Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com SEPT. 26, 2020 5 FAN FORUM FROM THE WEB With head coach Brian Kelly's contract at Notre Dame officially extended through the 2024 sea- son, which would be his 15th year, speculation on a succession plan from within was rampant on BlueandGold.com. Here was a small sample on our message board thread: Irish Impact: Do you think Jack Swarbrick will be around to make the hire? Do you think this sets up for a coach-in-waiting scenario? Do you feel ND will still go outside, and if so, how does having a set date impact that search? Lou Somogyi: To me, this depends on how Notre Dame continues to do from 2020-24. If there is similar success to 2017-19 — and some building to a higher level off it — then I can see where a suc- cession plan could be in place for someone on the staff, be it Mike Elston, Clark Lea or Tommy Rees. But I would think Elston and Lea might be head coaches elsewhere by then. If one of them excels at his new stop, then he might be brought back. Rees might be who could stay for the duration. Look at most of the top teams over the past decade: Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma and Ryan Day at Ohio State were both promoted from within to continue the successful process at their schools. Ed Orgeron was promoted from DL coach to head coach at LSU to succeed the successful Les Miles, who ultimately had a downward trajectory his last couple of years. Dabo Swinney went from receivers coach to head coach, even though the program overall was under- achieving. It was a gut feel by the AD, who told him if he fails, he'll join him on the unemployment line because he'd be run out of town too. Sometimes those gut feels work, and other times they fail. CardinalIrish: I would bet Elston stays until his daughters are through high school, which is after that 2024 time window. Johnny Irish: If any of those guys get the job it will be back to the Bob Davie years. We need an elite recruiting coach, preferably with a back- ground as a great offensive coordinator. Tommy Rees is not close to Lincoln Riley or Ryan Day level. I like Lea a lot. I wish he would stay as our DC like Brett Venables from Clemson, but this is un- likely to happen. He just hasn't proven to recruit at a high level and his success will be subject to the offensive coordinator he hires who likely will stick around two years if they are successful. A really good, proven coach would be the route I would take. PreTill1: Promoting within is just fine. I don't believe it can't work at ND just because Davie and a couple others didn't work. I just think the official "HC in Waiting" title is problematic. We have seen it become a huge problem at many programs, including Texas, West Virginia and Florida State. It can also make the program look bad, as we saw with Texas, if your HC in waiting decides to no longer wait and accepts a HC job elsewhere. GroggyGrizzly: The head coach in waiting is the dumbest thing in sports since the shootout in hockey and the Gatorade bath. Ssavon66: It can certainly help with continuity. You keep the systems in place without having to do a com- plete roster overhaul. This is, of course, for the cases when you have a successful system and program. This isn't 1964. I believe that coaches are far more prepared now to make a transition from coordinator to HC. While I would like to see some- one with experience, I don't think not having it should automatically disqualify you anymore. TPIrish: The only time I'd be okay with head coach in waiting for us is if it was an Urban Meyer or some other huge name. Current and past heralded assistants such as Lea, Rees, Elston, Mike Sanford, Autrey Denson, Tony Alford, Chuck Martin, Corwin Brown, Rob Ianello — did I forget any other future Hall of Famers? — need not apply. Irishnatty: Can I go ahead and re- ject the premise that we now know exactly that 2024 is Kelly's retirement year? If he's coaching in 2023 and he intends to retire after 2024, he'd still sign an exten- sion so that he couldn't get crushed in recruiting for it. Kelly could retire before 2024 and he could easily retire after that year. Silent Banjo: Quite true. In 2024 Kelly will be 63, younger than Nick Saban is now. If he's going great and has a treasure trove of talent, I'd imagine he'd be inclined not to retire. There certainly wouldn't be any pressure for him to retire. Chipper539: History has not shown any great success at ND for someone with no previous head coaching experience. Ara Parseghian needed all 13 years of previous head coaching experience to help him at ND. Best case scenario for any of the assistant coaches right now would be to leave after the season and get in a good three years head coaching experience somewhere else. Fedman: The next head coach at Notre Dame is likely to be someone not even on the current radar. BE HEARD! Send your letters to: Letters Blue & Gold Illustrated P. O. Box 1007, Notre Dame, IN 46556 or e-mail to: lsomogyi@blueandgold.com With head coach Brian Kelly (right) now signed through 2024, could a succession plan occur with a current staff member such as associate head coach and defensive line coach Mike Elston (left) or a current coordinator? PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND 1. Publication Title 2. Publication Number 3. Filing Date 4. Issue Frequency 5. Number of Issues Published Annually 6. Annual Subscription Price 8. Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters or General Business Office of Publisher (Not printer) 9. Full Names and Complete Mailing Addresses of Publisher, Editor, and Managing Editor (Do not leave blank) Publisher (Name and complete mailing address) Editor (Name and complete mailing address) Managing Editor (Name and complete mailing address) 10. Owner (Do not leave blank. 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