Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1421675
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com OCT. 30, 2021 5 FAN FORUM BE THANKFUL I suppose it's the price of being head coach of a college football team with a rabid following, but the weekly, monthly, annual criticism of Brian Kelly is truly an example of how blind such critical fans can be. We have a head coach who took over a team that had struggled for almost 20 years after the departure of Lou Holtz. He was left with little to build on, play- ers and coaching staff. He led the team to a playoff for the national champi- onship four years later. He has since brought ND to the playoffs twice more. He has completed the past five seasons with 10 wins or more. The recruiting finally seems to be attracting some top- tier, five-star players who also value a challenging education. Yet, we hear week after week how poorly he coached the recent game, how he should use Player X rather than Y, how his game plan was inappropriate, etc., etc. This armchair quarterbacking may have made sense when Ty Will- ingham or Charlie Weis was the head coach, but in today's circumstances it is almost inexplicable. We have a head coach who has brought the Irish back to respectability in foot- ball, but apparently we have fans who want ND to return to the Frank Leahy days of the late 1940s when we domi- nated college football. Message folks, it's a different CFB world out there these days. ND is unwilling to lower academic standards or player behavior expecta- tions to compete with the recruiting ef- forts of many of the top-tier teams. Accept that and be thankful for a coach who has put us in the position we are in in today's college football world, Brian Kelly. Let us pray he doesn't leave too soon, and that his successor is as good as he is. J.T. (Tim) O'Reilly '61 Via the internet THE RIGHT COACH FOR THE JOB? In discussing the offensive line prob- lems with members of the media, head coach Brian Kelly was quoted as asking, "Who do you want me to play? You guys tell me. Give me your five guys." I'm sure Coach Kelly is aware, how- ever, that picking the right guys is only part of the issue. The rest of it is that you have to coach up the guys you pick, starting with the fundamental tech- niques required to be a good offensive lineman. If Coach Kelly were to ask, "You guys tell me. Who should I hire to coach up the guys picked to play offen- sive line?" I'd have a number of ideas, none of them named Jeff Quinn. In fairness, the offensive line finally seemed to show improvement against Virginia Tech. Edward J. Szewczyk, Class of 1973 Via the internet IRISH LOYALTY When my longtime friend, Harry Wink, a fanatic Fighting Irish fan lost his lower leg to an infection, he vowed to show his Irish loyalty. He proudly dis- plays that fanatic pride (in above photo). Jim Lilley Mt. Airy, Md. FROM THE WEB When Notre Dame landed a commitment from Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei wide receiver CJ Williams Aug. 8, its 2022 recruiting class jumped from the No. 3 to No. 1 in the Rivals team recruiting rankings. Fast forward 70 days, and the Fighting Irish had not added any additional members to its class, but their standing on top of the rankings remained (Georgia bumped them to No. 2 in mid-October). Here are some thoughts from Irish fans on our BlueandGold.com message board on whether or not Notre Dame can actually finish with the No. 1 class in the country: bsmitty08: Class needs another big impact OL, QB and WR. Love the DL, CB and LB class. stonewall13: Need an interior DL, another OL for depth alone, WR to bring us to 4, safety. We need a 2nd QB in this class or 2023. Another CB would be icing. Kcndmis97: We need to finish strong with these targets. If we don't get them, we need to flip other highly ranked prospects. We absolutely cannot finish with a whimper like we usually do and expect to close the gap on the elite teams. rov: Of course, this matters little in the big scheme of things. Just win, baby? BE HEARD! Send your letters to: Letters Blue & Gold Illustrated P. O. Box 1007, Notre Dame, IN 46556 or e-mail to: sdowney@comanpub.com Irish fan Harry Wink showed off his loyalty to the Fighting Irish with his prosthetic leg. PHOTO COURTESY HARRY WINK