In all 7 seasons except for 2012 - BK lost games he should of won - games that he cost ND from Winning not his players. This season it has been worse than all other seasons.
A good coach may have one game every 2 years that they cost their team from a win, BK has them a minimum of 1 or 2 or more every season like noted except for that 2012 year.
FACT - his special teams are average to below average every season.
FACT - his play calling is very questionable at times
FACT - his in game decision making which has led to at least 1 -2 losses in all seasons is below average. (this season it has been 5 losses).
FACT - his offensive scheme is not good
FACT - he burns up timeouts early in the first and second half of almost all games he has coached at ND.
FACT - his defense and defensive tackling has been atrocious.
The good coaches have none of these problems or issues with their teams.
His roster regardless of your excuse making is still loaded and better than all 5 teams he lost too.
I'm with you in the first paragraph of this statement, but then you lose me.
Fact - There is units within special teams that have been below average each year (which is on him) but Notre Dame has also enjoyed some fine specialists under BK's watch. I'd say CJ Sanders is pretty damn dynamic in the return game. When he got to ND, his first few years, ND's coverage units were among the best in the nation. Kyle Brindza had a really special year kicking and left here with ND records... You obviously discredit the inconsistencies, but as a coach, I thoroughly appreciate some of the accomplishments they've had on special teams as well. For the record, I'm all for replacing Scott Booker. I've been vocal about the fact that I think he's weakest link on the coaching staff now that BVG is gone.
Fact- His play calling does indeed drive me insane sometimes, especially in the red zone. But look around college football, tons of teams have questionable play calling according to fans. Basically, what is in question is the result, and what could have been done differently, anytime something fails to work. Did you catch the quote "Ass chewing" Nick Saban gave Lane Kiffen on the sidelines a couple weeks back over redzone play calling? Do I wish Kelly thought more like Saban and basically crucified his coaches for another attacking vertically, on the ground and through the air in the redzone? Yes I do. However, I'd come on here and have to listen to people cry about Kelly not "being nice" to his coordinators, especially on national tv. The catch 22 there is ridiculous.
Fact- His in game decision making is definitely strange at times. You and I are on the same page there. Look at any of my "excuse" filled posts about Kelly and you will see the same trend. I routinely applaud him for his big picture work with the program. Where I question his ability is in his game management and on field decisions. They have been suspect throughout his tenure. But you're not proving anything to me with this point, or countering any of my arguments. You're simply reinforcing something I've been saying all along... So hey, we're on same page here.
Fact- Saying his offensive scheme "is not good", IMO, is such an ignorant statement. To make that statement would be to ignore the dozens of other teams around college football running virtually the exact same scheme. Each coach uses their wrinkles, but there is nothing wrong with ND's offensive scheme. Or are 40+ coaches around college football all wrong, and you're right?... Now, what you may have been trying to talk about is play calling within the scheme (which we touched on above) or the ability to execute and sustain the scheme at a school like Notre Dame. If so, that's another conversation. But the Big 12 schools use many identical scheme principals to what Kelly does and many of them put up video game numbers doing it. Also, this scheme has produced a plethora of high end (1st and 2nd round picks) NFL talent during Kelly's tenure. That tells me that they are teaching a lot of things correctly and scheming to get their best players the ball, in order to showcase their talent, but at times they struggling with play calling and execution... Re-watch the Stanford game. Was there any issue with Kelly's scheme when they marched down the field running the ball North-South and walked in for a touchdown in the first quarter? It looked great to me. Thought I was watching Baylor or Ohio State. The problems came when Denbrock (through Kelly) reverted back to passing the ball all over the field with Kizer, instead of staying with what worked, until Stanford stopped it. That's a play calling issue, not a scheme issue.
Fact- He does burn through timeouts and it enrages me (like I'm sure it does most ND fans). If you're going to run a "check with me" system, you have to get plays in extremely quickly and get lined up on the LOS with a sense of urgency, so the defense can be surveyed and an adjustment can be made... Again, Kelly makes critical on field blunders at times. I've admitted to this time-and-again. I don't know how many more times I can be excused of defending this fact, when in fact, I don't. My personal opinion is that you have to limit personnel package substitutions if you want to run a check-with-me system, because they waste a lot of time changing personnel on the fly, which takes away from the time they have to call (and potentially change) a play. The tempo offenses that run "check-with-me" limit their substitution patterns in series so they can get lined up and focus on any adjustments they would like to make.
Fact- Under Bob Diaco, Notre Dame had the 2nd best scoring defense in the nation in 2012. Tuitt, Te'o, Shembo, Nix, Lewis-Moore, Jackson, Russell all became NFL draft picks (most of them high picks) out of that defense. But of course you won't give Kelly credit for the Diaco years, because that doesn't fit your agenda or the angle of your argument, right? That defense carried ND to it's first title game since 20 something years, but that was Diaco's defense, not Kelly's, right?... Now the VanGorder defense, that one is Brian Kelly's fault, correct?... Newsflash, they're both on Brian Kelly. The buck stops with him. When ND played fantastic defense, he deserved the credit. When they played poor defense, he deserved the blame. That's the nature of being a head coach. Fans want to obsess with the negative and completely ignore the positive, as if they occurred under two different regimes... For the record, in the 3 weeks since Kelly has taken the defense over and has essentially become the co-coordinator along with Mike Elston, the defense has shown substantial signs of improvement. They shut an explosive Syracuse down in the 2nd half, securing that win. They surrendered 10 points and played more than well enough to beat NC State in the monsoon and they held Stanford to 9 points last weekend. Kelly, of course, gets no credit for their turnaround, however, because ND is still losing and the offense (which was scoring 40ppg) is tanking since his attention has been diverted to the defense. That's fare. Again, the pressures of being a head coach, who must oversee an entire program.
The most egregious point you made what that the "good coaches" have none of those problems. Stanford and Michigan State fans and media often crucify their offensive playcallers (through their head coaches) for their "boring", "predictable", "non-creative" schemes. When you're winning, people say nothing. But as soon as you lose, everybody wants to rip apart what you do. Or how about in game decision making? Did you watch Michigan vs Michigan State game last year? Did you see the punt formation they were in and their lack of protection in an obvious punt block scenario?... No, good coaches (unless you don't think Dantonio or Harbaugh are good coaches) never have anything like that happen to them.
