BGIF you have been around long enough to know that there are exceptions to literally every argument someone can make in the realm of sports. If the existence of an exception invalidates the argument, then let's all just log off right now and quit.
Nick Saban has lost to inferior talent too. Guess we can cross his name off our list?
Nick Saban lost to UAB in the Blazers 5th year in Div 1A, I watched the game.
Saban's also won five national championships at two different schools and was 3-0 against ND at MSU.
Saban's coached something like 260 games, Herman less than 25.
Kelly won 85%, 850 of his games at Cincinnati, a program that was below .500 for it's history before he came there. How well has that success at a non-Power 5 program carried out at ND? Better than Davie, Willingham, and Weis but not by much, has it?
Faust was one of the greatest high school coaches of all-time when he came to ND and found he was in over his head. He was possibly the best recruiter of all time cranking out #1 classes. Weis had a fantastic record as a NFL OC and a schematic advantage. How well did that transfer to success at ND?
I'm not interested in the coach du jour. I'm not looking for a coach that can improve from 8-5 to 9-4 AT NOTRE DAME, like you apparently are. Spare me the Herman spin. He's played Sagarin's 88 Toughest Schedule and tonight he beat a team whose success came against the 80th Toughest Schedule. The only teams in the Top 25 with softer schedules than UH and UL are WMU, 105th, and SDS, 126th.
Herman's beat FSU, OU, and UL in two years. That's great. ND faces 3 to 8 opponents like that in a year and can see a tougher lineup in 3 consecutive weeks. ND doesn't get to play "teams" like Lamar (who the fuck is Lamar) in between the tough opponents. Notre Dame hasn't played a punching bag like Lamar (All-Time winning percentage .464 since the 1930's.
Where Kelly has to plug in an 18 or 19 year old underclassmen to replace an Elmer or a Robinson, at Houston herman plugs in an instant starter like 22 year JUCO like Na'Ty Rogers.
You quibble about the existence of an exception invalidating an argument, when your argument is a collection of quibbles which ignore the fundamental requirements and restrictions for the head coaching job at Notre Dame.
Parseghian lost to Xavier as a head coach when he was at Ohio. He never played a small college at Northwestern. Opponents were all Big Ten with OOC opponents like ND, OU, and Stanford. He was a head coach for 13 years before coming to ND and came within 2 minutes of a National Championship in his first season. He won 84% of his games at ND. He was prepared for the ND when he arrived on campus. There was no O.J.T. required. When asked about his prior experience preparing him for the ND job, Ara responded, "I needed every year to prepare for the demands of Notre Dame."
