While there will always be a segment of Notre Dame fans unhappy with Coach Brian Kelly’s performance, it’s getting harder to argue against his inclusion in the list of top, active FBS coaches.
Kelly was ranked in the top 10 of all 128 FBS coaches in two separate publications Tuesday. Athlon Sports, which boasts an online readership in excess of 1 million readers annually, chose Kelly as the 10th best coach. The Sporting News, which has covered college football since before the second World War, put Kelly at #9.
Here’s what Athlon said:
The Fighting Irish just missed out an appearance in the College Football Playoff last season, but Kelly has the program on stable ground and poised for another run at the top four in 2016. Since taking over in South Bend in 2010, Kelly is 55-23 at Notre Dame, including an appearance in the BCS National Championship game in 2012. The Fighting Irish have won at least eight games in each of Kelly’s seasons at the helm and finished No. 11 in the Associated Press poll last year. Winning at a high level at different programs is nothing new for Kelly.From 1991-03, Kelly went 118-35-2 at Grand Valley State, including back-to-back Division II titles (2002-03). Additionally, he went 19-16 in three years at Central Michigan (2004-06) and 34-6 at Cincinnati from 2004-06. Kelly is a proven winner at four different jobs and clearly has a place among the top 15 coaches in the nation.
Here’s what the Sporting News said:
Last Year: 11
Record: 55-23 (108-45)
Lowdown: Give Kelly credit. He’s the steadiest presence the Irish have had on the sideline since Lou Holtz, and he’s coming off his second double-digit win season. He’s still just 11-12 against ranked teams. He’ll test that against the same tough schedule in 2016.
Athlon and The Sporting News both considered Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher, TCU’s Gary Patterson, Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops, Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio, Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh, Ohio State’s Urban Meyer and Alabama’s Nick Saban to be better than Kelly. Athlon also ranked David Shaw ahead of Kelly, while the Sporting News had Stanford’s head coach at #11 – behind LSU’s Les Miles. (Miles was #25 at Athlon, so there’s quite a discrepancy there.)
Here are the coaches Kelly will face in 2016 and their respective rankings:
| Team | Coach | Athlon | Sporting News |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | Charlie Strong | #11 | #8 |
| Nevada | Brian Polian | #91 | #91 |
| Michigan St. | Mark Dantonio | #4 | #5 |
| Duke | David Cutcliffe | #15 | #27 |
| Syracuse | Dino Babers | #46 | #64 |
| NC State | Dave Doeren | #63 | #56 |
| Stanford | David Shaw | #8 | #11 |
| Miami (Fla.) | Mark Richt | #16 | #13 |
| Navy | Ken Niumatalolo | #40 | #36 |
| Army | Jeff Monken | #105 | #112 |
| Virginia Tech | Justin Fuente | #33 | #39 |
| USC | Clay Helton | #86 | #45 |
“He’s still just 11-12 against ranked teams.”
Say no more.
“no more” – there. I said it. And I 1/2-heartedly (as opposed to wholeheartedly) agree. True, BK is “still just 11-12 against ranked teams.” And college coaches coach college football programs. But Notre Dame is still Notre Dame. That last sentence means Notre Dame prepares its students for life in the professional world. (I’m an alumn) And Notre Dame might not have the big-names under BK, but we have put many, many pros’ into the NFL. Does that make-up for being “just 11-12 against ranked teams”? Your call.
Is he a good coach? Yes he is.
Is he a good recruiter, runs a clean program, the overwhelming majority of his recruits graduate? Yes
Does he win the big games? Most of the time the answer to that is no.
Here some other names…..Swinney 14-19, Malzahn, 9-10, Dantonio 16-21, Harbaugh 9-8. I’ll judge him when his time at Notre Dame is finished.