakes. I get that you might feel they could have low balled BK in the last contract, but I am not sure that is the type of stuff you want leaking out to future coaching candidates. I personally see nothing wrong here with the buyout, if it is true.

Now, where I could have a beef is if there wasn't some sort of language that would allow ND to fire with cause based on record. I think that should be standard for any major program.

 

[Irish#1]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Many feel a change at the top is needed for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NotreDame?src=hash">#NotreDame</a>, but history shows that isn't always what must happen: <a href="https://t.co/pvbwDNHFtt">https://t.co/pvbwDNHFtt</a></p>— Bryan Driskell (@BGI_CoachD) <a href="https://twitter.com/BGI_CoachD/status/789157551854067712">October 20, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Excerpt from the article:
What It Means For Notre Dame

Michigan State, TCU and Georgia bouncing back from down seasons does not mean Notre Dame will do so. What it does is provide hope that it can be done. It also provides a bit of a blueprint for making the quick turnaround.

Notre Dame is not struggling because it lacks talent on either side of the ball. There are things about the program that must be addressed and fixed. Kelly must be willing to take a hard look at every part of his program and take crucial steps to making real changes.

This goes beyond possible staff changes – whether it be on the coaching staff or strength and conditioning – and dives into how Notre Dame goes about its business every single day.

If the changes are made, recent history shows very clearly that a program can be down in the dumps one season and bounce back. Over-reacting and firing the coach isn’t always the answer, and sticking with the current head man can result in a very quick turnaround.

Whether or not Brian Kelly can identify and make the necessary changes remain to be seen. If he can, there is no doubt that expectations can and should be high for the Irish in 2017.

I know there are differing opinions on Brian D but I think this is a good article. I had posted previously some teams/coaches that had rebounded from bad seasons and that is the premise of this article.

So, is the problem BK or those below/around him? If it's the latter, will he make the right changes? Is it already too late? Some would say that's his fault too but others point out HCs make changes/tweaks all the time. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Not really trying to express an opinion here just present some interesting perspective from an analyst.

Good news: BK has shown he can make changes. Bad News: BK has shown he's slow to make changes. Now is that due to loyalty or that he is slow to recognize he needs to make changes?

 

[IrishLax]

If true, that is a borderline fireable offense for Jack. I like the guy a lot but how in the world can you sign a contract with a $25 million buyout under the circumstances??

To pump the brakes a little:
1. I don't know why he extended him that many years, maybe he had a good reason. At first blush, it's hard to understand why he'd go 6 and not something more reasonable like 4.
2. I phrased what I said poorly in the sense that I don't know definitively what his buyout is. For all we know, there's an escape clause where he isn't owed 100% of the remaining contract value for remaining years. I do know that his contract value is roughly $5mil/year, and that BVG's was a fully guaranteed contract.

 

[NDinBoston]

Here's to hoping we get the new DC hire right. Amongst Top 25 ranked teams there is a strong correlation to Defensive YPP. Offensive YPP is helpful but not as prevalent.

Some stats:
- 9 of Top10 in D-YPP ranked in Top25 (SDSU #8 in D-YPP ranked #32)
- 14 of Top20 in D-YPP ranked in Top25
- 7 of Top11 in D-YPP ranked in Top10 (exceptions Nebraska, TAMU, WVU)

Offensive YPP
- All Top10 teams in Top50 in offensive YPP

Balanced
- Louisville #1 in O-YPP and #9 in D-YPP
- Washington #4 in O-YPP and #11 in D-YPP
- LSU #8 in O-YPP and #10 in D-YPP
- Alabama #12 in O-YPP and #6 in D-YPP
- BSU #9 O-YPP and #16 D-YPP
- Baylor #20 in O-YPP and #3 in D-YPP
- Twins? Michigan (#27 O, #1 D) and OSU (#26 O, #5 D)
- Clemson #37 in O-YPP and #4 in D-YPP

Pretenders?
- Nebraska #42 O-YPP and #43 D-YPP
- Wisconsin #94 in O-YPP and #20 in D-YPP
- FSU #105 in D-YPP and #28 in O-YPP
- Oklahoma #101 in D-YPP and #2 in O-YPP

ND 2016 #52 O-YPP and #61 D-YPP.
ND 2015 #6 O-YPP and #64 D-YPP.

 

[dang227]

I was against Kelly until today. He is rooting for the Cubs. Fuck him

 

[BobbyMac]

I was against Kelly until today. He is rooting for the Cubs. Fuck him

Love is now a 4 letter word?

 

[dang227]

I was against firing Kelly until today. Fvck him!

That is what i meant to type. LOL.