Is There a Power Struggle at Notre Dame?

Brian Kelly - Notre Dame Head Coach
Photo: Matt Kartozian // USA TODAY Sports

The statistics are nothing new. Notre Dame’s defense is ranked No. 101 nationally in points surrendered per game (33.5). The defense has allowed over 200 yards rushing per game under Brian VanGorder’s leadership and was the last of all the 128 FBS teams to register a sack, performances so poor it shouldn’t have been shocking when Duke handed Notre Dame its biggest upset in decades. Yet it was hard to feel anything but disbelief as the same Blue Devils team that mustered only 27 points in its first two games piled on nearly 500 yards of total offense and 38 points against a helpless Notre Dame defense. But the most troubling part of the weekend may have taken place long after the lights went out at Notre Dame Stadium.

Brian Kelly has won everywhere he’s been as a head coach. Kelly made three national championship appearances with Grand Valley State University, winning two national titles and boasting a better winning percentage than fellow Division II alum and former Ohio State coach, Jim Tressel. At Central Michigan Kelly turned around a CMU program that had long been a Mid-American Conference doormat, discovering and recruiting players such as NFL stars Antonio Brown and J.J. Watt that helped the Chippewas win their first conference championship in over a decade. At Cincinnati Kelly really hit his stride, posting a 34-6 record and notching two conference titles before accepting his current position in South Bend.

Brian Kelly is a winner, and for the first time in his career he has found himself in a position of true adversity. How would he handle the pressure of having to answer to the media after posting a 1-3 record when his team was in the AP’s preseason top ten? The reasonable expectation for a coach in such a situation is to circle the wagons around the program and reinforce the fact that while the results are unacceptable, the coaches and players are all in it together. Brian Kelly, however, opted for a more perplexing and disturbing approach and instead built a moat around his coaching staff, leaving his players to fend for themselves.

“Coaching had nothing to do with the outcome today,” Kelly said during his postgame press conference. “We’ve got to look for the guys that want to have fun and play this game with passion and energy and that’s where we got to go.”

After laying the blame at the doorstep of his players, Kelly took it a step further and doubled down on his protection of VanGorder.

“Actually that’s probably the one area that I feel better about today,” Kelly said when asked about one of the nation’s worst defenses. “We did what I wanted today in terms of coaching, and coaching had nothing to do with the outcome today. I was pleased from that perspective.”

The ramifications of Kelly’s decision to create an “us” and “them” dynamic between his coaching staff and his players are yet to be seen, but if former players are any indication, Kelly likely failed his first test of adversity in a big way. Former Notre Dame wide receiver DaVaris Daniels tweeted the following after hearing of Kelly’s press conference.

While some may dismiss Daniels’ remark as the ramblings of a grudge-holder given his dismissal from Notre Dame for academic misconduct several years ago, it’s important to remember that this is not the first time Kelly has angered members of Notre Dame’s team by placing blame solely on their shoulders.

In 2011, Notre Dame suffered a brutal loss to the USC Trojans that snapped a four-game winning streak. When faced with criticism of Notre Dame’s performance Kelly was quick to remind the media he had only one recruiting class of his own on the roster, drawing a distinction between “his guys” and Charlie Weis’ holdovers. The comment did not sit well with a host of Notre Dame’s players, including team captain Manti Te’o, who tweeted after the remark, “Playin’ for my bros and that’s it!!!!”

Adding to the strangeness of the weekend is that less than 24 hours after Kelly drew a line in the sand regarding his staff news broke that VanGorder was fired, leading many to wonder if a power struggle is taking place in the shadows of the Golden Dome. Whatever may be transpiring behind the scenes, with eight games remaining all Notre Dame fans can do is hope Kelly receives a crash course in adversity before the 2016 season heads into an unrecoverable tailspin.

Scott Janssen is a blogger for The Huffington Post and has authored several nationally-featured articles, including an appearance on MSNBC as a sports contributor. He talks football 24 hours a day, much to the chagrin of his wife and those around him. Scott can be reached at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter.

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51 Comments

  1. I watched the Duke game and its was evident that those were playing with no heart/fire. It maybe the result of players thinking and not reacting, which could be a symptom of BVG’s defense. Also at times young players can rest on the fact that they are at Notre Dame, not realizing what that means (that they have a target on their backs for every team they play, especially teams like Duke). I refuse to believe these coaches don’t coach hard week in week out. The offense is clearly doing what it should do, the defense is the problem here.

  2. Coach E. I figure Greek man 99 must be a Navy fan, at least judging from his Go Navy. Which is fine. But why would a fan of another team come on an opposing team fan site to trash talk that team.

    Not sure what his issue is either. I haven’t seen an Navy trash talk here recently and I think most ND fans respect our rivalry with Navy. So not sure what his problem is.

    I don’t like da U. But I’m not going to go on to their sites to trash talk their team. I have better things to do.

  3. Who would have dreamed?
    Loved BK… Truly believed he was our guy. But keeping BVG after last year FLOORED me. Figured BK was smarter. Now, he looks supremely foolish.
    Talk about fire and grit???? Lou would have been screaming his head off on the sidelines, firing the boys up! BK sets with his arms crossed, all composed, never rallies the troops- stands out front and gives too much disretion to underling coaches.

    Hate the thought of starting over again. But this is really bad! What to do?

    1. Look BK is still a good coach! So he got complacent and thought the team could run itself. He has the fire and grit still! He’s still got the football knowledge. In football you’re taught to believe in the man next to you and fight for him and the team. Why do we think coaches shouldn’t do the same. He wanted to have faith and believe that BVG could right the ship. There’s no crime In that people. Hudson will make adjustments and you will see those stars beside the players names matter again. Watch them get more than a couple wins in a row and everybody be forced to eat crow. Keep the faith ND!!

  4. The problem I had with BK very publicly calling out his players is in the same breath him saying coaching was not an issue and he was happy with coaching (then later saying he doesn’t do personnel evaluations at press conferences-which he essentially did by saying he was happy with the coaching).

    I don’t have a problems so much with BK being tough on the players. Holtz was not always the nice guy you see on TV after all.

    Had he said something more on the lines that his players weren’t playing with fire and the coaches weren’t doing enough to put them in a position to win, that would be a different story. All he did was made himself look indecisive. The coaches are doing fine…..you’re fired.

  5. Kelly is an idiot and Notre Dame WOULD NOT BE IN BUSINESS as a school if it wasn’t for what Navy did during World War II. I hope both Navy and Army (whom ND plays both this year) beat the CRAP of the “Fighting Sissies!” GO NAVY!! BEAT ND!!

    1. Greek man 99 you’re an idiot! If you don’t have anything productive towards the convo to say stay out! I want “navy and army” to beat the fighting sissies!! Gimme a break now you’re reaching

  6. Wow. I am a Michigan fan. Remember app state? That loss pretty much sealed the deal for coach Carr. I follow the Irish because the tradition is there. My grand parents were married there and it was good football to watch. It seems to me Kelley reached his peak when they made it to the national championship. I have watched the decline ever since.
    Now I will admit the defense this year is A train wreck,but it was not long ago that mans defense beat the crap out of my wolverines. College football is better when notre dame is relevant. Hope you don’t fall into the dark ages for to long. It’s no fun be leave me. Go Blue and God bless.

  7. Last time he called his players out, they went to the NC game the following year..you guys need to quit crying and call it like we see it..SOFT this year on defense and still to this day can not man handle 3 and 2 or 4th and 1 on the ground..as if in his 7th season that is going to change..I knew when ND played USC NC year and went 65 yards on the ground late in the 4th quarter, pounded ball with Riddick and Wood ..1st and goal at the 5, and he threw the ball 3 times in a row – field goal..game won but battle lost with toughness..MAC offense at the 5..Knew then not a championship coach and not a lot of fight in his mentality for the kids..Kelly talks tuff but practices and plays soft..! o well better then the others coaches ND had lately I guess, but the kids will all graduate. Thanks ND as if that’s good enough for the fans and everybody who follows ND football, is their academic greatness..! please tell me how that’s better football then SEC or Big 10 football on Saturday afternoon with family and friends..? Still don’t understand thoughts statements from ND peeps, as if that makes me happier then a Notre Dame football win, or is that the excuse for bad football..?

  8. The numbers don’t lie:

    1. Brian Kelly’s record at Notre Dame is 56 wins and 26 losses for a .683 winning percentage.
    2. In six seasons he has had 2 Top 25 finishes in the AP Poll and 3 in the Coaches Poll.
    3. The average rank of his recruiting classes is 11.

  9. By no means am I saying we as fans and spectators should be expecting the same level of dedication as professional athletes, and I apologize if my comments came out that way. I was saying that Kelly can do so. And again, I’m not saying Kelly is allowed to go ham on his criticisms about his players publicly (and perhaps even privately for that matter), but making innocuous statements as ChrisJ pointed out I think are fair, given certain, almost specific situations.

    that last point is where we disagree, however I just wanted to make clarify my point, even if it’s still disagreeable with many of you. That said, I think he should have also critiqued his coaches a bit more.

    side note: someone mentioned BK’s bus comment. I thought that comment was in regards to Everett Golson being a passenger, and riding/depending on the defense to get to the championship game? I do remember BK’s comment about being stuck with certain guys also; I just remembered them being two different comments.

  10. I think Kelly should go back and coach the way he did at Cinncinnati. No huddle fast break aggressive , creative . Try to outscore opponents. Play to Notre Dame’s strengths, receivers, quarterbacks, skillguys. Kelly needs to quit being conservative and playing not to lose.

  11. I am class of ’60 – in the past most Irish trans played smash mouth football. Teams that played us frequently lost the next game. I don’t see any smash mouth on this team except Nyles Morgan. I don’t know where it went but they need to get it back FAST !

  12. Upfront: An SEC grad, but a die-hard ND fan.

    I might suggest that Kelly’s heart has never been truly with ND. He never bled blue-and-gold like Holtz, and he even toyed with leaving for the NFL after the BCS game.

    BK is a good football coach on paper; the offense is clearly scoring enough points to hammer other teams. But what he is NOT is a leader. There is a big difference between a good manager and a great leader. Although some of his players have personally had it (e.g., Manti Teo), he has not been able to instill the same fire-in-the-gut and sense of urgency that you see at other schools. A great coach and leader will inspire great performances, not “scream” or demand them.

    Hope this is some kind of a wake-up call for him. Stanford excels with the same academic standards and ND just lost to Duke. It’s more about drive and leadership than just talent and schemes.

  13. Remember, Kelly was going to become a ward healer for the democrats in Chelsea. What do politicians do when something goes wrong? There were little or no expectations of him at Grand Valley State, Central Michigan, or Cincinnati. These lower level schools typically emphasize offense over defense. When Kelly came to the “big leagues” he experienced crushing pressure as he never had before. It’s an understatement that he has not handled it well. Notre Dame’s lack of success in coaching hires since Lou, the bigger conferences, less intersectional opportunities leads me to believe that joining the ACC in football may be necessary. There would be six private schools, two “public Ivy’s”. We don’t have to play both Stanford and SC every year.(one game a year, not two) Our recruiting on the west coast has not been that productive. In the ACC we could play in the northeast every year (BC or Pitt) leaving Navy as our only annual game. Joining the conference, with the changes above, could actually give more flexibility. Another thing: coaching is a “club sport”. Kelly’s hires have been largely former assistants. I attribute that at least in part to him not belonging to a fraternity.

  14. Kelly I think said the only one who had any fire was dexter williams on the sideline the whole team looks lost. They have no fire whatsoever iswwholesale changes in store the offense is doing a ok job defense is as bad as I ever seen , is,simply not having any good players on defense the cause im at a lost for words

  15. I was not a BVG fan and said so after Texas. But I am a huge Kelly fan. People better start appreciating the great job he has done and what a great HC he is or he’ll be gone. ND is playing the Super Bowl every weekend because everyone wants to beat ND. The loss to MSU is the perfect example. MSU made that game there whole season, barely held on and got thumped by Wisconsin in a classic letdown the next game. If there is one thing I would like Kelly to consider going forward is that it is more important to just slow the other team down when you have the offensive machine he has built. Don’t give up the big play and your offense will prevail. Go watch Bill Belichick on the Giants 30 for 30 when he talks about playing the Bills in the SB. Belichick knew then what he practices now. The rules are geared towards allowing the offense to score in college and Pros. Most of the time the best you can hope for is to slow the other team down or control the pace of the game. Give the offense time to get in gear and win the game for you. My hats off to all the coaches and players for meeting the incredible challenge they have week in and week out. Hopefully a new DC will allow the defense and team to reach its full potential.

  16. Sorry to disagree with many of you (George, Coach E, et al) but there are many on this forum who have been calling for BK’s firing for many years. I for one wanted him out as HC when i first witnessed his abusive sideline behavior in the first year. He quickly learned that his behavior was not gonna make it in front of a national audience every Saturday. Nine wins a season hasn’t changed my mind about him. Even in that near perfect season, he could not give credit to Manti and the troops he inherited. He basically told Manti that he was just a passenger in the bus that he (BK) was driving, and wait to see the personnel he was bringing in. Well we have and…what does he say now…”we can’t fire ’em, can’t trade ’em either…we’re stuck with them”. What a great motivator. BK sucks. I say one down one more to go. The left arm of the monster has been cut off…now for the head. Please ND, eat the contract, dump this guy.

    I like the hire, but BVG’s replacement cannot expect to perform miracles by turning around this woeful D in the next two games to prepare for the onslaught that is Stanford, Miami, Navy, (possibly) Army and USC. These are programs that have it in for ND. I’m hoping that ND puts Denbrock in as ‘interim’, then take some time to find a ‘big-time’ HC in the off season. If it’s gonna take losses to Syracuse and NC State to get that done, then so be it.

  17. Part of the problem is that there are people out there who root for the collegiate teams in the same way one roots for the professional teams. You don’t do that because they’re different entities.

    One is a group of professionals coached by professionals. It’s more business-like in that money is much more prominent to all parties and all parties are free to spend as much time as they choose to perfect their craft. The quality of the game is higher. Therefore, the standards and the expectations are higher and it’s much more acceptable to voice your displeasure at those who are failing to meet those standards.

    The second is a group of amateur kids coached by professional adults. The professional adults are free to spend as much time as they choose to perfect their craft. The amateur kids have time limits set upon them as to how much time they have to perfect their craft. A large portion of their time is spent on maintaining academic standards that may have little, if anything, to do with perfecting their craft. We can speculate about how much time is truly spent on going to class, studying and getting the grades required in order to stay on the team. But those requirements are still there.

    Many people who root for pro teams as well as collegiate teams realize this and root differently for the pro teams compare to the college teams. I was born and raised in Philly and I still live in the area. We can be very hard on our pro teams. But you will never see those same fans nearly as hard on the players from the college teams. Because they understand the difference.

  18. If you ever want to see what Notre dame football used to be like fire swarbrick who brought us a guy with no big time exoerience and go find an established winner
    Miles Gruden harbaugh my God is the administration so incompetent

  19. Yeah he fired a guy. A guy that needed firing. You don’t fire the players. You promised them a scholarship. So long as they obey the rules, they get to keep the scholarship. You guys aren’t comparing apples to apples.

    It’s wrong to throw the players under the bus. Why? They’re kids who are amateurs. The coaches are adults who are professionals. Coaches in collegiate sports have much more control over their players than in the professional ranks. So if there’s a problem like this with the amateur kids, it’s STILL the fault of the professional coaches. I have no problem with the coaches reaming the players out behind closed doors. You don’t do it in a public setting like a press conference. It’s classless. It lacks character. BK should be ashamed of himself.

  20. I agree that all this “BK assumes no responsibility and just throws his players under the bus” talk has got to stop. It’s nonsense. You take one sentence BK makes throughout the course of the season and just run with it while disregarding everything else he’s ever said or done. Not saying he doesn’t have his faults, but this is supposed to be big time college football. Some of these players are getting drafted in seven months. We just lost to DUKE and people are talking about BK being too mean to his players. Just beyond belief.

  21. again, ChrisJ with a great comment, especially the part about spreading out the blame rather than simply putting it all on the players.

    Franz – placing all the blame on the players? He literally just fired a guy. Also, if a player becomes unmotivated after some criticism, then perhaps he should either work on being better, or do something else other than football.

    and you know, the first time Kelly lit a fire under his players in a similar fashion, they were sitting at 4-5 depressingly, with the starting QB out for the season with an injury, and ended up beating a ranked Utah, stomped on Army, broke the losing streak against USC, and beat Miami soundly in a bowl game.

  22. Wow. I’m getting a vibe reading all of these posts that firing BVG isn’t going to do much and it almost seems as though this was maybe not the right thing to do or something. ND has had the worst defense EVER and BVG was the leader of it all. How could this NOT be a 100% positive move for the team? Clearly something has not been right on that side of the ball for a long time now.

    And for some of you that think it is wrong for Kelly to criticize the play of his players to the media…are you all really that soft? You think these so called “kids” can’t take that little bit of criticism when it is the TRUTH? These are young men growing into adulthood. What do you think the real world is going to do them once they are done playing scholarship football at ND? If Kelly was ONLY blaming the players and not himself, then it’s a different story but he is definitely taking just as much of the blame and NOT just throwing the players under the bus.

    I can’t believe some of you giving Kelly a hard time for publicly saying “Deshone has got to play better football.” That is downright weak sauce if you think that is wrong. Maybe that’s part of the problem is the fans think that Kelly is too “rough” and “critical” of his players. Kelly getting in the players’ a**es for not doing their responsibility on a play is “too mean” to some. So the organization tells him he has to stop doing that on the sidelines. I remember Lou Holtz grabbing players by the facemask and screaming right in their face. Hmmm, isn’t Holtz the last time that ND was remembered as being a “tough” team…a team that wouldn’t get pushed around and embarrassed like we are seeing today and for the last 10+ years. ND is becoming soft and it sounds like some of the fans here on this site are pretty soft too? Participation trophies anyone??

  23. Of course BK’s team isn’t playing with fire, he’s placing all the blame on the players. It’s hard to get fired up when you don’t have a cohesive team – coaches included.

    If BK cannot gel with HIS squad, Stanford is going to have their way with the Irish, perhaps the Orangemen will as well.

    FH

  24. BK finally did what everyone wanted him to do last year, which was to let BVG go. what more do people want? also, I have no problem with him throwing players under the bus when he needs to do it. BK has put the onus on himself plenty of times, and defended his players on numerous occasions. However, there are players that are self-motivated (ex. Manti, Jaylon, Schmidt), there are those that just need a bit of coaching up, and there are those that need a fire lit under their butts.

    I completely agree with ChrisJ. To his point, you can only blame the coaches so much, until it comes down to the players. Of course there is plenty of blame to go around, from top to bottom; just remember that the players are part of that too

  25. Kelly was the wrong hire from the beginning. He does not possess the character that a great institution like ND deserves. After a big loss to Navy he said Navy was playing dirty! He’ll use any excuse for a loss other than accepting responsibility like a good leader should. Bear Bryant always said when we lose it’s my fault. When we win the players did it. He also said this might not be the way it is in the locker room.

  26. BVG had a defensive system in mind. He had the opportunity to recruit to his system for three years. Those are his boys playing out there. Conclusion: the system doesn’t work. I mean come on you’re facing 3rd and 4 against a mediocre quarterback ( no offense, but it is Duke) and you use a prevent defense with outside linebackers lining up like safetys.
    You could cast De Niro and Streep but if the script is bad you’ll still have a bomb.
    Kelly’s biggest mistake was hanging with BVG when it became obvious it wasn’t working.
    The recent hiring of ND alums and the subsequent promotion does seem to hint at a power struggle between Kelly and those that Swarbuck represents (i.e. The big money supporters)

  27. George,

    I’m not saying anything definitive other than it was a really strange weekend. I think we can agree on that. I’m just guessing at what’s going on because there seems to be a lot going on that we aren’t privy to. Much more than usual. You could be correct in that he finally saw the writing on the wall with BVG. Maybe he was pissed off because he knew he had to fire BVG and lashed out by throwing the players under the bus. All of this is pure speculation. We’ll wait and see what happens.

  28. If BK was genuine in his defense of BVG immediately after the game, then everything he said yesterday after the termination must have been a lie. My guess is the reverse.

  29. Swarbick doesn’t have the guts to force BK to fire anyone, especially considering BK obviously got his way when it came to the 4 players that got arrested. Seems like BK is developing some pull. However anything is possible.

  30. In my opinion notre dame s curse is the result of not being in a conferenc . ..these are the consequences for chasing the money…texas with long horn network in the same boat…but thats the risk …i would do the same as notre dame and deal with the results…theu just have to accept them

  31. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone, people in glass houses don’t throw stones, use whatever you want, the fact of the matter is they all have had a part in this debacle of a season. The head coach, his assistants, the ball boys/girls, the band everyone including the players of course. The real reason hidden somewhere amongst the collapse might just be they have been beaten by better teams with superior talent. We hear all the time how ND comes up with a top ten recruiting class each each, yet if you have watched the first four games you know that can’t be true. The “D” can’t stop the pass or the run. Don’t tell me Duke is not a top notch football team or program, no kidding, but Saturday they were better than ND. What does that make ND? I’ll tell you, a program that looks to be ready to pack it in after 4 games. On the other hand they could possibly run the table get into a bowl and win and everyone will ask what happened? And the answer will be they outplayed their opponent, that’s it. Should VanGorder have been fired? Well you can’t fire ther team and the defense has been as bad as I’ve ever seen. Someone, to take the attention off of everyone else, had to be sacrificed. Personally, I think he had to go. Sometimes change for the sake of change can be good. It remains to be seen and the game against a mediocre Syracuse team potential show if his dismissal might work. If they lose to the Orange……….they should drop the hammer on Mr. Kelly! GO IRISH!

  32. I don’t know what to believe BK thought prior to firing BVG. I suspect Swarbick basically forced BK’s hand in firing BVG. This is based on what he said the night before, that he was actually happy with the coaching (which boggles my mind). He did a complete 180. I know he said after that a press conference is not the appropriate time to do an evaluation, but that was in essence what he did, saying he was happy with the coaching. If he instead said that he needs to do a top down evaluation of everyone, including his coaches to see where they are at, that would be different. But he was adamant that he felt coaching was not a problem on defense. He lost credibility on that one.

    1. Lol y’all are a Trip with all this fire BK talk!! Like I said in my comment earlier, nobody wanted his head last year when they were In the playoff talk. 3 bad losses this year and everybody wants blood!!! Where’s the faith and loyalty at? Ridiculous!!! That’s why ND can’t get or keep a elite coach because they see how you guys are!!! Quit talking crazy he did I the right thing firing BVG he just should’ve done it a lot sooner. I think he fell in love with his complicated schemes thinking nobody would be able to figure it out, well the only people who couldn’t figure it out were the players! Lol But quit being hates and show appreciation for a man that brought ND BACK TO SOME SORT OF PROMINENCE! Everybody knew coming in that he had a difficult task bringing ND back and he has like I said at least we win more than seven games a year now! Damn be patient

  33. So now we’re saying that BK sincerely thinks BVG is a top notch DC but that the powers that be at ND (who we all know live, breathe and eat football) forced BK to fire BVG? Isn’t it possible that BK simply told the media something he does not truly believe? I know that would be a first, but just maybe that’s the case here. It is some coincidence that within one week of BK involving himself with the defense, the DC gets canned. My guess is that BK finally realized first hand how ineffective BVG is. That being said, I really don’t expect much improvement on the defensive side of the ball. BVG didn’t instructed his DL remain blocked at all times, his DBs to run slower than the opponents WRs, or the LBs to get steamrolled by a skinny freshman QB from Duke. Bottom line is that BK’s offense needs to score six TDs per game to win. It is an awful situation.

  34. This really was a strange weekend. I think there’s a lot more problems and turmoil than we realize. I think there’s a rift between BK and the players and there might also be a rift between BK and the Powers That Be. I don’t have a problem with the latter. It’s not wrong to give BK a kick in the ass regarding the improvements needed.

    I disagree with Chris J. It’s one thing to hold kids accountable. It’s another to throw them under the bus. BK pole vaulted over that line. So much so that, in order to sufficiently walk it back far enough, he had to finally fire BVG. I’m not sure if he reached that conclusion on his own or if he was told to do so. Regardless, it was the right move. They are still kids — this is not the NFL. They aren’t getting paid millions; he is. You don’t bash kids publicly, IMO. And as the author stated, this happened previously back in 2011. I thought he learned his lesson but now I’m not so sure.

  35. ChrisJ – This is not year one of Kelly. This is Year 7. The fact that the team doesn’t play with enough fire is on THE HEAD COACH. I was a college coach once (different sport). And when the team didn’t play with fire (it was rare and it wasn’t happening in game 4), the first thing we would do is point inwardly and say “what do WE need to do differently?”

    Second, it all comes back to teaching fundamentals so that you always have something to fall back on. Our D is not being taught fundamentals. They’re being taught complicated schemes and pre-snap adjustments/checks. That’s a problem.

  36. We are ND. Arrests, academic issues, poor coaching. I was at the USC game at USC in 2012 when I witnessed Kelly yelling at a female fan in the stands with vulgarities only because she told him to run the ball into the endzone instead of passing. He had to be restrained by two coaches as he told the police to throw her out (which they didn’t). Is this the conduct we want of a representative of our university as the fan sat crying in her seat and the USC fans sat in shock. Grabbing a former African American ND player and graduate during a game with physicality near the neck? We deserve better and so do our kids. ND, this is not about winning and losing at this point. This is about our university standing on the principles of what it teaches and settling for nothing less. Love thee Notre Dame.

  37. Hate to say it but it’s been time for BVG to go!!! You can see a steady decline since Diaco left for his HC position. But let’s just remember everybody was throwing BK love until this year, nobody believed they could make a national championship game until he did it and ND has been winning more than 7 games which is where they were stuck at. Be careful how quick you are to throw this guy away!! I would hate for ND to look stupid and get rid of a proven winner & yes I don’t care what any of you say he is a winner. All it takes is the right defensive coordinator and all these haters will be ready to kiss the top of his shoes. He was wrong in blaming the players though if they aren’t hype to play or enthusiastic then he needs to listen more carefully to the messages they are trying to send him. I’m a football coach so I know what it is to be frustrated with your teams performance, but it always lands on the head man. Figure it out or get out! Listen and pay attention to what’s going on around him! Don’t be complacent because of the successful seasons he’s had or he will be gone because that will always lead to a plateau in your teams success of he future. But I think he needs anther year there are good recruits, he is a great offensive mind, and he loves it at ND! He better make a impact hire for his next D coach hire, I mean spare no expense can’t have a offense that’s consistently killing it and the D sucks that’s not how you win a championship

  38. I, too was excited when Kelly was hired. I’m 60 years old and yearn for the next Ara, Lou. Those guys teams were so well coached and NotreDame could beat anybody with them on the sidelines. The problem with firing Kelly is if you do you better have another guy willing to come who is great. A lot of names being thrown around. Not sure any of them would come to NotreDame. Here are some names I would like to see- Shaw -Stanford, Herman- Houston – Fedora -North Carolina Danantonio- Michigan State and Kevin Wilson Indiana. Also/ assistant coaches are critical. If Kelly stays, he should get rid of Booker and bring in a great special teams coach. In addition, have Denbrock only coach the receivers including the tight ends. Expand Mike Sanfords role and let him have complete control of the offense, play calling, philosophy, scheme, structure. Kelly is then free to oversee entire team.

  39. Ronnie,

    I agree. I listened to the post game. Kelly did put it on his coaches too, not just his players. But is it really that bad to call out that your players aren’t playing with fire to the media? Is it that bad to say that Deshone’s performance wasn’t good enough? It’s all about accountability across the board of players and coaches. I didn’t hear Deshone speak after the game but I’m sure he followed up with his own comments about how he has to play better and cannot make those mistakes.

    Kelly calling out that nobody is playing with fire is a TRUE statement. Maybe that’s on the coaches some too but seriously where is the leadership out on the field from the players perspective??? This is the one thing I was worried about going into the season that there might not be that player leadership out there. Kizer is not a fire-y guy. There’s nobody on the defense like Joe Schmidt or Jaylon Smith who has that fire. Chris Brown was that guy on offense last year. That’s part of the reason I really wanted Zaire to take the reigns from an offensive perspective because I think he does play with that fire and passion and sometimes that makes the difference. I know people BASH Tebow and all for how bad his skillset is but you cannot beat that guy’s passion and fire out there and how his team always seemed to respond to it. That kind of leadership will be followed way more than what we have now and players rise up behind that and tend to play with that same passion. It’s a very underestimated quality out of players, especially in leadership positions like QB, LB, Safety, etc. I was at the game and Kelly was exactly right that only Dexter Williams was pumped up and looked like he was having fun out there. And most of the time that was on Special Teams. It’s funny because my wife even said to me at one point during the game that the team looked like they were down and needed to start playing guys that are “hungry”. Not even kidding, two plays later in comes #35 (who I haven’t seen play before) and makes a huge interception in the corner of the endzone. If she can see that, then obviously Kelly can see it.

    Kelly isn’t wrong in holding the players accountable. He isn’t just “throwing them under the bus”. He is just looking for some player leadership out there on the field. And he has just made the right move in showing his leadership of holding HIMSELF AND THE OTHER COACHES accountable by firing BVG. That’s good leadership to me. Kelly is a great coach and I will continue to support him through all of this.

  40. NY3. I was in the same boat. Up until last week I was a BK supporter. My faith had taken a hit but I still thought he could turn it around. That all changed in a few hours on Saturday. Not just losing to Duke, which was already bad by itself, but how we lost. And how he seemed lost after the game and threw his players under the bus. The mistakes, the lack of execution they made were because of poor coaching and not being put in a position to win. I’m concerned about where they turn next. It’s critical they don’t fumble on the next coaching hire, whenever that is done.

  41. I have been a huge supporter of Kelly for 6yrs. I thought he was a no brainer hire in ’09 given his success at GVSU, CMU, and Cincy. I thought he had some tough issues in ’10/’11, but he got it all righted and nailed it in ’12. I thought Yr 4 was tough because of the QB sitch, but Yrs 5/6 would turn…and we started to until the Defense fell apart.

    Kelly started to lose me when he refused to fire BVG after Season 6.

    He then made the comment to Tap the Brakes and Relax” about BVG after we lost 50-47 to TX. That was mindblowing to me. “Tap the Brakes” is what Lou would’ve said in ’90 about Darnell, not after another season plus of it. “Tap the Brakes” is MAYBE what he shouldve said after ASU 2yrs ago. But saying it now was a complete admittance that it was his way and you weren’t going to change it.

    He completely lost me after his commentary at the Press Conference on Saturday. I’m now at the point where i say – LETS GET RID OF HIM.

  42. He took blame as well as saying the entire staff needed to pick it up… and yes the team is playing with no fire!!! Like they don’t want to play… they have the talent… where’s the heart… the fight!!! Takes the entire team not 5/6 players… they know in their hearts they are not playing up to their abilities… the new DC did very well at Fl st the media never talks about that mostly just purdont!!! Let’s see how things go… the one thing I feel was completely stupid was for Coach to say sacks aren’t important as hurries… that’s equal to saying don’t have to dominate the o line!!!, NO you destroy the o line… there are 3 EXCELLENT linemen I tweet… I have told them if you KNOCK them back 2 yards you blow up the play!!! You KNOCK the o line back 5 yards you cream the q.v. 4 a 10 yard loss!!! If sacks aren’t important why are the top teams getting the most sacks!!! Our o line can’t drive back a JR high team!!! We have 1 running back going north the others are running like they have ballet shoes on!!! Block stay low drive and don’t stop till they blow the whistle at least 3 times!!!

  43. Very sad. BK’s history of success prior to ND and his current fall will always make me wonder what happened. He stinks as a HC now, there’s no doubt of that for me now. But he didn’t always suck as a coach. As Scott noted, he had success prior to his tenure at ND. There was nothing in his history to suggest this was a risky move to hire BK. All the signs pointed to him continuing to climb the ranks of coaching. He used to get his players to play above their level, even converting players from offense to defense, or the reverse, and making them successful. Most coaches under the same set of circumstances would have been successful by now. Why did BK fail when he came to ND when so many others wouldn’t have? Seriously, sometimes I think ND is jinxed in football. Other coaches probably are starting to think ND is where they send coaches to die.

    But in all seriousness, I do think the powers that be at ND need to evaluate it’s football program. BK is in all likelihood finished at ND. Are there things internally that are dragging the FB program down that can be fixed. While I believe ND shouldn’t sacrifice its core principles for championships, that doesn’t mean changes can’t be made. They’ve done it before, in the Holtz years most recently. Stanford does pretty well also, with a similar philosophy to ND.

  44. Davaris Daniels = sour grapes. I don’t remember him taking responsibility for his own mistakes (i.e. academic scandal).

  45. This is so typical of Kelly. To be honest he is and will always be a pompous ass. Some of the things he said after that loss to Duke are beyond comprehension. And as a player how can you truthfully play for this guy when its always someone elese fault. I told my friends from the day he was hired this is not the right guy and will never bring ND back to glory. While I think he has done well on the recruiting front it just does not seem to carry over to games. You can say what you want about the previous coach but he always took responsibility for the losses unlike the Kelly blame game. The sooner this guy leaves or gets fired from ND the better off the program will be.

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