Brian Kelly has shown us who he is over the course of the last seven years. We know who he is and what he's done with out football program. He's the poster child for mediocrity. Sure, after the complete debacle of the 2016 season, he needs to try new things and appear to be "different" in order to save face for both himself and his boss, athletic director Jack Swarbrick, otherwise Swarbrick comes off as completely inept for not firing Kelly and Kelly is perceived as the truly mediocre coach that he is. They have to fight that. After all, Swarbrick had put himself in the unenviable position of having to retain Kelly after having given Kelly that fat six-year contract extension which proved to be a huge mistake. No, Kelly and Swarbrick have had to resort to promises, smoke and mirrors to get you to think that we have a new coach when, in reality, what ND really needed was an actual new coach.
And how quickly some fans forget. In this case, you can't blame them for wanting to put the extreme pain of the 2016 season out of mind, but what's really going on right now is the annual phenomenon made up of both the forgetfulness brought about by the passage of time since the end of the last season and the natural human nature to look forward optimistically to the start of the next season. It's the spring and summer, and we all want to believe that "this is our year," and that we've got a real chance to win it all. Every team wants to believe that, every fan base wants to take the past out of the equation and look forward to the next season optimistically. For many teams and fan bases, it's nothing but irrational optimism to think that they're going to be seriously contending for a national title. Sure, once every decade or two, a team will come completely out of nowhere to surprise the nation, but that's not the norm. That's not reality. Reality is something different. For Notre Dame, reality is the following:
1. We just finished a 4-8 season against our easiest schedule in years.
2. The season was one of the worst in ND history despite high expectations and a preseason top-ten ranking.
3. Since losing to Alabama four years ago, ND has been a very mediocre team, going 21-19 against teams from the Power 5 conferences.
4. Under Kelly, ND has a history of both squandering big leads and losing to teams that it should beat (e.g., Duke, Navy, NC State, Northwestern, South Florida, Tulsa, etc.).
5. During the past seven years, the fan base has frequently questioned Kelly's game-time decisions, his ability to made adjustments during the game.
6. Fans and alumni have also questioned whether Kelly is a "good fit" for Notre Dame, and his desire to remain at ND for the long term and build a program that is successful year after year.
7. After seven years under Kelly, ND is not a top "program" that consistently achieves excellence and would simply be "reloading" from year to year; instead, ND is in need of serious "rebuilding" and has been susceptible to wild ups and downs in performance and results.
8. Brian Kelly has repeatedly looked at other job offers, causing fans and alumni to question his commitment to the University and its football program.
9. Under Kelly, ND received very serious NCAA sanctions that resulted in probation and the vacating of 21 wins (thereby reducing the already mediocre results to results that are actually abysmal and even more embarrassing).
That's the actual state of ND football when you take an objective look at it. Brian Kelly is still the same person he's been for the past seven years, a mediocre coach who produced mediocre results. When people ask "who could do better?" , the answer is pretty simple: just about anyone could come into ND and win 50% of our games against the Power 5 conferences. That's what Kelly has done, and it's not acceptable. Anyone can do that. This is Notre Dame where the expectation when he was hired was that he would build a consistent winner, a contender for national titles. He's failed and should have been replaced. That's who he is, anything else is promises, smoke and mirrors.
And how quickly some fans forget. In this case, you can't blame them for wanting to put the extreme pain of the 2016 season out of mind, but what's really going on right now is the annual phenomenon made up of both the forgetfulness brought about by the passage of time since the end of the last season and the natural human nature to look forward optimistically to the start of the next season. It's the spring and summer, and we all want to believe that "this is our year," and that we've got a real chance to win it all. Every team wants to believe that, every fan base wants to take the past out of the equation and look forward to the next season optimistically. For many teams and fan bases, it's nothing but irrational optimism to think that they're going to be seriously contending for a national title. Sure, once every decade or two, a team will come completely out of nowhere to surprise the nation, but that's not the norm. That's not reality. Reality is something different. For Notre Dame, reality is the following:
1. We just finished a 4-8 season against our easiest schedule in years.
2. The season was one of the worst in ND history despite high expectations and a preseason top-ten ranking.
3. Since losing to Alabama four years ago, ND has been a very mediocre team, going 21-19 against teams from the Power 5 conferences.
4. Under Kelly, ND has a history of both squandering big leads and losing to teams that it should beat (e.g., Duke, Navy, NC State, Northwestern, South Florida, Tulsa, etc.).
5. During the past seven years, the fan base has frequently questioned Kelly's game-time decisions, his ability to made adjustments during the game.
6. Fans and alumni have also questioned whether Kelly is a "good fit" for Notre Dame, and his desire to remain at ND for the long term and build a program that is successful year after year.
7. After seven years under Kelly, ND is not a top "program" that consistently achieves excellence and would simply be "reloading" from year to year; instead, ND is in need of serious "rebuilding" and has been susceptible to wild ups and downs in performance and results.
8. Brian Kelly has repeatedly looked at other job offers, causing fans and alumni to question his commitment to the University and its football program.
9. Under Kelly, ND received very serious NCAA sanctions that resulted in probation and the vacating of 21 wins (thereby reducing the already mediocre results to results that are actually abysmal and even more embarrassing).
That's the actual state of ND football when you take an objective look at it. Brian Kelly is still the same person he's been for the past seven years, a mediocre coach who produced mediocre results. When people ask "who could do better?" , the answer is pretty simple: just about anyone could come into ND and win 50% of our games against the Power 5 conferences. That's what Kelly has done, and it's not acceptable. Anyone can do that. This is Notre Dame where the expectation when he was hired was that he would build a consistent winner, a contender for national titles. He's failed and should have been replaced. That's who he is, anything else is promises, smoke and mirrors.
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