Position: Coach
Name: Brian Kelly
Season: 3rd
Record: 16-10
Of all the positions we’ve featured in this series, Coach Kelly’s may be the most scrutinized, the most polarizing and the most studied of them all. Sure, there’s been some 1’s and 0’s expended in the blogosphere on the quarterback situation, but there’s no figure more important to the team’s success than the man at the top. He’s responsible for every facet of the program, from recruiting to hiring position coaches to calling the plays. And, in his third season, everyone’s looking to see if this is the year when everything comes together or goes off the rails.
After two seasons at the helm of The Irish, Coach Kelly is clearly a break from the recent past (Weis, Davie and Willingham) and a return, in a manner of speaking, to old fashioned football. His purple-faced rage against USF turned him into an internet meme and earned him a raft of criticism from diverse quarters. To be honest, I didn’t have a problem with the anger, though the expression of it was a little much for day time television. But, the passion was pleasing. Could you imagine Ty ever getting that mad, outside of missing a gimme putt for birdie? And, in a much clearer return to a traditional strength, Kelly has recruited the heck out of elite defensive talent.
But after two full seasons at Notre Dame, Brian Kelly is 16-10. In comparison, Charlie Weis went 19-6, Ty Willingham went 15-10, Bob Davie was 16-9 and Lou Holtz went 13-10. So, its in Season Three that coaching futures are made. Will Season Three be for Brian Kelly what it was for Lou in 1988 or what it was for Ty Willingham in 2004?
Davie, Willingham and Weis did their best to condition us to surprisingly awful losses and 2010’s Brian Kelly kept that tradition around for a season. Tulsa and Navy in 2010 were every bit as bad as UConn or Syracuse or Purdue. To be perfectly candid, Tulsa was on Coach Kelly and Navy completely out-classed our coaching staff, turning our former “decided schematic advantage” on its head.
But, despite the similarities in the records, 2011 felt different. I know. Give me data, Bayou, don’t give me feel. While Kelly is responsible for EVERY loss, USF, USC and Michigan were down to individual mistakes BETWEEN the lines. I’ll concede that the bowl debacle against FSU showed, again, our defensive coaching staff’s inability to adapt to changing tactics over the course of a game.
But, what gives me confidence for Season Three (and Seasons Four and Five) are Kelly’s ability to recruit (see where his 2010 and 2011 classes rank among the previous five classes) and the changes he’s made to the program in the form of a training table and his emphasis on strength and conditioning. We’re simply not lurching to the final game as we did under Weis and Willingham. And we’ve (finally) got a clearer picture at QB now that Tommy’s suspended for the Navy game.
So, that’s us. Now, let’s meet the enemy.
Position: Coach
Name: Bob Stoops
Season: 14th
Record: 139-34
Everything I wrote about Notre Dame doesn’t apply to Oklahoma. Whereas we’ve gone looking for “Mr. Right” a few times since 1999, Bob Stoops has been crushing it in Norman, pretty much year in and year out. Bottom line is that ND isn’t back until we can hang with a program like Oklahoma.
Any analysis of Bob Stoops as a coach should start and stop with his gaudy home record: 77-3. But we can’t stop there. He won the National Championship in 2000, going 13-0. I’ll ignore that he did so in his second season at the helm. I won’t ignore the 7 Big XII titles, though.
Ultimately, Stoops is the cream of the crop. I’ve got Oklahoma as a loss on my still (d-)evolving prognostication list. But a loss to OU wouldn’t necessarily be bad for us. If we play hard, and challenge them, we can go some distance towards quieting those who say nay. If we get crushed, we linger in mid-table mediocrity, still not able to play with the big boys.
But a win in Norman….man. Think what that would do. And what would make it sweeter? Stoups was in the mix back in 2009 for the job Coach Kelly now has.
So what do you think, loyal reader? Did you enjoy our KTKTM series? Want to see it back next season? I know we’ve enjoyed bringing it to you. Go Irish!
Previous Entries
Punter/Kicker
Defensive Line
Offensive Line
Safety
Wide Receiver
Cornerback
Running Back
Tight End
Linebacker
Quarterback
- Finding Flaws in a Diamond: Clemson’s Rushing Offense - December 17, 2018
- Why Nobody Will Cotton to Notre Dame - December 3, 2018
- Irish Finish Regular Season Perfect 12-0 - November 26, 2018
tlndma
I’ve said since January, that this years record, is not as important as how the team looks achieving it. Will Kelly and staff pass the eye test this year. Improved QB play, winning games we should and competing hard right to the end against our stronger opponents.
Two losses from last season that still irk me are Mich. and FSU. In both games ND went into the half looking like the better team. Then ND seemed to go vanilla (FSU esp.) and we started playing not to lose. We should have won both of these games.
Bayou Irish
Couldn’t agree more. It didn’t KILL me to lose to USC (because I thought we would) — it KILLED me the WAY we lost. Michigan and FSU and USF were all completely winnable games.
It sounds so unbelievably basic: if we play fundamentally sound football, we will win 9 or 10 games. Our defense is good enough and our offense is very good. We have one of the best TEs, our running game is sound and the rest of our receivers are good. Can you imagine what happens without a brazillian turnovers?
Yup@nope.com
I think they absolutely showed poor conditioing in the Bowl game. And BK is lucky they finally went with a training table as Weis was begging for one.
Fact is, while there have been some def recruiting wins there have been a lot of losses too and he has yet to bring a top 3 class like Weis did. Again, despite how you feel retrospectively about that class it was a concensus Top 3 class. I won’t even mention the 2 BCS appearances, which again, is a fact.
I am optimistic about this year but we’re a long way away from knowing whether BK is the “Man” yet, I’m afraid…
MishMark
Could not agree more. If anyone is convinced that coach Keely is the man is looking thru rose colored glasses. We were outcoached against SC by Kiffin and dad.Was at the game and looked like Trojans were in our huddle.By the way how many of the many recruits at that game did N D land. Hope I’m wrong but I doubt if coach is ready for the big time.