I just want someone the players seem happy to play for. After watching the Syracuse locker room celebration after their win yesterday, they are legitimately excited and happy to play for their coach. With Kelly/BVG, etc. everyone just seems scared to make mistakes and it often seems on the sidelines like they are attending a funeral vs. playing Notre Dame football. Someone who actually inspires these kids would be nice.
Exactly...this defense to start the season and we are ok. Seems like Kelly is patching a hole only to let another one leak.
Yeah, tired of the "let's match their intensity" shit. Fuck that, such a bad way to get into a game mentally. too much respect for some shitty teams. I want a "fuck you purdue and your shitty team we are going to thrash the fuck out of you"
Uhhh. This is an ND issue and has been. We recruit "nice guys" for the most part. They generally don't have a killer instinct. This is the same we've had since Lou. And winning is exciting, especially with no expectations. Measuring an upset for Syracuse against ND is asinine. Hell until the end the sideline for ND was as "enthusiastic" as I've seen in some times. It means nothing.
Yeah, no win is very exciting if you are Nd unless you beat sc, Michigan or some big program...but it's the same at every big time program. The comment about Syracuse in the GroupMe was way off though, we would lose our mind if Nd players celebrated a win over Virginia tech like that. It should be automatic I agree, it means nothing. Let the guys play and they will be excited if they win
All jokes aside, stop with the PJ Fleck shit. You're fucking Notre Dame. You're not hiring a 35 year old MAC coach with a career record barely above .500.
this x1000 two things cause completely asinine coaching changes imo. fan bases that are tired of the current coaches' shit (not necessarily on-field performance), and the media-fueled craze over the up-and-comer (usually involves cheesy shit i.e. "row the boat" and human interest stories) fleck is in no way qualified for a job of ND's magnitude but in a weak market for coaches this year and a really hateable current coach, a dumb AD might actually make the move. swarbrick wont.
Kelly is going nowhere this year, and Fleck is in need of time at some shit bird big ten team like Purdue. He is interesting though.
Yea the only coaches I could see anyone firing Kelly for and replacing would be Peterson or Stoops Those arent happening- keep Kelly another year- keep the recruiting class. Maybe look at Paul Chryst next year if he keeps improving Wisconsin Fleck is going to Purdue for $5+ a year. They can take that chance and need to
Good call. I am sure Madison native, and Wisconsin alum, Paul Chryst is salivating at the chance to move to South Bend.
I know. I'm basically in full on dump sporting weekend mode, though. Now, I brace myself for a Canucks loss
Fleck and Herman are the rage but both are pretty inexperienced. Herman also will probably try to cash in on Texas or LSU. Fleck may need to move up the ladder to a job like Purdue. Guys that would interest me outside of the Home Runs that ARE NOT COMING. Narduzzi (has PITT playing tough ball, I could live with his brand of football with better players at ND), Wittingham (don't think he'd leave Utah with his ties but didn't think Bronco would have left BYU last year either), Mullen (Miss St is hard to win at. Place is pretty crappy), and I got killed last time but Schiano was a good college coach and OSU defense has been really good with him and a ton of new starters. But honestly I don't think many other guys out there are any better than BK. He's won at every stop he's been at including various seasons at ND. This season he's been awful, like every decision he's made seemingly has blown up in his face and shows his lack of understanding of this team. Not sure if he got complacent or just made bad decisions. But This roster next year is built to be pretty good. Kizer is only question, if he goes pro, roster is not as good but if he comes back I'd say it's his deepest (maybe not as good as last year's top end guys) but definetly his deepest. But I don't think the guy is just a bad coach. This is probably his worst season as a HC in his career. Is it worth firing him over? Maybe but I don't see a ton of better options.
Mullen is actually a great candidate. To your point about Bronco he was looking for years to get out of the Provo bubble, and everything that was floated last year about Mullen sounded like the same deal. Mullen's an ND guy in a way, was on Davie's staff as a GA. ND can do a lot worse ND is objectively a better job than Pitt but it's tough for guys to leave a job where they have everything they need to win and have a roster that's on the come, Narduzzi might actually choose to dig in at Pitt if offered
Mullen is a lot like a Richt type hire. You know he's going to turn things around and do a lot of good for your program. But you also know he's unlikely to ever get you over the top. Low risk, very good coach. But likely won't ever be great. I think he's a much safer hire than one of the mid major guys, which I actually like the idea of. But I also understand why some like to roll the dice on those types of coaches. I like Mullen. A lot. But I also contend he won't get us over the top. I hate the idea of taking a flier on a mid major guy that could totally flop. But is Mullen worth firing Kelly over this year? Should we wait until next year when the coaching pool could look a bit more appetizing? It's a shitty situation overall.
Also, deserves to be mentioned again. It's amazing how different our defense looks when they aren't out there thinking about absurd X's and O's the whole damn time. Are they good now? No. But they're a far cry from the shitfest we were seeing weeks ago. Unfortunately, it's the offense that looks like garbage at this point. And that's entirely on BK.
what makes you believe you couldn't get ND over the top? recruiting? agree with your entire post, just curious on the reservations i think what he's done at the hardest job to win at in the SEC west, considering the dominance of that division in his time there, is really easy to under-appreciate
Well as you said, he's not playing with a full deck down in Mississippi State. I can't debate that fact. It's likely the worst overall program in the SEC. That said, he's now had plenty of opportunities to put his teams over the hump down there (which, I'll admit, he earned...and that's impressive in itself), and has fallen flat on his face every single time. I think an elite guy would at least find a way to be competitive in one of those big games. Again, I understand the concerns with MSU as a program and the talent differential between himself and Bama (for instance), but he still gets his shit pushed in in every big game. I think he's a guy that would likely win 10 games quite a few times at ND. And that's why he's near - or at - the top of my list right now. But I also contend that you're kinda conceding to some degree with that hire. And that makes me pause. Gun to my head, I'd take him over Kelly right now. But I'm not overjoyed about it. Happier than an up and coming mid major hire though.
Jesus this is getting sad debating retread Dan Mullen and Les Miles Kelly has made every mistake possible this year but he's not getting fired
It actually seems to me like the team is still committed, which is surprising to me but a credit to Kelly.
I really dont feel like the OLine for instance was playing like they wanted it. Guys like Kiser, Hunter and Rochell also seem to be missing the fire they did have in the first few weeks
If there is anyone who should be lost its Kizer Rochell is playing for the draft so I expect he'll be fine. It was mid terms week so I bet some of the team was sleepwalking. I'll be curious as to how they will look after the bye week. The defense has improved light years since Kelly moved there Full Time
It's been said but it's amazing how just playing sound defense without trying to reinvent the wheel gives the team a chance to win
If "losing the team" is a fire-able offense, then he should have been fired after 2014 when the team completely collapsed (and actually spoke out against him) after the FSU loss. That season was the definition of losing the team. This is becoming a trend though. When they're winning, the players seem to be willing to put up with Kelly. But the second they're out of the National Title hunt, they absolutely fall apart and go to social media (which is embarrassing in itself).
well its a bad trend thats been getting worse. I dont see the program from close enough to be sure but i sure as hell get a sense that the players dont relish playing for BK. BK seems like a good CEO but terrible people manager
This is the pessimist in me talking (which is just me in all honesty, I don't have an optimistic side to my ND fandom), but it aggravates the hell out of me that Kelly bought into what BVG was doing and/or didn't intervene much sooner. The problems were so obvious (and Kelly's comments since the firing confirmed he felt the same as all of us), and were apparently so easy to fix that we were able to plug in a completely nondescript and almost unemployed coach who was able to fix it in a week. Just a stunning failure by Kelly.
FWIW I still think Kelly stays too. He's earned it even though this season is embarrassing. With regards to losing the team or not, when ND is out of the championship picture, the players have basically nothing to play for. You could argue they should play for Kelly or whatever but its a big time bowl or bust for ND. If I were some 5* that came to ND to win championships, I wouldn't be playing my ass off to get to 6 wins so I could go to the Cici's Pizza Bowl. The season is a throw away. It's lost. I'm done watching every week cause I don't think its getting better this year.
Kelly will live for another year simply because the coaching landscape sucks right now. He'll be Les Miles next year. Very little hope from the fanbase, and an incredibly short leash.
I get the championship or bust mentality but only 1 team can win the title each year. You can argue that after 7 weeks all but maybe 10 teams have a shot at the playoffs this year. Some of those that are "out" don't have a shot at a conference championship meaning they are "playing" for everything ND is. If anyone (not named Max) were a 5* I would think those are the guys with the most to lose as they have a better chance of playing at the next level. I agree that this season is a throw away. Only hope still left is make a bowl so young guys get more practice reps.
I think Kelly should be gone but he will not because of the contract extension he signed. Think he has another 4 years on that contract? I don't think he makes it the 4 years but would not be surprised if they kept him around for another 2 years. The administration received a bunch of grief in the media about how long they had to pay Weis after he left ND, don't think they want to deal with that again.
Whatever Kelly has earned, he will be compensated for with the buyout he just negotiated which I'm sure is not a small number. For those that want to keep him because there isn't a good replacement available, I can sympathize with that logic, but it leaves the program in a very unhealthy position where everyone knows he is one bad stretch away from getting fired. I also don't see any reason to believe the market will be any better next year. If we totally strike out on the big names, I think we can hire a caretaker (someone like Cutcliffe), who can come in, hit it straight down the fairway for 3 years, and conveniently "retire" at a time when the market is more favorable.