I'm not sure why anyone is left trying to defend Weis or his recruiting classes or his ability to draw the team together. There were some highly touted players, yes that's true. Jimmy Clausen was an incredible coup for the Irish when he came out of high school as the number one ranked player. I think he's a tremendous talent and think he'll have a great NFL career, but as a Junior he was only able to come up with 6 wins. You can talk about Weis' ability to recruit all day, but it never translated to wins.

Kelly isn't just talk. He's transformed under-performing teams to winners everywhere he's been. His philosophy isn't just talk or buzzwords, it translates into success.

P.S. Please don't waste space correcting my grammar. I'm aware it's subpar. I'm a realist. Remember?

-zig

(1) A defense that: (a) couldn't stop anyone last year when it really mattered, (b) failed to generate a consistent pass rush, (c) tackled poorly, (d) had no one who consistently laid a lick, and (e) put the offense in the unenviable position of having to consistently score a ton of points to win. (The only difference, by the way, between the Bearcats and the Irish in this regard is (a), the Cats were able to get three-and-outs when it mattered, such as in the second half of the Pitt game, which Cincy won despite being down 31-10 at one point, and 31-17 at the half).

(2) A team that, despite its core talent, failed to execute at critical times in almost every imaginable way (dropped passes, bad penalties, poor coverage, losses in composure, turnovers, etc.) prompting the administration to appropriately, albeit belatedly, show Coach Weis the door.

That's about it. Discussions about how deep a team Kelly is inheriting at various positions are about as objective and empirically resolveable as the global warming debate and really, they are beside the point.

Look, Notre Dame is unlikely to ever hit the recruiting motherlode like USC and Florida hit yesterday for a variety of reasons. Kelly got the job mainly because of his lengthy record of building highly successful programs at places that don't necessarily get the most talented kids. He'll coach up what's here, instill the appropriate attitude and achieve a stellar W-L record. I can't promise the Irish will win the National Championship, but let's be honest, if Texas loses to the Huskers (some say they actually did), the Bearcats – rightly or wrongly – play Bama for all the marbles. If Kelly can pull that off at Cincinnati, he can surely get Notre Dame to the football promised land.

Yes, Weis failed to recruit DL his 1rst two recruiting seasons, but after that, he recruited DL pretty damn well. Coach Kelly should be thankful that guys like Ethan Johnson and the rest of the DL will mature to upper classman and most likely play like it next season (regardless of coaching regime).

In 2009, ND had a sophomore lead front 7. That's not a winning formula. However, that wont be the case in 2010.

2. I agree with Lou Somogyi. Listening to the Coach Kelly/Coach Longo comments feels like I'm listening to corporate speak about "synergizing" team energy. Its just the latest buzz speak.

Somehow, I don't think the Weis ND coached team, didn't "Care" for each other. For example, Dayne Crist's recruiting class was one of the tightest I've ever heard of, in spite of ND's 3-9 season. Heck, the 2010 class predominantly stayed together IN SPITE of a complete coaching change. Weis deserves credit for appropriately selling these kids on ND and not just his staff.

Essentially, I don't think this set of coach's speak really guarantees success. However, the foundation with which the current regime will build on, definitely earns a healthy dose of optimism.

Its not like Kelly is walking into a gunfight without any bullets. he's got 80+ kids on scholarship. That's a lot better than only having 60+ kids on scholarship.

The coaching speak is all fine and dandy. Its a standard part of the environment. However, this time, I'm not going to get optimistic just based on coach's speak.

Instead . . . Just win baby. Show me the money.

Mike

I jokingly posted "Real Men of Genius" because I'm tired of ridiculous expectations and the people who think that being a realist means you're not a fan. Before the '09 season, I came onto this site to find a good number of people declaring that we'd go 12-0 (see the probability poll), while giving Navy a ZERO PERCENT chance of beating us.

When someone like a Holtz says we're going to finish 12-0, realize that it's done in the context of being the "anti-May" on ESPN. Thankfully, someone takes that position, even if Holtz swings too far the other way sometimes…

It's just SHOCKING for someone to tell me that we had great offensive line and QB play over the last TWO YEARS. There are comments like this all time on here. When it takes 4 quarters to get your first 1st down or you get shutout against BC in that same season, that's not elite play any way you slice it. Sorry, but drinking the Kool-Aid doesn't make someone a better fan.

While it's hard to find positives in losing, especially in lopsided defeats, at least it resulted in the firing of Weis and the hiring of Kelly. Kelly has his work cut out for him, but I look forward to rejoining the BCS discussion in year 2, with a serious title run by year 3. With a schedule that's not as an insanely tough as in years past, ND has a chance to bounce back sooner than later if the students buy into Kelly's plan.

As far as the people who have a tough time accepting the facts of the last few years, the good news is that it's about to get a whole lot better. I'll look forward to talking about hitting, blocking, fundamentals, and winning…instead of all the reasons why "5-star guys" like Demetrius Jones didn't pan out.

-Ray

It's your point about the quarterback position that's so far off. ND did not fail miserably protecting the quarterback the last two years nor did ND lack leadership at the QB position.

On those points, you're just blowing hot air… turn the blower off, watch more, write less.