Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/434567
FAN FORUM der Kelly's regime? At the very least, Kelly needs to terminate all coaches responsible for special teams. What is really depressing to me is what I hear and read about recruiting under Kelly. Oh sure, he gets some kids that can shine at receiver and flanker. But he never has two‑deep Alabama‑type talent along the offense and defense front lines as well as in the defense secondary. Did you notice the three freshmen along Southern Cal's offensive line dominate the Irish defensive line in the first half? At this time of year, all teams are beat up a bit, but you never see an Alabama team under Nick Saban going in the tank because of a few injuries. So to hear that Notre Dame's pipeline is full each and every year is all hype with no substance. Or could it be that he does get the talent, but can't coach up that talent? Maybe my dream will come true FROM THE WEBSITE A regular poster on BlueandGold.com summarized his frustrations about Notre Dame's four-game losing streak to end the 2014 regular season: NDMizzoufan: I feel like this fan base has issues accepting reality. It's always beyond positive and en- titled or over-the-top negative, which I myself am guilty of. Has the program progressed since hiring Brian Kelly? Yes, the culture seems to have improved. There appears to be a guy with a plan in charge and he has done a much better job in the "overall" recruiting phase. He does have issues keeping kids here and getting a variety of elite talent. It's evident on the field and people are always willing to extend him free passes. On the field, this team has not gotten better. Lots of luck went into 2012. Minimal luck goes into what we see annually out of Alabama and Co. They recruit better, they develop better, their coaching is bet- ter, schedule is tougher and they win more. A lot more. So on the field, five years haven't shown much. After watching what Urban Meyer has done at Ohio State and with now his third-team quarterback, it's clear to me Kelly is not the X's and O's guy we thought. This is the most alarming part to me. I thought the early career losses were bad, but those can happen. Shouldn't, but upsets do happen. You're in year five of a coach and you're not any better record wise then when you hired him. In fact, you may be worse. All the positive folks keep babbling about the future and when the future arrives — you start talking about the future again. Reality is, this is a bad situation. Problem is, what can you do? Without spending money or going after a big-name guy, you can't afford to lose Kelly. He is well known and seems to have success with his staff on the trail. You need to hope they can get some actual good players — not projects — and go win. Whether or not they'll be able to contribute in time to save his job is unknown. At this point, though, Notre Dame is stuck. The options are limited and grim. But this program is in a bad trend. This bowl game will be ugly without a serious change in scheme and major change in attitude. All I've seen lately is a team that's given up and coaching that looks overmatched. Talent-wise, they've been tight or better than most of the teams, but much like USC, LSU will also own the edge in talent. Talent, inexperience, bad coaching and attitude being worse than your opponents is not a good situation to be in.