We also discuss a topic that I’ve been chomping at the bit to discuss for some time now: the massive layoffs by outlets like ESPN, Yahoo, Sports Illustrated, and Fox Sports. The coverage of college football will radically change this season and we take a deep dive into how we got to this point. There’s lot to unpack here–everything from ad revenue and even how blogs like ours fit into this equation and have change the dynamics of what audiences look for and wish to consume.

As always, we end end by catching up on the personal stories, this time with a focus on what kept us me away from the show for so long.

It’s great to get back into the saddle. It’s been far too long and I wasn’t able to let an empty office that echoes like mad stop me either. Here’s the audio cocoon/blanket fort that I recorded inside just to make sure my audio didn’t sound like I was broadcasting from a fishbowl:

At the new HLS HQ, I only use the finest materials to set up a recording studio.

Yes, I care that much about audio quality and your listening experience. I may also be slightly insane.

Enjoy!

The post HLS Podcast: The “Catching Up” Episode appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

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:

The post Experts: Brian Kelly is Among Ten Best College Coaches appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

#4 Utah – 2010 (28-3): Let’s be honest. The 2010 wasn’t that good. Losses to Michigan, Michigan State (field goal fake, if you’ve forgotten) and Stanford had the team 1-3 through September. Beating a Top 50 team seemed out of reach, let alone a Top 20 win. Notre Dame held the 14th ranked Utes, who scored 47 the week before on TCU, without a touchdown. It’s hard to overstate such a quality win in a new coach’s first year — they call these program building wins.

#3 Stanford – 2012 (20-13): Stanford’s Stepfan Taylor was a bad, bad, man. That he managed 102 yards against Notre Dame’s historically stingy rush defense is really telling. Only one other player eclipsed the century mark during the regular season – major bonus points if you know who it was without looking it up…or really, if you knew off-hand that it was Ray Graham from Pitt go outside now and talk to other living, breathing, human beings. Stuffing Taylor on the goal line was the stuff of legend. And it setup the Irish for their biggest win in a long, long time (we’ll get there…)

#2 Michigan State – 2013 (17-13): BK notched his third straight win over Sparty and did it with a Cam McDaniel TD late. Dantonio went back to the trick-play-bag and got burned…and there were LOTS of pass interference penalties but the net-net was a 10-game home winning streak for the first time since 1999. It also solidified Kelly as a wiley in-game coach (Calling pass plays for Rees to throw back shoulder time-and-time again just to force the PI action wasn’t quite 2015 end of half Jedi mind trick stuff, but it’s was most definitely son of a politician stuff)

#1 Oklahoma –  2012 (30-13): Prior to the Irish steam rolling OU, Bob Stoops had four career home losses. Four. By scoring 20 points in the fourth quarter Notre Dame announced to the nation that they were title contenders for the first time since 1993. This is the mountain top during the Kelly era…and it’s not even close.

The post Brian Kelly’s Top 5 Wins As Notre Dame Coach appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Top 10 People Most Likely to Be Notre Dame Head Coach By 2030 or so

10.  Chip Kelly

Fire Kelly, hire Kelly

9. Tom Coughlin

Recently stepped down from the New York Giants, which we know is code for “really wants to coach in a relaxing environment”

8. Urban Meyer

Courtesy of ESPN

Forget what this guy says — Urban Meyer (one of these days!) will someday acquire a soul, then decide that Notre Dame is the best place for him and the family he loves so dearly.

7. Tommy Rees

You think you have strong opinions on going for two in the 4th Quarter? Wait until you see the “3rd and short fade” section in the Reesus playbook…

6. Tony Alford

This guy was a lights-out recruiter for Notre Dame, then left for a title bump at Ohio State. If Urban Meyer (see above) doesn’t make it back to South Bend, at least we know we have a second option here.

5. Skip Holtz

Skip Holtz, left, with some other people.

What’s the worst that could happen, given that he already has a statue outside Notre Dame Stadium? Plus, he’s sure to be free in the next couple years.

4. Mike Sanford

Everyone from ESPN to the NFL wants a piece of Mike Sanford. Widely regarded as the top young offensive mind in the college game, it was a testament to Brian Kelly’s recruiting chops that he landed in South Bend. But if Notre Dame wants to keep him, there will need to be a promotion in the works soon.

3. Bob Stoops

Jack Swarbrick finally upgrades to a coach with numerous signature wins and someone who understands the gravitas of coaching at a big-time college program.

2. Bob Diaco

His defenses are good. His hair is even better.

1. Jon Gruden

It’s always Gruden.

The post San Diego Chargers Name Tommy Rees as Offensive Assistant Coach appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

No, this isn’t because I’ve hit a creative wall. I’m not mailing it in because the audio version of this post debuts on the radio this evening. It certainly isn’t for a lack of caring either.

It’s because the main thing consuming my mind is just simply winning this game. After all, I’ve preached patience for the past couple of weeks in regards to the playoff rankings. The hell-raising arguments can start with a defeat of the Sun Devils.

So, yes, I have no jokes. Instead, my mind is full of visions of Brian VanGorder’s defense putting pressure on whoever is taking snaps for Arizona State whether Taylor Kelly or Mike Berovici, the apparent Achilles’ heel to the potent Arizona State offense. Even with VanGorder being in his comfort zone of getting a QB out of theirs, I think about how the Irish secondary will match up against WR stud Jaelan Strong.

And what of the injury to Joe Schmidt (by the way, did you hear he’s a walk-on?!)? Certainly Nyles Morgan is a physical upgrade, but will the “defensive QB” role prove to much for anyone to fill? Or will this be a breakout game in which we see the linebacker combination of Nyles Morgan and Jaylon Smith give Irish fans a glimpse into an incredible future?

Of course I can’t get the offense out of my head. Folston has a chance to go three consecutive games with 100 rushing yards (and let’s not forget, that mark is damn near four games with his 98 rushing yard performance against North Carolina). Golson has a chance to continue the dark horse Heisman buzz after his ND record 6 TD game.

That’s what currently resides in my mind. Jokes will come later. For now, beat the Sun Devils.

The Roundup

At least one of the Marooned 5 has been returned to us. Rejoice, y’all!

University of Notre Dame senior safety Eilar Hardy has been cleared by
the NCAA to participate in competition.

— Michael Bertsch (@NDsidBertschy) November 7, 2014

This place was reserved for a Jameis Winston point shaving joke. However, the original source of that story seems…well, rather sketchy to say the least. However, Winston still keeps his heel status mostly in thanks this week to his lawyer who wants Winston’s hearing delayed, a request made after he made the alleged victim’s name public (link removes any mention of alleged victim’s name).

Remember when those “Bob Stoops to ND” rumors were a thing? Your turn, Michigan!

I’m not even sure what’s going on in Aggieland anymore. Newly suspended quarterback, Kenny Hill added another strange page to his saga. This drama now stars Sean Salisbury whom claims that he was retained by Hill’s family to coach and mentor the young QB. A source later denied this and Salisbury went on his radio show to say “nuh uh, you totally did”. I think College Station is longing for the days of a “Johnny Football partying in Vegas” photo.

Ole Miss’ AD is mad. He sent a strongly worded letter to an Auburn newspaper for using a photo of Laquon Treadwell’s terrible injury in their story. Also happening this week, trolling Mississippi State fans on Twitter:

. @Therealbrutius The real question is…..do you want to meet face to face? pic.twitter.com/HZaHd3C9nD

— Ross Bjork (@RossBjorkAD) November 4, 2014

And now your moment of Nix… Now with 100% more Taylor Swift wearing Notre Dame gear.

The Booze

To humor myself, I Googled “Arizona Tea Cocktails” and low and behold, there is such a thing as an Arizona Stinger featuring two shots of vodka mixed with the readily available beverage. I also forgot that the Arizona Beverage Company owns the Arnold Palmer brand, meaning you can also easily roll with a John Daly: a mixture of vodka, lemonade and iced tea.

Now, the above probably works well as a refreshing drink for anyone enjoying the 80-degree Arizona weather; however, for the rest of us dealing with colder weather I want to make a suggestion that makes a very welcome return: BOURBON. ALL OF IT!

The post Friday Roundup: The “Devils Running Through My Head” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

This Roundup will not re-hash those thoughts. Instead, I wanted to pass along some sage advice my pastor gave to myself and my future bride last weekend:

The only thing that I need to do this wedding are the two of you, myself, and a marriage license. Everything else is just extra. You’ll have other people give you all kinds of opinions on what they think your wedding should look like, but never forget, all of that is just the gravy added on.

And really a potential addition of a jumbotron**, an installation of field turf, new helmets, piped-in music, or the Halloween costumes that are the Shamrock Series uniforms is just that — it’s all gravy. The meat and potatoes of a football game is simply two teams facing off against each other with a ball, some coaches to lead the men into battle, and some officials to make sure it doesn’t turn into the Roman Coliseum.

Notre Dame Football, however, is far more special than that. There is a dessert that follows this football meal that we like to call “The Forty Year Decision”, a specialty that the majority of the top college football powerhouses simply don’t offer. Many thought that entire meal couldn’t be served at Notre Dame anymore. We felt as if Notre Dame Football turned into the “let them eat cake” of the college football world. That’s why 2012 was such a big deal and Kelly went as far to call it “Faith Restored”.

#1 in the BCS and #1 in GSR should have been one of the biggest stories in college football and should be a huge focal point in this offseason, but it wasn’t and still isn’t.

Why?

Because the focus is on the damned gravy.

Every time these arguments surface, it becomes much like arguments in wedding planning. Everyone has their idea, their vision, for the Notre Dame Football Experience®. If you can’t see eye-to-eye, then there just must be something wrong with you and your understanding of tradition, Rockne, technology, or Notre Dame itself. The arguments and anger over the ancillary rise to a fever pitch and the true heart of the entire event is lost in the fire.

“But, Tex” you say, “how are you so blind? Don’t you see that when Notre Dame tries new things they fall on their face? Just look at the first attempts at piped-in music and Shamrock Series Helmets. These things matter!”

Want to know why both of those occasions were such disasters? It wasn’t just horrid execution (make no mistake, both were terrible). It was because the surrounding games left a lot to be desired.

Against Southern Cal, we were beaten over the head by more than just “Crazy Train”. Notre Dame stumbled out of the gate, trailing 17-10 at the half, and just when it looked like the Irish had a chance to tie it up, Crist fumbled a snap and it went 80 yards in the other direction. Everyone was already in a sour mood because the game itself was ruined and a “Seven Nation Army” couldn’t hold back the anger of the end result.

To put it another way: no amount of gravy in the world is going to fix a crappy steak.

For the first two quarters we were pissed that our steak first came out raw, then as jerky. In the third, it we saw that perfectly cooked steak coming our way only to have the waiter trip over himself and dropping it, completely ruining that one as well. Finally, we get one more serving of charred mess and we’ve had it by that point. We try to wash it down with the gravy just so we can eat something, but even that is sour.

End result: we hate everything and everything sucks.

While the Maryland game was a decisive victory, the game itself was a bore. Toss in a sub-par opponent that we really didn’t care about, mix in scoring lulls against said sub-par team and you are left with plenty of time to focus on bad helmets and mismatched greens on the uniform.

Compare that to the Miami game which had uniforms sporting helmets that were far worse than anything Adidas could’ve dreamed of the year prior. The Irish defense dominated and the rushing game obliterated the Hurricanes in the second half.  Oh, and it helped that this happened against Miami, a team universally hated by Irish fans.

Sure, the gravy might have been mysteriously two-toned and ugly as sin, but the main course was so tasty that you could happily ignore it and move it to the side.

“Well, Tex,” the other side now says, “thanks for proving our point!” As Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast!” (No, not that other famous Corso quote).

Just as no amount of gravy will save a piss-poor entree, far too much of it can smother and ruin it. Not only that, if too much focus is given to the sauce, you can likely expect the quality of your main dish to suffer as well. In short, there needs to be some form of balance.

To circle this back around to the original wedding analogy, I could easily ruin my own wedding by focusing on all the ancillary junk that really doesn’t matter. I could also go the opposite direction, completely bare-bones removing all the “gravy” as my pastor put it, but that would be a rather boring wedding. Adding a reception, family and friends, an open bar, and some music will certainly make the night more enjoyable for all and won’t completely overshadow the entire event of actually being wed.

And that’s pretty much where I’m at with anything added to ND Stadium or any future enhancements of the gameday experience. I’m fine with adding things as long as it doesn’t completely overrun the heart of Notre Dame Football.

By all accounts, ND gets that. The piped-in music has been reeled in and better thought out, complemented by mics amplifying the band (P.S. stop playing “Rumor Has It” for the love of all that is holy). Crazy uniforms have been relegated to one game a season, a game which isn’t even played in front of Touchdown Jesus. “Crazy Train” has turned into a punchline/actual thing that makes fans cheer despite its initial overuse.

But through it all, the heart of Notre Dame Football still remains: the quest for and expectation of excellence on and off the field. Until I actually see that change…well…it’s all gravy.

*I may or may not have totally made this up to properly equate said outrage

**Which, I want to note, was mentioned a grand total of zero times in the ND News release and not even pictured in an artist’s rendition of potential changes, but, hey, SPECULATE AWAY!

The Roundup

And when I talk about smothering with gravy, I give you Wyoming. While certainly not the worst of the field turf design offenders (hey, it’s at least green), going with mountains on this design is just a bit much.

I hope all of these go on Iowa’s jumbotron. I had no idea who Damon Bullock was before this week, but I now know he’s is absolutely hilarious.

Big Game Bob takes aim at the SEC. Oh man, I wish I had listened to Finebaum after these comments. Related, what in the hell happened to Stoop’s face?

The College Football Hall of Fame finally rights a major wrong. Tommie Frazier is finally in. Now let’s fix that whole Rocket not being in because seriously.

Want a look at the all-time wins race? Texas’ SBN presence, Barking Carnival, gives a mostly Texas-centric look; however, Notre Dame fans will be please to know just how close we are to surpassing Texas in this race.

So we’re making a little bit of our own gravy. Ok, that sounded completely wrong; however, we are dipping our toes into the merch pool with some #HLSRecap themed offerings. Yes, you can customize these with your Twitter handle if you so choose. Check them out, let us know what you think.

The Beer

I have, admittedly been slacking on really finding some unique brews. I will remedy this soon; however, I think it’s fitting that this week I go in a different direction.

As I mentioned before, I have a wedding in my future and it will occur one year from now on this exact date. With that in mind, I remembered that the first drink I ever bought my future wife was, in fact, a beer:

Yeah, I pulled out all the stops on this one didn’t I? In my defense, this was what she wanted. DON’T JUDGE!

The post Friday Roundup: The “It’s All Gravy” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

The third year has transformed into that “line in the sand” in regards to a college coach’s future at their current school. But just how accurate is that mark? And where should we place our expectations in 2012 considering that the Irish will be facing one of the toughest schedules in the nation?

A rain-soaked Brian Kelly walks off the field of the Colosseum a victor in 2010, becoming the first Irish coach to beat USC since Bob Davie. (Photo Credit: Neon Tommy)

These were the questions that I sought out to answer in this post. Even without digging into any data though, I can definitely see why year three is such a popular measuring stick. Especially considering all of the changes that we just made here at HLS.

Our move to this version of HLS had two major steps. First, we put our team in place. With that firm foundation, we moved into the next step in our vision and rebuilt HLS from the ground up, adding in a new look and several new features.

In year three, Kelly, like any coach, has done the same. He has his team in place. These are his players, his RKGs. Even if they were brought in by Weis to being their careers, Kelly has undoubtedly made his mark on them over two seasons. With his guys now in place, it is time for his true vision of his offense to unfold. Plays like QB draws and options have been noticeably absent from Kelly’s usual arsenal. With Rees now out at Navy, these features, Kelly’s vision all along, can make their return with the proper players now in place.

So, yes, from a logistical standpoint, judging at year three makes all the sense in the world.

However, I am a stats and numbers guy at heart. So in my quest to tackle the year three question, I turned to Notre Dame’s history. Below are how all Notre Dame coaches, starting from Ara Parseghian to now, their records in their first two years, their third year, and their records after that.

For Notre Dame fans, it is very clear why year three holds so much weight: National Titles. Ara, Devine, and Lou all won titles in year three and then went on to finish their Notre Dame careers with a solid winning percentage. Faust stayed rather consistent through his entire career and his third year was no exception to his sub-par win-loss record.

Most striking though is the recent history post-Holtz. Davie, Willingham, and Weis all had solid records in their first two seasons. However, in year three proved disastrous for each and all of them were worst than even Faust’s mediocre 7-5 mark. Unlike Faust though, the remaining years after year three all saw a sharp drop compared to their initial success. For Ty, his third year came on the heels of a poor second year, causing ND to justifiably pull the plug on his era immediately. For Weis, as much as it is easy to blame Ty for his poor third year, and such criticisms are valid, he still couldn’t right the ship, posting the worst winning percentage post year three of any of the above coaches.

So for ND, the measuring stick looks pretty solid, but what about the other top-tier coaches in college football? Did year three predict their success?

Now the data becomes less clear.

Save for Mac Brown and Pete Carroll, each of these coaches came out of the gates firing with great winning records. Most notably, Bob Stoops who won a title in only his second year. Only Ara, Devine, and Weis stack up to that success at ND in such a short amount of time. And, only two of those (Ara and Devine) continued their winning ways.

Some coaches like Meyer and Miles even had their winning percentage decrease over time despite a solid third year as well. This is a trend that we simply don’t see in Irish coaches.

Carroll and Brown are the only two coaches that appeared to have to “rebuild” their teams, but their winning percentages were still rather high to even use that term. In comparison, Holtz didn’t even break .600.

These elite coaches found themselves on very talented squads. There was no major rebuilding and gigantic gaps in recruiting to fill. They got their talented squads and simply won. The path to consistent success wasn’t nearly as rocky.

Perhaps even more striking are the coaches that I couldn’t put on this table. I thought of other coaches considered elite like Chip Kelly and Lane Kiffin; however, they have yet to be at their jobs for more than three years. In fact, in this current climate, many of the perceived elite coaches are still rather new to their jobs, especially in comparison to ND legends like Ara and Holtz or coaches like Mack Brown and Bob Stoops.

The final piece to this puzzle lies in the man himself, Brian Kelly:

Kelly’s year threes all have one thing in common: improvement. However, Kelly was hired for a new job after his third years in Central Michigan and Cincinnati. This leaves Grand Valley State as the lone data point that Kelly’s huge improvement in year three lead to future success for the Lakers. [Edit: I misread a table here, and Kelly’s third year was actually a slight decline, yet he improved after that year moving towards a far more consistent and improved record.]

But that was Division II football. Central Michigan is in the MAC. Cincinnati was able to feast on a weak Big East schedule. Notre Dame’s year three will have Brian Kelly facing a schedule unlike any he, or some of the coaches above, have ever seen.

With all of this in mind, where does that leave us?

Taking all of the data into account, the year three measuring stick is more myth than certainty. If anything the “test” appears to be more of “are you going to fall flat on your face?” than anything else. The bottom line is that any good coach will simply continue to win and a bad year here or there doesn’t really define them as a poor coach–consistent piss-poor seasons will.

However, this doesn’t mean that year three’s results should simply be ignored before the first snap of the Navy game. This also doesn’t mean that Notre Dame fans should lower expectations, despite the tough schedule.

Kelly has brought in much better talent into South Bend and, even with a new QB under center and this schedule, we should still expect Kelly to remain consistent this season. While I’m sure another 8-5 season doesn’t have everybody trying to make plans to be at the final year of the BCS in 2013, for a program that hasn’t seen three consecutive 8+ win seasons since the Lou Holtz era, a coach providing some manner of consistency will be a welcome change.

Even if we don’t see an improvement on last season’s record, it isn’t exactly and indication that Kelly will be mired in mediocrity. Mack Brown had three straight 9-win seasons and then lead Texas into a string of 10+ win seasons that was only recently snapped in 2010 with a 5-win season when his starting QB position faced a noticeable drop in talent (poor QB play causing issues–sound familiar?).

Consistency is the goal, but year three alone will not be enough of a predictor for Kelly’s future success or failure at Notre Dame.

The post Brian Kelly and Year Three appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.