What is getting old is being outclassed by Stanford. We shop from the same aisle they do. It is getting old that we don't show up for road games or that fall apart in November. That's all on Kelly and his lack of motivational skills. There was no reason to keep him after last year. The sample size is 8 years. It won't change in year 9 or 10.
Some ridiculous points are that Wisconsin, Stanford, & Oklahoma State are “respected” and ND isn’t. People either like this program or hate it so that will never change. People aren’t going to suddenly say ‘we respect you Irish’ because we win 1 extra game & don’t get smacked by a team. In terms of the other remarks from the OP, I’d agree on them. I’ve been saying for a long time we will need a huge amount of luck to win a NC, especially without a top 5 recruiting class which we will not get unless Saban decides he really wants a coaching challenge. What’s funny isn’t that people forget that as great as Saban is, he coached Sparty & didn’t have great success. Still I’d say a coach like him would give ND the best opportunity to get another NC one day but even coaches don’t want to come here because of the recruiting restrictions. If the administration offered 10 million a year to Saban tomorrow he would turn it down unless he felt sorry for us or like I said, he just wanted to end his career with a challenge. Why else would you leave a program like Bama where you can recruit kids with a 2.0 GPA and violations are overlooked? That goes for most programs so I’m not knocking Bama only, I actually like watching them play because they are a true team.
In addition we aren’t outclassed by Stanford, that’s ridiculous. Out coached yes, outclassed no, or did I miss the last national championship Stanford got? They have the same record as us & their strength of schedule isn’t close. 6 out of 12 teams we played will finish in the top 20, how many other teams ranked in the top 20 are better?
Anyway I’m in no way defending Kelly, I don’t care if we fire him or don’t. He is a good guy & I think he has actually improved his coaching by letting the new coordinators call the plays. The coaches can only do so much and then the players need to execute. When Wimbush goes out against Miami & can only complete passes to the Hurricanes, how much blame goes on the coaches? The kids arm is average at best when it comes to accuracy which is why I thought 7-5 was our best outcome this year.
One last comment, I place some blame on our fans as well. It’s a joke to see ND stadium get overrun by other schools fans and when it doesn’t get overrun you can hear a freaking pin drop. I also guarantee when recruits visit & see this it changes their minds on whether they want to play for the Irish. Back in the day it wasn’t as crazy as say, Michigan, but it definitely wasn’t like it is now. I still get chills thinking about the game against Florida St. in 93 because if you were there you felt that energy and it never stopped the entire game. Even the old people, that normally get made if you stand up and make noise, were cool lol. There were other games as well at the old stadium which were electric, even against smaller teams, but times have changed. The administration decided cash was more important than the most loyal fans & I think it backfired in terms of respect but not for the money which is their number 1 priority!
