Well Notre Dame fans the first day of the 2010 practice is in and the Kelly era begins. For myself a lot of mixed emotions going into the season. Our 4th new HC since Lou left and it's getting hard to get excited after so may disappointing seasons and coaching failures. Can this Kelly guy be the one who finally gets ND back on the right track and started back to the top? As a diehard ND fan you want to believe but heh....we've heard all the hype before. Forget the talk, it's time for the Irish to go out and kick some butt. Kelly is definitely saying all the right things. Weis seemed confident but somehow deep in your gut you didn't think he meant it. With Kelly he seems confident without all the arrogance Weis brought. Kelly is also a true college football coach with a solid track record and has put together a staff that appears to know how to get the most out of college players. Kelly seems not only confident but determined to make ND a elite team again. We'll see over the next few weeks and months just what he can do with the talent he has on hand. I'm betting he gets a least 7 wins and probably 8. More importantly, I'm betting this team is IN every game win or lose to the end. I'm looking for this team to display a lot more enthusiasm and spirit than we seen in a long time. There's enough talent on hand to make this a real interesting season. Let's hope Kelly is the guy and he does a great job and he remains ND HC for the next 20yrs.
Tim, I will be very surprised if Kelly is not successful at Notre Dame! I am looking forward to seeing how this season unfolds for the Irish. Good Luck. Don
Chip? As in Chip off the old block? I do think Notre Dame has a good coach and wish you guys well. As long as you are not playing the Gators that is.
Since Lou, this is the first time that we hired the coach that was our first choice. Bob Davie was a DC that we grabbed as he was leaving to seek a position elsewhere. He kept some of Lou's staff and let go others (Joe Moore being the most notable.) Remember that many of Lou's staff like Alvarez, Denardo, Meyer left for other schools. The "Boob" had no HC experience, a makeshift staff, never bought into the schools tradition and was a desperation choice. Willingham again was not first choice. He was a late replacement for George O'Leary who had "resume prolems." He was hired for what he was not what he'd done and was a complete disaster. He had some talented members on his staff but also had complete incompetents like his OC who wasn't allowed by Washington to join Ty's staff there and ended up a volunteer coach on a CFL team. Willingham's record at Washington finally put an end to the misconception that he could successfully coach at a high college level. Charlie took the job when no other established coaches would take it. He had no staff to bring with him and had to go with has beens and cast offs. He didn't have the personality, experience and contacts to make it. He didn't lack for effort but never had the overall picture. Kelly has it all. He's been a HC for years. He's won on every level. He has a staff he's won with and trusts. They're all on the same page (compared say with Brown and Tenuta.) They have no loyalty to any of the players so competition for starting positions will be spirited. There seems to be a concerted effort to increase the strength and conditioning of the players. I see this as a huge plus. By Nov. we seem to be out of gas the past two seasons. If we don't win at least 9 games this year I'll be mad at myself for drinking the Koolaid again.
Well starting next year is his your brother! You'll will start feeling that Big 10 brotherhood! Which bTW doesn't extend to Big 10 refs who will be out to welcome you improperly! :wink:
I do think Gipper is right about Kelly, his experience and the fact that he had the time and the contacts to put together what appears to be an excellent staff. Charlie by doing the right thing and staying with the Patriots, made it even harder on himself in putting together a staff. Charlie never got the defensive staff right and even the offensive staff had it's problems.
:idea: I like Gipper's post too and I add these comments: - Davie's hiring was a disgrace. There was no job search at all; it was handed to him. UCLA's Terry Donahue was an Irish-Catholic head coach with a 20-year winning record and 8 straight wins over USC and they didn't even consider him, despite his many hints that he wanted the job, so he retired. - Willingham seemed to retire once he got the big contract ND job. He regarded himself as a CEO, rather than an active coach. I'll bet he didn't reveal that in his job interviews, but somebody should have sniffed that out. - Some years ago, I was at the Rose Bowl for a UCLA vs. Ohio State game with one of our Skybox lurkers (and Buckeye alum) Tom Silver. It was Tressel's first year and the Bruins won easily, but I told Tom after the game that the Buckeyes were back. It was obvious. Everything they did suggested superior coaching and it was only a question of time until recruiting filled in the blanks. I hope that's what I see with Kelly. Coaching on the college level is a teaching job. You have to be active and engaged. Its no job for a CEO, unless you make certain to hire real teachers to do the hard stuff for you. I see a lot of parallels between the Tressel and Kelly situations so far, so this time should be different. We'll know for sure by the third game. Purdue and Michigan at home, followed by Michigan State on the road will tell the tale IMHO.
Jim, Tom Silver! I had forgotten all about him. Is he still on the West Coast and do you still keep in touch?
I agree, if you want to be the CEO coach you have to have superior staffs, not that that is the only reason to have superior staffs but it's more important for the CE0 coach. It's no secret that Mack Brown might only be a good coach who can recruit, but lately he's also had some excellent staffs. Esp on defense where the Longhorns struggled till he hired back to back coordinators trained by an excellent defensive coach in Tommy Tuberville.
Kelly <r>Well only time will tell. to this point Kelly has proven he gets the whole ND thing as good or better than anyone since Lou. You would also have to give him credit thus far as doing pretty good job on recruiting. Hell, as far as that goes, I wanted Kelly as coach from the beginning and thus far he has proven to be everything we would want in a coach for the Irish but......we're just going to have to wait and see how his teams do on the field.<br/> <br/> I agree with JO'Co, after the first 3 games we should have a good idea if we have a winner as coach or not. Not that we have to win all three but we should see some things that will tell us which direction ND is going. <E>8)</E></r>
Don, I talk to Tom Silver every single day via email and we usually call each other a couple of times during football season to compare notes. Our conversations flow pretty easily, as we're exactly the same age, having been born just a day or two apart and we both live here in SoCal, surrounded by the local savages...
Been watching todays press conference. Again, I'm really impressed with Kelly. So much so that I am going to order a visor!!
Jim Wrote:I talk to Tom Silver every single day via email and we usually call each other a couple of times during football season to compare notes. Our conversations flow pretty easily, as we're exactly the same age, having been born just a day or two apart and we both live here in SoCal, surrounded by the local savages... Tell Tom I said Hello! Don