Notre Dame followers TYPICALLY like their winning coaches but not their losing ones. And ALWAYS in retrospect. Fair enough.
Brian Kelly, though, presented ND people with a unique conflict. He won 74% of his games but, given his personality, was deemed unlikeable anyway, and, because he didn’t win enough IMPORTANT games, not liking him, DESPITE ALL THE OTHER GAMES HE WON, was seen as JUSTIFIED.
Is he some kind of outside-the-lines, force-of-nature outlier? No. He’s a methodical, business-like professional. But he IS interested in the game. Just NOT SO MUCH THE PLAYERS. He likes running systems and playing FOOTBALL CHESS. Plus, according to Saban, he's the last REAL STRATEGIST. So, GOD FORBID some player should mess up what Brian Kelly has deemed on paper MUST HAPPEN. He’ll take your head off and has.
Most senior people I worked for were some version of this or WORSE. So, none of that affects my perception of Kelly in the least.
As for football driving Meyer and Saban more than Kelly, maybe they’re just BETTER COACHES. Plus, they certainly worked in more ACCOMMODATING ENVIRONMENTS. Saban would NEVER coach at ND and Meyer actually SAID NO. Kelly at least TRIED. Problem was, HE NEVER DRANK THE ND KOOL-AID, say, like Holtz or Freeman. The “THIS IS THE MOST PROFOUNDLY EXCEPTIONAL PLACE” routine.
Maybe they believe it or maybe it’s even true, but certain ND fans will NEVER FORGIVE Kelly for not VOICING THOSE SENTIMENTS.
Re his portion of the current ACC streak, Kelly could only play the schedule they gave him and to be fair, Stanford was still a viable opponent several years into his tenure and more than capable of beating ND which on a couple of occasions it did. Plus, when ND won – particularly those games in 12 and 14 in South Bend – those were NAILBITING DOG FIGHTS. Then there was the crushing 2015 loss that may have kept ND out of the playoffs.
Stanford was still GOOD.
But, yes, if he doesn’t win an NC at LSU, Kelly’s legacy will take a hit, but then won’t Lincoln Riley’s, Jim Harbaugh’s and Ryan Day’s if they don’t win one as well? As for Les Miles, HE WAS NO FLUKE. He won 77% of his games at LSU – same as Lou Holtz at ND – plus one and ALMOST two NC’s – same as Holtz at ND. Does anyone think Lou Holtz was a fluke? Not on THIS BOARD.
Oh, and Miles also went 9-6 in bowl games.
One could argue, I suppose, that Orgeron got lucky, but that doesn’t necessarily bear CAREFUL SCRUTINY either. Had he not gone 10-25 at Ole Miss, his career numbers would be much better. As it was, he was 6-2 at USC as interim coach – one of those losses was to Kelly – and 51-20 at LSU, a 72% winning percentage, including a 15-0 NC campaign. He faltered badly his last two years, but still, he owes no one an apology.
KELLY JUST DIDN’T GIVE ND FANS WHAT THEY WANTED. THEY DIDN’T LIKE HIM TO BEGIN WITH, AND WHEN HE LEFT, IT WAS EASY TO CAST HIM AS A VILLEIN. FOR HIS PART, HE SEEMED HAPPY TO GO. TO ME, KELLY AND ND WAS JUST ANOTHER BAD MARRIAGE. AND YET, HE REVIVIED THE PROGRAM. FOR THAT, I WISH HIM THE BEST.
