It’s clear from Sports Illustrated columnist Pete Thamel’s latest on the meltdown of the Notre Dame football program under Brian Kelly the last few years….well, actually since Alabama destroyed the Irish in the BCS Title Game on January 7, 2013….that Brian Kelly understood he would either change course or his college head coaching career…at least in South Bend…would be over!
“To rejuvenate the Irish on the field, Kelly orchestrated a complete overhaul of his staff, program and, most significantly, himself. There’s a new offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, special teams coach and strength coach. In total, he hired 17 new staff members in the football staff. “We failed and I failed,” Kelly told Sports Illustrated in his office last week. “I think like any successful person.… They don’t say I’m a failure. I looked at what adjustments needed to be made.”
In an unusually candid interview, Kelly didn’t just fall on the sword for the Irish’s flop last season. He belly flopped on it, using some form of the word fail nine times and consistently pointing the finger back at himself. Antithetical to his red-faced and fiery sideline demeanor, Kelly underwent a thorough and deliberate overhaul of the program.”
Looking at Brian Kelly’s seven seasons at Notre Dame in reality is a story detailing what AVERAGE looks like especially when one realizes these win/loss records are at…Notre Dame!
2010: 8 – 5
2011: 8 – 5
2012: 12 – 1
2013: 9 – 4
2014: 8 – 5
2015: 10 – 3
2016: 4 – 8
Overall: 59 – 31 (.656)
Yes…in FIVE of his SEVEN seasons at Notre Dame Brian Kelly and his Irish have lost…
4 or more games
…with an average of…
4.42 losses per season
…and in case you just dropped onto Earth from an alien spaceship if Notre Dame hired the next guy that wandered into South Bend looking for a hot meal he would average no worse than…
4.42 losses per season!
It will be fascinating to see how Brian Kelly’s overhaul of Notre Dame after his SEVENTH season on the job will play out, but the word from our Notre Dame alum friends who we see every year at the Stanford – Irish football game tell us that…
“Kelly better turn things around in 2017 or this will be his last year in South Bend and we have…”
The most interesting thing about the end of the above sentence is that, “…and we have….” ends with the name of a current CFB head coach that would be a Helluva interesting fit at Notre Dame that would SHOCK college football if he was hired to coach the Irish.
With the above in mind and a lot of uncertainty of what Notre Dame will run out onto the field this Fall let’s look at Notre Dame’s 2017 football schedule:
Temple
Georgia
At Boston College
At Michigan State
Miami (Ohio)
At North Carolina
Bye Week
USC
NC State
Wake Forest
At Miami
Navy
At Stanford
What do we think will be Notre Dame’s win/loss record be in 2017?
7 – 5
How many wins does Brian Kelly need in 2017 to be the head coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in 2018?
At least 9 wins!
If Notre Dame did finish with a record of 7 – 5 in 2017 then in EIGHT seasons coaching the Irish Brian Kelly will have lost 36 games which would be an average of….
4.5 losses per season
….and there is not a Chance in Hell that Brian Kelly would be allowed to coach Notre Dame in 2018 with that number of average losses per season.
As for who might be the next head coach at Notre Dame if Kelly doesn’t win at least 9 games in 2017 if our Notre Dame alum friends are right…
It would be One Helluva Shocking Hire!