Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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14 AUGUST 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME CHARTING THE IRISH COACHING HIERARCHY The annual practice of ranking the best college football head coaches is generally an exercise of "what have you done for me lately," rewarding those who have had the most recent success. That is why it was not surprising to see Notre Dame's Brian Kelly listed at No. 3 by writers Stewart Mandel and Bruce Feldman of The Athletic, and No. 5 in a staff poll conducted by CBS Sports this spring. After all, since the start of 2018, the Kelly-led Irish have gone 33-5 while earning a pair of College Football Playoff berths. Their .868 winning percentage during that three-year stretch ranks fourth among all Football Bowl Subdivision teams, behind only Alabama (39-3, .929), Clemson (38-3, .927) and Ohio State (33-3, .917). Pro Football Focus took a different approach with its ranking of the 20 best college football head coaches. "These college football head coach rankings are a shout out to the underdog and the unwanted, a chance to recognize those who might not be in the national spotlight but deserve their moment for clawing their pro- grams up from the depths and steering it toward a new, compelling future," PFF noted. "It's always difficult to examine coaches through the prism of wins, losses and efficiency rankings. After all, coaches who win a seem- ingly endless number of games aren't necessarily good, and those who lose games aren't necessarily bad. "The opportunity to win games was the biggest factor here. Flying above or below program expectations was the most important point when putting this list together." The usual suspects — Alabama's Nick Saban and Clemson's Dabo Swinney — still topped the list, but with that criteria in mind PFF had Kelly at No. 12. "It feels like a long time ago, but Notre Dame had fallen on hard times after the dominant Lou Holtz era that spanned the late '80s and early '90s," PFF noted. "Holtz won 76 percent of his games in South Bend. Bob Davie and Tyrone Willingham then went on to win only 58 percent of their games combined before Charlie Weis' five years produced a 56-percent win rate. That's not good enough at Notre Dame. "Kelly has won 72 percent of his games with the Golden Domers to go along with an incredible four-year run at Cincinnati that saw him win 34 of 40 games, three years at Central Michigan where he produced the school's first double-digit-win season since 1979 and a 118-52-2 mark with Grand Valley State that culmi- nated in two Division II Championship titles." — Steve Downey PFF'S 20 BEST HEAD COACHES IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL ✦ GIMME FIVE Earlier this year, Notre Dame took over the top spot for all-time NFL Draft picks produced. Nine former players heard their names called in 2021, bringing the Irish's total to 520 — four more than No. 2 USC. The nine players drafted this year were the most for Notre Dame since 10 were selected in 1994. However, head coach Brian Kelly has done a nice job keeping the school's pipeline to the NFL strong. The Fighting Irish have now produced draft classes of six or more players six times since 2013. Perhaps most importantly, Notre Dame is producing impactful players. In June, Pro Football Focus released its list of the 50 best NFL players heading into the 2021 season. Notre Dame tied Ohio State for the most players on the list with four. Indianapolis Colts offensive lineman Quenton Nelson checked in at No. 4, first among offensive line- men. In addition, the Irish had Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman Zack Martin at No. 13, Minnesota Vikings safety Harrison Smith at No. 32 and Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley at No. 46. Here are the colleges that produced the most players in this year's PFF NFL 50: Rk. School Players In PFF NFL 50 1. Notre Dame, Ohio State 4 3. Wisconsin, Alabama 3 5. Florida State, Clemson, Mississippi State, Boston College 2 Bridget Deehan — Lacrosse T h e s e n i o r g o a l t e n - der from Milton, Ga., was named first-team All-Amer- ican and first-team All-ACC after leading the league in saves per game (9.28). Deehan helped the 11-7 Irish reach the NCAA quarter- finals and recorded double-digit saves in nine contests. Her ACC-leading 167 saves are the sixth- highest single-season mark in program history. Tanner Kohlhepp — Baseball The sophomore from Eau Claire, Wis., who was named a third-team All-American by D1Baseball June 28, was selected No. 135 overall in the fifth round of the MLB Draft by the Detroit Tigers. The do-it-all reliever for the Irish in 2021 led the team in appearances (23) while finishing second in wins (seven), innings pitched (61 1 ⁄3) and strikeouts (65). He was third in the ACC in opponent batting aver- age (.195) and ranked fifth in ERA (3.08). Yared Nuguse — Track & Field The senior from Louisville, Ky., was tabbed as the ACC Male Track Performer of the Year for the second straight outdoor season. He claimed ACC gold in the 1,500 meters and then recorded a second-place fin- ish in the event at the NCAA Championships to earn first- team All-America honors. N u g u s e 's 1 , 5 0 0 t i m e (3:34.68) in the ACC preliminaries set the all- time collegiate record, then he posted the fast- est NCAA Championships semifinal time ever (3:37.36) before notching the seventh-fastest clocking (3:35.60) in NCAA history. Katie Wasserman — Track & Field The graduate student from Spotswood, N.J., broke the school record in the 5,000 meters en route to a national runner-up finish that earned her first-team All-America honors. It was the first career All- America accolade for the graduate transfer from Co- lumbia. During her year in South Bend, she also earned a graduate degree in global health. TOP TOP OF THE CLASS OF THE CLASS Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom Rk. Name, School 1. Nick Saban, Alabama 2. Dabo Swinney, Clemson 3. Kirby Smart, Georgia 4. Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma 5. Dan Mullen, Florida 6. Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern 7. Matt Campbell, Iowa State 8. Kyle Whittingham, Utah 9. Lance Leipold, Kansas 10. Mack Brown, North Carolina* Rk. Name, School 11. Jamey Chadwell, Coastal Carolina 12. Brian Kelly, Notre Dame 13. Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M 14. Mark Stoops, Kentucky 15. Luke Fickell, Cincinnati* 16. Tom Allen, Indiana 17. Jeff Monken, Army 18. James Franklin, Penn State 19. Billy Napier, Louisiana 20. P.J. Fleck, Minnesota * 2021 Notre Dame opponent