For over 50 years,I've stuck by our head coaches through tough times when others were calling for their heads.......until I see clear, indisputable evidence that the wheels are coming off. Unfortunately, I saw that yesterday. The weather was the same for both teams, so we can't use it as an excuse (although some did). I don't need to delineate the specific problems. Everyone reading this post knows the game well and saw what I saw. As Corey said, we lack effective leadership at all levels.
ND <t>O.K. Even the most optimistic fan like myself at this point has to say. No Mas. It's over for me with Kelly. You cannot honestly tell me that despite all the adversities we have had at this point, that their aren't several NCAA coaching staffs out there that couldn't take the talent on hand and would have us at 6-0 against the teams we've played thus far. Enough is enough. It's year 7 for this staff and HC. It's over.</t>
It's bad enough watching ND games and suffering through this season but when I hear from MSU and Texas fans how poor their teams are it just makes us that much worse.
I watched part of Kelly's post game press conference. My thought was that was a beaten man standing there. He had no answers, he was in shock. Tim Prister saw what I saw. He was beaten down not by the weather, although that helped, but by his own hand. His game plan was awful. Kelly is like a lot of coaches, a tad arrogant to say the least. Fans put up with it for winning coaches, like Nick Saban who is not exactly a warm friendly guy to the media. But when you lose like Kelly, the criticism comes in bunches and you could look at him standing their sort of lost but yet defiant. Lot's of people of course want him fired tonight, I doubt if Swarbrick does that in fact I'd be shocked. If the season spirals totally out of control which it certainly is on the brink, I could see Swarbrick firing him at the end of the season. But remember Swarbrick is sort of Kelly's benefactor. He hired Kelly, he's worked with him to give him the things that he wanted, artificial turf for one, and other things. He recently gave him an big extension, he said that his seat was the coldest in the country. It won't be easy to drop the hammer on him this season. So the question is of course who would be the next coach. I'm of the opinion that like most teams we hope for the homerun but you have to have some special circumstances. Like Urban being out of a job for a year when the Ohio State job came open, like the Alabama job being open at the same time that Saban was realizing that the NFL wasn't really for him. Like Michigan needing an coach and a graduate and extremely successful coach like Harbaugh having just cut ties with his NFL team. I don't see any of those things out there. I'd love to have Chrs Petersen, but he's got no connnection to ND, he's built the Wash program back to the top. I think like most teams we'll have to go with a young and up coming coach with a some what thin resume'. Tom Herman, again no connection at all to ND, not sure why he'd choose ND over LSU or Texas both easier jobs to recruit. Bob Stoops, well supposedly OU fans have tired of Big Game Bob...he's at least got a thin connection...he's Catholic and from the Midwest and went to Catholic HS. I won't be surprised if Kelly is retained even if he finishes 3-9. It's going to be a rough go from here through the Thanksgiving weekend in California.
There is no monetary pressure for the administration at ND to make any changes to the status quo. Every seat is taken. The NBC contract is solid. For whatever reason, Kelly has virtually abandoned the power running game. We are either a quick strike or quick turnover team. When conditions are bad as they were Saturday, Kelly is unarmed with his shotgun spread offense. In his last nine games, Kelly's record is 2-7.. Since we went 12-0 and the got demolished by Bama, our record is 29-16. The university should be considering alternatives already. See paragraph one.
:x :cry: Sigh... The only smile I've had in awhile was that theater ticket that Terry posted. I noticed that the movie premier was at the Colfax Theatre. The history geek in me immediately recognized that the theater was named after the infamous Schuyler "the Smiler" Colfax. He was the most corrupt Speaker of the House in American history and was at the bottom of most political scandals in the Grant administration when he was vice president...