It is hard to read NDNation, and I don't go there that much anymore and really don't post a lot either.
I don't really get why he'd be so interested in Penn State. I can see the connection to Ohio State, and I can see the connection to ND, just can't see the connection to Penn State. But you never know. I do think though that Penn State is a sleeping giant. I mean with a figurehead HC like JoePa they have continued to be a good program, it wasn't that long ago that if not for a last second TD pass by Henne that PSU would have played for a NC. When JoePa does retire, that will be a good job with a lot of potential. They have facilities, they have fan support, they are situated such that recruiting could jump up quite a bit. However I"m betting that when the job comes open if Al Golden is doing a good job at Miami that he will be their next HC. Also with regards to Urban, there are some guys over on Mike Franks site, mainly Mike and Brian Smith who got to know Urban when he was an assistant and kept in touch with him through his Utah days. They say his wife hated living in South Bend and he'd never be able to convince her to move back. I'm not sure that State College, which I'm told is a very nice place but cold would be much better if you don't want to have to deal with winter. Maybe Urban ends up in Austin Texas when Mack retires, or maybe he ends up in So.Cal when USC gets off probation or at UCLA when Skippy is toast. How would you Gators feel if he ended up at a SEC school?
Terry you are right in that Shelly Meyer supposedly hates the cold climates and won't go back. Maybe a 5 year 25 million dollar contract could persuade her though.
My two cents' worth after sleeping a couple of nights following the heart-wrenching defeat: -I'd like to think that I'm only smart enough to know what I don't know. I don't know how to coach big-time college football, so I'll leave the second-guessing of play calling to others with this caveat: I've noticed over the years that no one ever second guesses a play that is successful. I'm thinking that at least 50% of plays in a game, even for the best teams, are not successful, so second-guessing of non-successful plays throughout an entire game must be emotionally exhausting. No thanks. -Re: Brian Kelly. My opinion here has two facets: 1) Was he the right choice for the job? I don't know, but his resume includes many years of building successful programs at three schools. I read somewhere that he does it over time, so I'm willing to give him the time. Regardless of the disappointments of this season, we are improving and IMO moving forward from where we had fallen during the 15 or so years before he arrived. So I'm staying on the bandwagon unless and until I see us slipping backward. On balance, despite the disappointments so far this season, I don't see us moving backward at this time. 2) Am I concerned? Yes. Let me explain. The two greatest coaches I've witnessed in my lifetime are Ara and Lou. Both had the uncanny ability to motivate the team to play at a high level in big games. I don't believe our current talent is at the level most people would like to believe, but we are getting there via excellent recruiting. Nevertheless, we are a talented team capable of playing much, much better than we showed vs. USC. We had two weeks to prepare and we completely stunk up the joint compared to how we played the previous 5 weeks, including vs. Michigan. This bothers me. I'm concerned about Kelly's ability to motivate his players for the big games. Yes, we put on a heckuva show last year to close out the season, and we beat convincingly what is turning out to be a very good MSU team, but Saturday night was horribly disappointing on several levels, primarily team leadership and mental preparedness. I don't believe this ever would have happened under Ara or Holtz. I'm not ready to hold Kelly up to those two coaches, but I expect him to motivate his players in a way I did not see last Saturday. Bottom line for me: As I've done for many years, I'm putting the USC game behind me and moving on. As heartbroken as I have been on three occasions this season (USF, UM, and USC), I must recognize for my own mental, emotional, and physical well-being that ND football is part of my life, but it's not my entire life. I'll get back to you in a couple of years, when the Kelly era will have had 4 seasons to etch its imprint on the history of ND football. Until then, I will enjoy the wins and mourn the losses........and hope for a return to the glory that we knew until the program fell into a black hole following the Lou Holtz era.
Dave I'm guessing that a 5M contract for 5 years might be something to think about. I know I'd tell my wife, don't think about it, we're going!
I don't know of course either if Kelly is going to succeed, I hope he does it's the easiest good outcome. He's got a 5 year contract, we will know some time before then if he's going to succeed. I'm guessing that another mediocre year next year will put him on the hot seat for sure for the 4th year. As I said there are lots of people who have flat out given up on Kelly and would like to see him fired at the end of the season. But really the message that sends to prospective candidates is that if you don't win right away at ND you're getting fired right away as well.
Meyer was 8-5 his first season at UF and somebody said Saban was 6-6 at Alabama his first year. Who knows....maybe the third year is the charm for Kelly.
Sid makes a lot of sense and has achieved "Robert Young" status amongst the rest of us . However, it should be pointed out that he played football when they wore leather helmets without face masks. 8)
Harbaugh was 4-8 and 5-7 at Stanford his first two seasons. I'm not saying that there is a coaching comparison, obviously not. He was snatched up by the '49ers. Just to put things in perspective.
I think that recruiting has begun to make the defense better than it's been in quite a while. Meanwhile the offense...oh, that damn offense, it needs a Kelly QB to run it. Neither Crist no Rees is that QB. I'm not going to really question his offense until I see it in the hands of the right kind of QB. I think that we may be getting close to seeing Hendrix start. To speed up the process I'm thinking of sending Kelly JO'Co's phone number :lol: In the meantime, we seem to have a pretty good O line although it wasn't featured on Sat. We're going to need some WRs for next season.
Sid, things could be worse. What a tough fate is must be to be a Minnesota Gopher fan. Those poor souls really know the meaning of suffering.
A bunch of injuries and no depth. Plus, I suspect their Kill's ongoing medical problems has played havoc on team preparation and morale. They were a Big 10 power until the early 60's. Maybe if they bring back their old mascot, their good fortune might return....
Bobda, Re: the video. Ouch! Re: the Minnesota glory years. I'm old enough to remember Paul Giel (sp?). Also, don't forget the Lou holtz era, however short it was. I think he got them to one or two bowl games. Have they been to a bowl since?
re: Send Kelly JO'Co's phone number Nope. He wouldn't get an honest answer from me either. I have a grandson who's a high school QB... re: UCLA's awful QBs UCLA's starting QB is gone with a broken leg, so all that's left are not very good. Neuheisel had Norm Chow too, but he ran him out of town at the first sign of trouble. Now he's trying to run a "Pistol" offense that he never ran himself. He's going to get "reevaluated" by the AD at the end of the season...probably on the bus back to Westwood. re: Tommy Rees Corey and I have never discussed this, but we really don't need to. After reading his comments concerning Rees and Crist, I agree with everything that he said. If you want to run this simple high school offense, then you must have a QB who runs well. Everything points to Hendrix, unless Kelly wants to recruit Gunner Kiel. Neither Rees or Crist are a good fit for this offense.
One of the hot "after topics " on the BGI BB is whether or not USC was attempting to score another TD on their last possession. They had the ball the final 6:22 with a 14 point lead. I seem to recall that they just kept running that little RB right up the middle over and over until the clock ran out. Some of the more sensitive Irish fans interpreted that as an attempt at scoring. Others applaud Kelly for not using a single T.O. as it would have encouraged Kiffin to score yet again. Still others point to a sideline shot in the middle of that possession that showed Pat Haden mouthing something to Kiffin instructing him NOT to try to score again. :lol: