Despite his faults, Kelly has greatly improved the program from the doldrums of Davie, Willingham and Weis. But greatness has been elusive despite the improvements Kelly has made and it looks to me like Jackanapes and the administration are satisfied with pretty goodness and close,competitive losses to top 10 foes. Not ideal but it still keeps the brand intact!

After ten years Kelly hasn’t delivered greatness and probably never will otherwise we would have seen it by now. And it seems like the administration is fine with that, so ND will just keep playing Washington Generals to the elite Globetrotter teams in college football for the foreseeable future.

In the 10 years of his tenure Notre Dame has not won a National Championship – true.

For Notre Dame fans like me and for the alumni scattered around the world – that is not enough. True.

Kelly KNEW that when he signed on the dotted line.

True

“…in sum and substance if not verbatim”

This is where I have issues with positions like yours. That’s complete bullshit. No one on the site believes Charlie Weis is a better coach than Brian Kelly. Even if someone did posit something that ridiculous on the board, they would be shouted down by everyone else because the statement is ludicrous. And it’s easy to say “sum and substance”, which means that’s what you’re reading into it so I can’t gainsay it. But it’s also complete bullshit.

People have very good reasons for disliking Brian Kelly. His attitude towards alums is prickly at best. He arrived on campus with one foot out the door and tried to leave the nanosecond the opportunity presented itself. Notre Dame had wins taken away by the NCAA on his watch for the first time in its history, meaning the program probably never again will be in contention for the all-time wins or win percentage lead, a direct result of a lack of discipline both on and off the field in his program. And a staff member died at one of his practices, with a number of people believing his maniacal adherence to “his way” caused it to happen.

If that’s the price that had to be paid for Brian Kelly to pull his head out of his ass, hire effective assistant coaches who could coach their side of the ball and recruit rather than his cronies, and actually focus on being at Notre Dame rather than looking for the next best thing … well, that price was way too high. I’m glad the team is winning right now, for the players especially, and there’s no doubt Brian Kelly has, in the last couple years, improved the program greatly for the next guy. But I won’t apologize for wanting that next guy to arrive ASAP.

True, but I was referring to the title of this note.

Mike, that’s a perfectly reasonable stance. What concerns me, however, is when I read things on the board such as “Kelly is the worst coach ND has ever had” and “Weis was a better coach than Kelly” (both of which I’ve read on this board, in sum and substance if not verbatim). Anyone who views Notre Dame’s football program with even a semblance of objectivity, and is not blinded by a rabid hatred of Kelly, would scoff at those opinions. If, as Weis once said, “you are what your record says you are” (a sentiment widely hailed on this board at the time it was first voiced), then Kelly is hands-down a better coach than Weis. Moreover, as you acknowledged, Kelly was able to turn around the program relatively quickly from the 4-8 debacle of 2016. Weis had a fair opportunity to turn the program around following a similar debacle (3-9 in 2007), and he failed miserably.

Why would that follow? I would say it’s more evidence that Kelly wasn’t ready for the job when he got here and it was only after seven years of sub-par showings and having two seasons’ worth of wins taken away from us that he may have now hopefully figured things out.

If we’re talking FTaRH, I’m much more likely to be thinking of “Moving in Stereo”

John, Kelly went 10-3 in 2017 and 12-1 last year. I think we’re on pace for another 12-1 season this year. That would be a mark of 34-5 over the last three seasons. If we all agree that the first three seasons are the proper period of evaluation for a ND coach, then I think we also should all agree that any pre-2017 conceptions of Kelly should be revisited.

The college football world is currently Alabama and Clemson, then everybody else. But ND has more than proven that it belongs in the discussion as to the next tier. As for Kelly, we can argue until the cows come home as to whether he ever should have lasted this long at ND, but that doesn’t change the current state of facts. He has, for whatever reason. What is undeniable is that Kelly 2.0 has engineered a significant turnaround in the program, a turnaround that three coaches prior to him could not execute.

As for the earworm inspired by the title, the one I got is for the Billy Squier song from the Fast Times at Ridgemont High soundtrack. To each his own, I guess.