The first fact of life is that Kelly is likely not going to quit this year. Unless Kelly decides he has had enough after 10 years at ND, or he decides to put his name in the hat for an NFL job, the likelihood of Kelly not being the ND coach in 2020 is very very low.
The second fact of life is that Swarbrick and Jenkins are not going to fire Kelly this year. In Swarbrick's eyes I would assume he sees Kelly as successful. 2 undefeated regular seasons, 1 BCS Championship Game appearance, 1 College Football Playoff appearance, participation in 1 New Year's Day 6 Bowl Game, bowl appearances in 9 of Kelly's 10 seasons (counting this season) with a 4-4 record in those 8 games with wins over LSU twice and Miami (Rutgers being the 4th).
In Swarbrick and Jenkins minds I would assume they see in Kelly's first 9 seasons, that in 1 out of every 3 seasons Kelly has had his team in the National Championship hunt up until ND's last game of the season and in the other season (2015) the team played as one of the elite teams in the Fiesta Bowl Game losing a chance at the Playoff with a Stanford FG as time ran out.
Kelly is also 7-3 against USC.
Just like everyone else, I was disappointed, angry and beside myself with the performance of the team and coaches against Michigan. I was just as disappointed in the way we lost against Alabama, Clemson in the Playoff, Miami a couple of years ago, two losses to Georgia, close losses to Florida State and Clemson in the storm, Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl and the repeated unnecessary losses at Stanford when we should have won. We SHOULD have done better.
The 4-8 season in year #7 was the year Kelly earned a termination but Swarbrick did not pull the trigger.
I have also been disappointed in other losses that seemingly should not have happened like Navy a couple of times, Tulsa, USF, Northwestern, Louisville, and Duke. Then again, Oklahoma just lost to Kansas State, Syracuse beat Clemson a couple of years ago, Ohio State lost last season to Purdue, so others are not immune to "bad" losses.
But in the end, Kelly has done much better than any coach since Lou Holtz. He has also done better than Faust, Devore, Kuharich, and Brennan.
He will likely be the coach at ND until he (and only he) decides to leave at a time and place of his choosing.
If ND wants to do better than we have done in the past 10 seasons, Kelly and his staff need to recruit even better than they have in his first 10 seasons. Fixing the QB drama ND has had since Kelly's arrival is first on the list.
Kelly also needs to STOP hiring "old friends" like Quinn as the OL Coach and BVG as the DC for ND to sustain a position in the top tier of college football.
The second fact of life is that Swarbrick and Jenkins are not going to fire Kelly this year. In Swarbrick's eyes I would assume he sees Kelly as successful. 2 undefeated regular seasons, 1 BCS Championship Game appearance, 1 College Football Playoff appearance, participation in 1 New Year's Day 6 Bowl Game, bowl appearances in 9 of Kelly's 10 seasons (counting this season) with a 4-4 record in those 8 games with wins over LSU twice and Miami (Rutgers being the 4th).
In Swarbrick and Jenkins minds I would assume they see in Kelly's first 9 seasons, that in 1 out of every 3 seasons Kelly has had his team in the National Championship hunt up until ND's last game of the season and in the other season (2015) the team played as one of the elite teams in the Fiesta Bowl Game losing a chance at the Playoff with a Stanford FG as time ran out.
Kelly is also 7-3 against USC.
Just like everyone else, I was disappointed, angry and beside myself with the performance of the team and coaches against Michigan. I was just as disappointed in the way we lost against Alabama, Clemson in the Playoff, Miami a couple of years ago, two losses to Georgia, close losses to Florida State and Clemson in the storm, Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl and the repeated unnecessary losses at Stanford when we should have won. We SHOULD have done better.
The 4-8 season in year #7 was the year Kelly earned a termination but Swarbrick did not pull the trigger.
I have also been disappointed in other losses that seemingly should not have happened like Navy a couple of times, Tulsa, USF, Northwestern, Louisville, and Duke. Then again, Oklahoma just lost to Kansas State, Syracuse beat Clemson a couple of years ago, Ohio State lost last season to Purdue, so others are not immune to "bad" losses.
But in the end, Kelly has done much better than any coach since Lou Holtz. He has also done better than Faust, Devore, Kuharich, and Brennan.
He will likely be the coach at ND until he (and only he) decides to leave at a time and place of his choosing.
If ND wants to do better than we have done in the past 10 seasons, Kelly and his staff need to recruit even better than they have in his first 10 seasons. Fixing the QB drama ND has had since Kelly's arrival is first on the list.
Kelly also needs to STOP hiring "old friends" like Quinn as the OL Coach and BVG as the DC for ND to sustain a position in the top tier of college football.
