Kelly will have to play the part of a coach for ND to win

[Zorich 88]

For ND to become elite while Kelly is the head coach, Kelly will have to take his hands off of this team.

The new DC seems like the real deal.

Polian will take this Special team group to another level.

Now, hire a proven OC and tell Kelly to take his hands off this team and just stand there and look the part.

Do the press conference. Do the recruiting. Even give the pre game talk. But Kelly should be told to just hold a clipboard and pretend you are coaching. All while collecting the biggest pay check ND has ever paid any employee.

 

[Toby Smart]

I agree. Problem is this. The defensive and offensive staff can work all week formulating a game plan, present it to BK, and there might be something that he doesn't like and gets involved with tweaking the original plan or just flat out over ruling it all together. I think if he concentrates on fundraisers, meeting alumni groups, recruiting, and working with his QB perhaps, that will keep him busy so the DCs and OCs can do their jobs. He's not imaginative or an innovator or an in game adjustment guru but he can master the art of CEO while his staff gladly does all the grunt work.

 

[Zorich 88]

He needs a OC that can make in game adjustments

 

[stu4don]

I'm pleased with the moves so far... Special Teams, Defense and S&C all needed change... Kelly moved friends and long time colleagues... (Longo.)

 

[Howard Hall 74]

For ND to become elite while Kelly is the head coach, Kelly will have to take his hands off of this team.

The new DC seems like the real deal.

Polian will take this Special team group to another level.

Now, hire a proven OC and tell Kelly to take his hands off this team and just stand there and look the part.

Do the press conference. Do the recruiting. Even give the pre game talk. But Kelly should be told to just hold a clipboard and pretend you are coaching. All while collecting the biggest pay check ND has ever paid any employee.

Hands off? What are you paying him 4.5 to 5 M per year for? To outsource all his responsibilities? At some point it's going to dawn on people that he is in way over his head - and at this level is very inadequate (I used the term inadequate because he's probably heard that before) as a D1 coach.

 

[Zorich 88]

Hands off? What are you paying him 4.5 to 5 M per year for? To outsource all his responsibilities? At some point it's going to dawn on people that he is in way over his head - and at this level is very inadequate (I used the term inadequate because he's probably heard that before) as a D1 coach.

I totally agree he is over his head. I said it all year that the guy has peaked as a coach. My point is this, since Jack has put his career on Kelly being successful, Kelly is not going anywhere. So, let him look important. However, take the coaching whistle away from him.

 

[Telx1]

I am encouraged by the moves made thus far. And I would love Kelly to hire a talented OC. I think ND will be a top ten top fifteen team annually as a result. However, I don't think there's a chance in hell Kelly will be hands off to the extent suggested here. He is who he is, a hands on head coach who has a long history of success doing it his way. The best we can hope for is for him to hire a strong OC who demands a degree of authority that Kelly has not previously granted, and one with the smarts and personality to press his case during games. I'm hoping Kelly has been humbled by this year as to make him more trusting of his coordinators. He would do well to seek out input from several CEOs at major corporations and he might learn that one common characteristic is they surround themselves with exceptionally talented executives and they trust them to run their organizations, and they hold them to account. Kelly doesn't need to just look the part as suggested, but he does need to make smart hires and trust them to do their part.

 

[NDIRISH53]

At the end of the day we gotta admit kelly kinda knows what he's doing. We gotta hope he's hungry and ashamed from last year. Looking at the returning and incoming talent it's either playoffs or BK is gone. Kelly will swindle his way into the 4 seed this year and we'll get embarrassed at the hands of Saban and co

 

[BGI-CANADA]

For ND to become elite while Kelly is the head coach, Kelly will have to take his hands off of this team.

The new DC seems like the real deal.

Polian will take this Special team group to another level.

Now, hire a proven OC and tell Kelly to take his hands off this team and just stand there and look the part.

Do the press conference. Do the recruiting. Even give the pre game talk. But Kelly should be told to just hold a clipboard and pretend you are coaching. All while collecting the biggest pay check ND has ever paid any employee.

Good post Zorich.

Funny ("Kelly should be told to just hold a clipboard and pretend you are coaching. All while collecting the biggest pay check ND has ever paid any employee") but also TRUE

Kelly has to stop micro-managing the team - let the coordinators and position coaches do their jobs and do what Dan Devine did - get out of the way.

Up to this point Kelly has coached ND like he has all the answers
(without the RESULTS to prove it) - hopefully after 7 years at ND he has discovered that his overall game plan (for coaching big-boy FB) has not worked.

 

[twalsh]

Now, hire a proven OC and tell Kelly to take his hands off this team and just stand there and look the part.

When your $5 million a year job is on the line, it's very hard to actually do that. Might even be impossible to do that.

 

[Telx1]

To put this into context, I think Kelly previously said that he plans to call the plays next year. Contrary to many posts here, he hasn't called the offensive plays for the past two seasons; although I'm sure he exercised his override authority often. Seems to me that Kelly needs someone 100% dedicated to coaching the QBs, and not sure he really has room for a real OC with Quinn and himself in the mix.

 

[Howard Hall 74]

To put this into context, I think Kelly previously said that he plans to call the plays next year. Contrary to many posts here, he hasn't called the offensive plays for the past two seasons; although I'm sure he exercised his override authority often. Seems to me that Kelly needs someone 100% dedicated to coaching the QBs, and not sure he really has room for a real OC with Quinn and himself in the mix.

Really? Not calling the plays? Whats that play chart he holds so close to his mouth being there all game long? Is that the head coaches game program? Hope he didn't pay $15 for it? Should charge him a lot more to keep it away from him.

 

[Telx1]

Howard, it has been reported numerous times that Depenbrock (sp?) has called the plays for the past two seasons. Kelly follows along with the game plan situational chart, and none of us knows how often he would override the call.

 

[Toby Smart]

It is true that Coach Denbrock has been technically calling the plays but I sure would like the percentage of how many times the play call was vetoed by BK. Surely the whole offensive staff could not have all been on board with trying to squeeze a square peg in a round hole with some of the play calling.

 

[Ara64]

You can only go by what the coaches are saying publicly. Many times after VanGorder was fired Kelly was seen coaching the defense while the offense played on. Kizer in one of his weekly press conferences talked about how weird it felt not having Kelly overlooking the offense. I guess you're going to to believe whatever your perspective dictates?

 

[Zorich 88]

You can only go by what the coaches are saying publicly. Many times after VanGorder was fired Kelly was seen coaching the defense while the offense played on. Kizer in one of his weekly press conferences talked about how weird it felt not having Kelly overlooking the offense. I guess you're going to to believe whatever your perspective dictates?

Kelly has always called the offense at ND. Yes, other coaches have given input. However, Kelly has had the final say since day one. Every single offensive game plan has been Kelly's. The look of the offense has not changed since Kelly has arrived. The defense has clearly looked and played different under each DC ND has had. The offense and game planning is identical to the first season Kelly arived.

Also, you. An clearly see Kelly with an offensive play chart on the sidelines. He does not use his chart during defense or even on special teams.

ND needs a OC that will be given full responsibility of the offense. Kelly cannot be allowed to call the offense or be anywhere near the offense for that matter.