Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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five seasons at Notre Dame: He has been the "middle man" of Irish coaches, neither quite exalted enough yet to be considered a keeper for an- other five or six seasons, yet not poor enough where the ties had to be cut after year five, as they so often have been (if not earlier). Starting with Jesse Harper nearly 100 years ago in 1913, only six of the 14 Notre Dame head coaches (three interim years not included) lasted be- yond five seasons with the Fighting Irish. One of them stayed for seven, Elmer Layden (1934-40), and another only six, Dan Devine (1975-80). With a 44-20 career ledger that aver- ages out to a .688 winning percentage, Kelly is neither among the six who won at minimum .764 of their games, or the others who were as low as .425 (Kuharich's 17-23 ledger) and as high as .640 (Terry Brennan achieved a 32-18 mark from 1954-58). Critics will say Kelly is no Ara Parseghian (1964-74) or Lou Holtz (1986-96), but that's like trying to compare every person who picks up a paintbrush to Michelangelo. Defenders will retort Kelly is also much better than the last three Irish head coaches, none of whom lasted beyond five seasons: Bob Da- vie (1997-2001), Tyrone Willingham (2002-04) and Charlie Weis (2005-09). That is not the standard to measure either. And that's why Kelly frustratingly remains "the middle man" in his Notre Dame football legacy through five seasons, the perceived 9-4 coach — with a win over LSU, a 45-20 re- cord would average out to exactly 9-4 per season — with the capability to catch lightning in a bottle in a given season. MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE? Consequently, the Notre Dame- Kelly union has become akin to a mar- riage in which a seemingly unfulfilled couple stays together mainly "because of the kids." That comparison would seem apro- pos given the youth movement, if not kiddie corps, that permeated the Irish program in the second half of 2014 in which Notre Dame went from 6-0 and in the College Football Playoff conver- sation to 1-5 and a "return to gory." A typical knee-jerk reaction among many in the Notre Dame fandom is after five years, get the divorce. The Notre Dame reaction will be the kids are young and need a stable envi- ronment. Yet another divorce will lead to the usual, "The new coach needs about three years to get 'his guys' in and then you're starting all over again with new systems, work-in-progress dialogue, etc." In other words, don't fiddle or scrap the positives that have been built over the past five years — which does in- clude having won eight games at least four straight years for the first time since the seven in a row from 1987-93 under Holtz. It's easy to forget that TCU's highly thought of Gary Patterson was 7-6 in 2012 and 4-8 in 2013 before returning the Horned Frogs to national promi- nence and College Football Playoff contention this year. Kelly's history of building programs — making mori- bund Central Michigan a Mid-Amer-