10 Days To Lost Relevance
Notre Dame is hard at work to at least trying not to get embarrassed in their Bowl Game, which lucky for them will be played on a Tuesday afternoon. As a result full disclosure of their ineptitude will be missed by most.
Let’s start with coaching – namely Brian Kelly. 5 years in and USC handed the Irish their worst beat-down in the history of ND Football. USC could have put up bigger numbers but, for some reason just let up and coasted.
So what has Kelly done in 5 years? For starters he’s gone thru 3 OC’s including Molnar, Martin, Denbrock and himself. His offense is so far removed from his days at Cinncy that it’s hard to believe he’s the same coach. Yet he is and I think his success there goes to his longtime OC Jeff Quinn fired as HC at Buffalo.
His offense is uninspired and predictable. He has barely squeaked by some really bad teams and should have lost to Pitt in 2012 and got absolutely hammered by Bam… 2012 was Kelly’s zenith and just barely.
I personally think he has been trolling for an NFL job and will jump at the first chance. I think that’s why he hired VanGorder as his DC. he will take him and OL Coach Hiestand with him. They both have Pro experience. Also, don’t fall for 2015 being a Championship year. This team is unraveling and I predict lots of transfers come January.
VanGorder – the “D” he runs is basically the Buddy Ryan defense, but that is dependent on a very good front 4 and a very good MLB. 6 games in he had no D linemen left.
VanGorder D staff never ran this defense, so he not only had to teach the players but also his asst. coaches. Their heads exploded and Schmidt is the only guy that got it.
Hiestand – great recruiter, players love the guy. Beware the “player’s coach” – that never works out.
The OL – year after year 4-5 star recruits that every big time schools wanted. How is it possible that 2 guys injured all year – Martin and Lombard can play better injured than the studs sitting on the bench? What the hell are they saving them for? I’m going to give C Hegarty a pass. He is simply not strong enough to go up against 325lb NT’s.
Wrapping this up, I think Kelly is looking at future schedules and realizes that even at 11-1 it is doubtful ND will ever get to another NC game. Other things are going on at ND that are pissing him off further.
If Kelly decides to stay watch for a lot of the asst. coaches being shown the door and Jeff Quinn rejoining Kelly as OC and OL coach.