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Is Brian Kelly The Right Man For Notre Dame?
Published by MoonDog on December 2, 2009
Now that the Charlie Weis experiment has officially come to an end, rumors suggest Cincinnati’s Brian Kelly will be one of the prime candidates for the head coaching job at Notre Dame.
Kelly has guided Cincinnati to three straight seasons of double digit victories and are a victory away from claiming the Big East Conference championship.
Depending on the outcome of this Saturday’s Big 12 Championship, the Bearcats could end up playing either Florida or Alabama for the BCS national championship.
Prior to taking the Cincinnati job, Kelly coached at Central Michigan from 2004 to 2006. In his last season he lead the Chippewas to a 9-3 record and a berth in the Motor City Bowl.
Kelly’s other significant coaching experience came during a 13-year stint at Grand Valley State, a Division II school. He compiled a 118-35-2 record and led the Lakers to a perfect 14-0 mark in 2002.
Kelly has paid his dues during his 19-year coaching career, working his way into better jobs and successfully building each team into a championship caliber program.
With all of those accomplishments, Kelly would seem to be a good fit for the Fighting Irish.
But the question remains if Kelly is prepared to spend every waking moment under the microscope as the head coach of Notre Dame.
Kelly has never enjoyed the advantages a program like Notre Dame has to offer. The Fighting Irish are the only school in the nation to have an independent television contract.
The alumni provides a generous amount of funding and Notre Dame Stadium is never without an empty seat on Saturday afternoons in South Bend.
The schedule, while not as formidable as it once was, is still one of the better slates in the nation, including annual games against Michigan and USC.
The financial benefits of being the head coach at Notre Dame is an obvious draw as well. Kelly would stand to make more than double what he’s currently earning at Cincinnati.
Brian Kelly Is Rumored To Be a Prime Candidate For the Notre Dame Coaching Vacancy
So what’s not to like about Notre Dame?
Plenty.
The biggest problem surrounding the Fighting Irish program is the misconception that it remains one of the elite college football teams in the nation.
Perceptions are sometimes misleading, and the simple fact is Notre Dame is no longer relevant on the national stage. Powerhouse programs like Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, USC and Ohio State dominate the headlines and most importantly, the recruiting battles.
Those recruiting battles are being won by SEC, Big 12, Pac-10 and Big Ten schools for a number of reasons aside from winning traditions.
Notre Dame’s academic policies are such that many of the most talented prep football players in the nation can’t get admitted into the school because of their grades not meeting the university’s standards.
But the Fighting Irish aren’t without talented players. In fact, Weiss did more on the recruiting front than any coach since Lou Holtz.
When Weis took over in South Bend, the Fighting Irish hadn’t recruited a top 25 class since 2003. But in 2006, he signed the nation’s fifth best class, getting commitments from six of Scout’s top 100 prospects.
From 2007 to 2009, Weis signed 15 of the nation’s best prep football players, including quarterback Jimmy Clausen, wide receiver Golden Tate and linebacker Manti T’eo, all of which will play in the NFL some day.
Notre Dame has received verbal commitments from several highly regarded prospects for the 2010 recruiting class as well, including the nation’s best guard, Christian Lombard.
In contrast, Cincinnati hasn’t signed a top 25 recruiting class since 2002. In fact, even with the Bearcats recent success under Kelly, he hasn’t signed a top 50 recruiting class in his three years at the school.
So if Notre Dame has enough talent to compete with the premier college football teams in the nation, why hasn’t that translated into victories?
Simply put, the Fighting Irish haven’t had the right coach since Holtz resigned in 1996. Bob Davie, the successor to Holtz, Tyrone Willingham and Weis didn’t have what it took to guide such a storied program like Notre Dame.
Part of Notre Dame’s failures can also be attributed to the administration’s poor decisions in hiring coaches that weren’t ready to take on the enormous task of leading the Fighting Irish.
Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick has as much to do with the future success of the Notre Dame football program as the head coach he selects.
Unquestionably, this will be the most important hire in his short tenure as AD and could put his own job status in doubt if he makes a poor choice.
With coaches like Bob Stoops and Urban Meyer shunning the Notre Dame vacancy, the timing appears right for someone like Kelly to take over in South Bend.
Perhaps instead of asking whether Kelly is right for Notre Dame, the better question may be is if Notre Dame is right for Kelly.
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Tagged with: Big East Conference, Bob Davie, Brian Kelly, Central Michigan Chippewas, Charlie Weis, Cincinnati Bearcats, College Football, College Football Recruiting, Fighting Irish, Football, Golden Tate, Grand Valley State, Jack Swarbrick, Jimmy Clausen, Lou Holtz, Manti T'eo, Motor City Bowl, Notre Dame, South Bend, Tyrone Willingham
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