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.

BRIAN KELLY: The biggest news to come out of today’s press conference is the decision to play both quarterbacks, Everett Golson and Malik Zaire, in the bowl game. Coach has seen “a real focus and attention to some specific things that will make them better quarterbacks” and stated that each has “benefited from the last three practices and film time.” As an aside, if you belong to Camp “Only Go Bowling When You DESERVE It,” listen to Coach’s words, for he gives at least three specific examples of players who have used the extra practice time to improve their game. Golson has “handled [the competition] great,” according to Coach, while Mike McGlinchey, fresh on the heels of ousting Christian Lombard at Right Offensive Tackle, has made that position “very competitive.” Freshman Greg Bryant has also distinguished himself in practice, demonstrating “a good sense of what we are trying to accomplish.” On the injury front, Coach is hopeful to have Sheldon Day, Max Redfield, and Jay Hayes ready to play. Eilar Hardy, who graduates at the end of the semester, will be eligible and will play. On the NFL front, Kelly has a good sense of the four players’ (Stanley, Day, Golson, Martin) draft status given his communications with NFL coaches and GM’s. Stanley is the only one of the group who, if he leaves early, will not leave with a degree.

Equally noteworthy, Paqui Kelly was on hand at the start of the presser to announce the Kelly Cares foundation’s donation of ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00) to the Food Bank of Northern Indiana, who will use the money to support its Food 4 Kids Fun Packs Program. The donation was made on behalf of ND’s coaching staff, who give their time to the Kelly Cares Football 101 program, which you can learn more about, here.

LES MILES: The Mad Hatter began his press conference with no audio or video recording because, well, he’s mad. Actually, he spoke into the void to address the “Miles to Michigan” situation. Suffice it to say that Les is not going anywhere. The cynic in me says he’ll still go, but I do think that he feels a genuine attachment to his players, an emotion that comes across clearly in today’s remarks. Today was “LSU versus LSU.” The Tigers practiced at a fast tempo and will continue to do so in their next practice. In their third, they will start practicing for Notre Dame. I’ll leave it to you if Les was making an SEC-speed dig there. Injury-wise, the Tigers are expecting to have Kenny Hilliard back for the Music City Bowl. That’s bad news for Notre Dame. Their center, Elliott Porter, however, will not.

[iframe id=”http://www.lsusports.net/mediaPortal/embed.swf” align=”center” mode=”thumbnail” autoplay=”yes”]

HLS NEWS: This last Sunday was Gaudete Sunday, and we here at HLS were extra joyful, as our own Molly Moran successfully completed her nursing school program last week. That joy, though, was tempered by the news that our own Lisa Kelly lost her grandmother on Sunday. Our prayers of condolence and peace are with her and family at this time.

The post Coach Speak: Post-Practice Pressers from Kelly and Miles appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

But if you think that announcement caused an uproar, you should see one of the design finalists that was rejected in favor of what was announced this week. That design was…well, it was certainly different:

And yes, Notre Dame was very close to going with this option. I was able to speak to Swarbrick, or at least someone that I believe might be Swarbrick, and he emailed me the press release that was to accompany this announcement.

The press release and justifications for the field might just be more shocking than the design itself. Let’s just FJM our way through this:

I’m pleased to talk about the new concept field at Notre Dame. After years of listening to people complain about FieldTurf and jumbotrons, we have decided to take an aggressive expansion and renovation posture that is sure to, well, probably piss of most of the fan base. Those guys are never happy.

Well, that’s certainly an aggressive way to handle the situation. I mean, I get frustrated with all the hair-pulling over something as silly as a field and am always happy to troll those folks.

This, however, is basically a declaration of war.

First, I could not be more proud of our association with Under Armour. Their dedication to excellence matches our own, and it is entirely appropriate to place their logo prominently on the field. This will start what I hope is a long tradition of highlighting our corporate sponsors’ logos and making the field look more cluttered than Dale Earnhardt’s race car.

Well so much for that promise.

And I tell you what, he wasn’t joking about prominent placement of the Under Armour logos. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kickoff marker that large before.

I guess the benefit to this is that Adidas must be really pissed, but I think we’re a bit overzealous in the whole “Protect the House” thing.

Second, you’ll also notice the dog at midfield.  I was really excited to put Eddie from the hit NBC sitcom “Frasier” on there. It’s part of my continuing campaign to have NBC bring back the show. Someone also pointed out that it’s a nod to the days of Clashmore Mike, and I guess that’s kind of neat too.

When I first saw this design, I figured the inclusion of Clashmore Mike was a nice nod to Notre Dame’s history and traditions.

It was also the only thing on the field that could at least use that kind of logic.

However, I’m shocked that Swarbrick really didn’t recognize it. A campaign for Frasier?! Really?!

Hey, Jack, why don’t you use your NBC powers for good and get Community back on the air forever? That show deserves prime-time exposure and not streaming relegation.

Third, it’s no secret that I’ve embraced social media to the fullest extent. Not only does it promote our brand to a younger audience, it’s also a great way to meet girls. That’s why you’ll now see hashtags in our end zones in hopes of getting Notre Dame….what’s that term again?  “Trending.” Yes, trending on Saturdays.

Jack either didn’t notice FIGTHING or is just sitting back, smiling, and watching people explode over a dyslexic typo once again.

I suppose we’re just going to ignore the Comic Sans font too? Did Dan Gilbert consult on this design?

I mean, I appreciate the social media efforts. FIDM is awesome, WatchND is one of the best things ever, and it’s great to see ND reach out to Twitter and Facebook even if it results in a big, heaping dish of stupid.

I love Twitter myself, but holy crap the last thing I ever wanted to see was a hashtag on the field.

Go home, Jack, you’re drunk.

Finally, in response to everyone who asked for FieldTurf–have we got a surprise for you. We took it one step further and installed gold colored turf.  I don’t know how this is going to look on television and frankly I don’t care. People naturally assume I drew inspiration from the Dome, or perhaps our helmets. I actually came up with this idea while eating an entire box of Cheez-Its during a recent trip to Colorado.

Nevermind, you’re high–actually, come to think of it, just what kind of “Irish grass” are you putting by the mums this season?

Perhaps the Colorado trip explains how this design got so out of control. I’m glad cooler/sober heads prevailed in this matter. I could only imagine how hard the FieldTurf folks would struggle actually making the field look gold considering how we’ve been trying to get our pants to look gold on TV for quite a while now.

This entire concept is proof that no matter how bad you think something is, it can always get much, much worse.

The Roundup

Michigan men take their Michigan football seriously. Even during fake games.

So, you mean backing up the Brink’s truck doesn’t guarantee you a coach? Perhaps we can finally put that talking point to rest with this revelation regarding Alabama head coach Nick Saban and his flirtation with Texas (Saban, of course, is denying everything).

Teams struggling with attendance are looking to MLS for answers. I wonder if “lower the ticket prices and stop playing terrible teams” is a part of the advice they got.

And now your moment of Nix… Les Miles being Les Miles and talking about soccer of all things

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXnVn_NhP10

The Booze

It’s going to be a rainy weekend here in Dallas. I was trying to think of a rain themed cocktail for the weekend and I couldn’t get (blurry) memories of Purple Rains from the ‘Backer off my mind. So what the hell, I’m going with it.

In a highball glass filled with ice, pour in 1.5 oz gin and fill with cranberry juice. Add in a splash of blue curacao, sour mix, and soda water. Add in more blue curacao until you get the purple color desired.

For a true ‘Backer-like experience, spill a little on yourself and your friends and/or add in more gin than needed with Toto cranked up as high as possible.

The post Friday Roundup: The “Rejected Notre Dame FieldTurf Proposal” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

I may not be one of those “damn Catholics” that he referred to and I don’t particularly put much stock into his opinions about Notre Dame either. I’m not offended by his comments — my actual reaction is probably the furthest from. What does boggle my mind though is how a university president can’t seem to figure out when to keep his mouth shut.

Of course, we’ve also experienced the other side of the coin. Eddie Vanderdoes has been doing a fantastic job of saying nothing, only releasing a statement that there will be statement in the future. While he and his family complain that fan speculation has moved too far from the actual truth of the situation, they’ve done absolutely nothing to quell it.

Compare that to Everett Golson who cleared the air the next day after news of his dismissal was public. He didn’t reveal every last detail about the situation, but he did enough to answer the big questions and kill any remaining wild speculation. He screwed up academically in some fashion, he knows it’s on him, and he’s going to work towards coming back to his home under the Dome.

But then we come back to Gordon Gee and his big mouth.

He bashed Catholics while his prized football coach isn’t just Catholic, but named after a pope, coached at Notre Dame, and even flirted with the idea of taking his “dream job” in South Bend. His Athletic Director, Gene Smith, is a Notre Dame alumnus.

And it doesn’t stop there either. He bashed the SEC for not being able to read and write, despite the fact that he gave a commencement address at LSU’s health sciences center and his own daughter is an assistant professor at LSU as well. I guess he spoke to no one and his own daughter is contributing to the academic decline of the SEC…or something.

Then to top it all off, he took a shot at his own conference commissioner. Now, I believe Delany is a money-grabbing idiot that has watered down his own conference, but you would think that one of his own would be just a little bit more delicate with his criticism.

Gee, How can you be this dumb?

I can understand an 18 year-old kid and his family not knowing how to play the PR game effectively, but a university president failing to do so — repeatedly — is both hilarious and sad.

The Roundup

Don’t feel too bad Ohio State, you could be Rutgers. There’s definitely a difference between saying something stupid and doing something that is simply beyond dumb…and wasting $70,000 to do it.

Speaking of doing dumb things, anyone remember Chris Martin? I guess there is just no way Weis can ever successfully recruit that guy. Way to blow a second chance.

Feel free to just disappear anytime, Paterno family. They have filed a lawsuit with the NCAA to not just overturn the sanctions, but also receive monetary damages as well. Seriously, just go away, please.

And now your moment of zen. Les Miles rappelling down a building because why not.

The Beer

Sometimes I pick a beer based on what’s in my fridge. Sometimes, it’s what I find in a store. Other times, I Google just to see if something exists to make a joke with the theme.

Today is one of those weeks.

The post Friday Roundup: The “Learning When To Speak” 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.

This week, we dive into the art of the trick play.

Weis made a point to have at least one trick play up his sleeve every week. Some were simple and were just more complex versions of a play-fake that you’d likely see and not think it was actually a trick play. Others, however, were true gimmick plays that were so off the wall that no one would see them coming.

My favorite of these plays was never actually executed during a game, but was practiced during Tennessee week. The play was “OH SHIT! Screen Right”–no that isn’t a typo.

Many of us know Weis loved the screen, but this one was a particular stroke of genius that was also unbelievably hilarious in both its simplicity and execution.

The Irish would line up with Anthony Fasano to the left. After the snap, Fasano would run a drag route across the line; however, once he got to the center, he would intentionally trip himself, fall down, and yell “OH SHIT!!!”

The defenders would then ignore Fasano while two offensive linemen crept up right in front of him. Once those linemen were in position, Fasano would pop up and receive an easy pass from Quinn. At this point, the defense that completely ignored him now had to find a way around two big uglies and Fasano barreling down their throats.

Sadly, the Irish never had a need to run this play against Tennessee and quickly tossed the play the following week. However, for all the talk that Weis had about a “decided schematic advantage”, this play would definitely qualify.

I won’t lie, if Kansas somehow pulls this out of their hat, I will have a small celebration in honor of this play actually seeing the light of day.

The Roundup

Need an excuse to go to Vegas? The undefeated Mike Lee will be fighting on August 4th at the Texas Station Casino. Should you not be able to make it out to Sin City, the fight will be televised on Telefutura. Now, being Mexican and from Texas, this fight screams all kinds of good mojo for me. Also, if you’ve never watched a sporting broadcast in Spanish, you should–knowing the language is not a prerequisite to enjoying it.

Les Miles finds his way into the Roundup yet again. This time, he is angered by his own mascot finding a QB that is far better than the disaster he fielded last season.

So, Notre Dame isn’t the only school with an embarrassing video. Just ignore the video-that-shall-not-be-named and revel in the fact that there are far worse things that other schools have published on YouTube.

Johnelle might need a few bucks. Seriously.

Law & Order: The Isaiah Crowell Special. First, he melts our hearts by showing his commitment to Georgia with a baby bulldog. Then he’s caught packing heat and runs to the FCS.

One Foot Down finds a way to make me sad about the Lou Holtz Era. Couldn’t we just skip this particular trip down memory lane?

When I was a manager, I had to memorize this and more. Subway Domer has all your freshman roster assignments–study up.

The Beer

This week will be the first week that I recommend a beer that I have not yet tasted. Thanks to the magic of Twitter, @okerland suggested that, based on the heels of last week, I examine Sam Adams Porch Rocker.

While discussing the beer, the Sam Adams Twitter account chimed in as well:

@okerland @HLS_NDtex Technically it’s a radler, a German style beer which takes a Helles style brew and blends with fresh lemon juice.

— Samuel Adams Beer (@SamuelAdamsBeer) July 2, 2012

Another American themed beer that tastes like lemonade on the heels of the 4th? I’m all in.

The post Friday Roundup: The “Best Trick Play Ever” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

With the way Les Miles talks, you would think that LSU is home to nothing but the most elite quarterbacks in the land. Of course, watching LSU play any football at all last season with their terrible QB duo would shoot that ridiculous assumption down and watching the BCS title game last season would remove all doubt. Different breed of cat indeed.

Now, yes, I’m fully aware that I’m throwing a few stones around in our own QB glass house, but the overall point is that Les has moved from the likable Mad-Hatter coach that fails to understand the concept of clock management while eating a nice snack of grass to a sad, bitter, and rambling old man.

Les, the next time you have a thought about Gunner Kiel, just shut up, go into your office, close the door and let it all out:

(Hat tip to Mark Ennis for the inspiration)

The Roundup

Also needing to shut up: Chip Brown. Realignment guru Texas’ favorite puppet The Orangebloods.com writer has again stirred the pot regarding ND. His article isn’t worth linking, Swarbrick’s response though, is.

Will never talk again: The BCS. They are dead. They cannot read. This will not be read to them.

Probably should have used the right to remain silent. Ex-Southern Cal defensive back, Kevin Ellison, could have used a few Notre Dame theology classes because I’m pretty sure God doesn’t tell you commit arson.

Les Miles isn’t the only idiot at LSU. Somewhere at LSU, there was a meeting. Someone had an idea, an awful idea. No one told them to shut up because the idea was so dumb. Then this happened.

Don’t even think about it, Adidas. One Foot Down was having some fun. Put the phone down.

In the category of “please don’t ever shut up”: Louis Nix III and Chocolate News.

http://youtu.be/CqUtFGgrNPo

The Beer

Just shut up and drink some.

Since my area is about to break into the 100’s (managed to hold out until late June–rather impressed), I’ll personally be looking for the following Texas brew:

Think Blue Moon, but much better. Nothing like a nice refreshing brew during the hot summer months and Fireman’s 4 definitely hits the spot.

The post Friday Roundup: The “Seriously, Just Shut Up” Edition appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.