BK.
I still like Kelly and hope he can turn this thing around and stay at ND for several more years. But there are a few things that I find maddening about his tenure; things that have shown up over and over again. More importantly there are things about his leadership skills that need to be questioned.
Right now it's easy to overreact and demand his firing. But the bigger picture doesn't call for that. He had ND in the championship game in 2012 and has been light years ahead of his predecessors in all regards. I hope Swarbrick feels similarly.
However, in terms of going forward, here are some constructive observations:
1) His teams have a lack of emotion and intensity. That’s fact and that’s what he cited when he canned BVG. But it goes back farther and wider than BVG’s defense. I remember many, many posts here where several of us wrote of this issue going back to 2011. I’ve seen some say that it’s because the team has to work so hard in the classroom. I’m inclined to not buy that and think it might have more to do with BKs CEO type approach.
2) Slow starts. How many times, particularly in big games has ND come out flat and just f##king given away the 1st quarter? It’s like they need to get punched in the mouth and nearly bleed out before they’re ready to play. I don’t get it.
3) Inability to win big match ups with highly ranked teams on the road. Oklahoma in 2012 stands as an outlier. Other than that there’s Clemson, FSU, tOSU, and multiple games in Ann Arbor and Palo Alto where games were within ND's grasp and they found a way to lose. With the exception of FSU every one of those games involved ND turnovers, sloppy play, bad tackling and slow starts.
The fact that there are so many examples of this should make anyone wonder in the words of Vince Lombardi “what the hell is going on out there?” The one constant is BK. Like all coaches, his personality has a lot to do with how he coaches; and how he coaches dictates how the team performs. Something is missing. Something is "off". As a 50 + year old guy there's probably only so much one can expect in the way of real change.
I still like Kelly and hope he can turn this thing around and stay at ND for several more years. But there are a few things that I find maddening about his tenure; things that have shown up over and over again. More importantly there are things about his leadership skills that need to be questioned.
Right now it's easy to overreact and demand his firing. But the bigger picture doesn't call for that. He had ND in the championship game in 2012 and has been light years ahead of his predecessors in all regards. I hope Swarbrick feels similarly.
However, in terms of going forward, here are some constructive observations:
1) His teams have a lack of emotion and intensity. That’s fact and that’s what he cited when he canned BVG. But it goes back farther and wider than BVG’s defense. I remember many, many posts here where several of us wrote of this issue going back to 2011. I’ve seen some say that it’s because the team has to work so hard in the classroom. I’m inclined to not buy that and think it might have more to do with BKs CEO type approach.
2) Slow starts. How many times, particularly in big games has ND come out flat and just f##king given away the 1st quarter? It’s like they need to get punched in the mouth and nearly bleed out before they’re ready to play. I don’t get it.
3) Inability to win big match ups with highly ranked teams on the road. Oklahoma in 2012 stands as an outlier. Other than that there’s Clemson, FSU, tOSU, and multiple games in Ann Arbor and Palo Alto where games were within ND's grasp and they found a way to lose. With the exception of FSU every one of those games involved ND turnovers, sloppy play, bad tackling and slow starts.
The fact that there are so many examples of this should make anyone wonder in the words of Vince Lombardi “what the hell is going on out there?” The one constant is BK. Like all coaches, his personality has a lot to do with how he coaches; and how he coaches dictates how the team performs. Something is missing. Something is "off". As a 50 + year old guy there's probably only so much one can expect in the way of real change.
