Question: When Does Brian Kelly Start Feeling the Heat in South Bend?

B1GTide said:

Not so - Kelly was hired in 2009 before his bowl game with Cincy. Cincy played in the Sugar Bowl that year, and Kelly decided to stay with Cincy through the bowl game. Meyer was still very much a Gator at that point.

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B1G, he meant that Meyer chose UF over ND in 2005...


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Isaiah 63:1 said:

B1G, he meant that Meyer chose UF over ND in 2005...


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Thank you for clarifying.

Isaiah 63:1 said:

B1G, he meant that Meyer chose UF over ND in 2005...

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Ahhh, thanks. I heard those rumors, too. Never heard anyone confirm them. If that really happened, ND would probably still go after him. I suspect that they would set their pride aside and make another run.

That surely was a moronic game plan this past weekend.

At 2-4, I don't see how they end up with a winning record with all their tough games remaining.

IIRC, the then new President at Florida, Meacham I think, had been President at Utah and had a prior relationship with Meyer. Apparently Meachem's first call was to Meyer when Zook was let go. ND was somehow in the mix but I can't recall the details.

I'd say now.

Outside of 2012 when they had one of those charmed seasons where they won every close game they were in (before getting pummeled by Bama) his entire tenure there has been underwhelming. I'm gonna guess he gets at least another year after 2016 but if they tank hard I could see him getting canned.

Is ND still paying on Charlie Weiss' payout? If they have to payout Brian Kelly too, this could put a dent in their purse.


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OreBama said:

I'd say now.

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Haha - Saint Elmo's fire?


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Vinny said:

Is ND still paying on Charlie Weiss' payout? If they have to payout Brian Kelly too, this could put a dent in their purse.

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I think ND is done paying Charlie Weis. I believe he got his final payment last year. Weis is now getting paid by Kansas. He has gotten paid close to $25M now NOT to coach.

B1GTide said:

Ahhh, thanks. I heard those rumors, too. Never heard anyone confirm them. If that really happened, ND would probably still go after him. I suspect that they would set their pride aside and make another run.

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Well, my ND contacts do not include Jack Swarbrick or Fr. John Jenkins, so what I hear is just from average Joe alums (of both the degreed and subway variety), but they show no more signs of forgiving Meyer than we do of forgiving Fran. So, I wouldn't expect ND to take a run at him, based on that. If they did, however, how might he respond?

Meyer is undoubtedly one of the finest coaches in the game today. Still, everyone has a weakness (mine include unnecessarily-complicated forum posts, and an (almost) unhealthy affection for parenthetical statements), and Meyer appears to have two:

(1) An above average level of hubris (e.g., his comment just prior to the 2005 Alabama game that his spread option offense was "infallible," a word with which I recall Alabama fans taunting him from the stands as the scoreboard ticked toward 0:00, displaying a 31-3 score)

(2) An aversion to sustained competition, a theory that explains why he took Florida over ND the first time, and why he went to OSU, in a then-uncharacteristically weak BigTen, after his sabbatical

I think the only things that could make him leave Columbus are:

(1) Should OSU handcuff him in recruiting. I can't even begin to envision this

(2) Should the BigTen become really competitive overall, a la the SEC (real or perceived) in the last decade. There are not really sufficient signs of that today, but most pendulums do, eventually, swing back

(3) Should he somehow come to believe that Harbaugh has his number (perhaps by setting up a tent to campout in his backyard). It's too soon to treat this as anything more than a Skunkbear wild dream. After all, it took four years for CNS (in the minds of Alabama fans) to process Meyer out of the SEC. Harbaugh is in only his second season in Ann Arbor, and OSU is enjoying winning 13 of the last 15 versus Michigan. Wild dreams do come true on occasion, of course, but never (by definition) predictably

Were I a betting man and the proposition existed, I'd place a healthy wager on Meyer's coaching at OSU until he wants to coach no more, anywhere.

I predict he never sees it coming... Just Boom Out on his butt.

If Teo's girlfriend had only been real. [emoji12]


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I cannot see Meyer leaving Columbus for any other college program. Contrary to what the media and ND loyalists believe; ND is no longer the top of the mountain in college football. Scholarship limitations and academic requirements has for the most part neutered the Fighting Irish. The loss to Duke at home should be the "handwriting on the wall" for letting Kelly go. They would now have a hard time competing as a full time member of the ACC. ND is simply not the job it once was.

B1GTide said:

Ahhh, thanks. I heard those rumors, too. Never heard anyone confirm them. If that really happened, ND would probably still go after him. I suspect that they would set their pride aside and make another run.

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They may be willing to set aside their pride, but the real issue is are they willing to relax their current admissions standards as well as provide the level of support Meyer wants ?

I think he is where he wants to be even though I'm sure the unexpected arrival of Harbaugh is causing angst. The Big 10 has some other nice programs but only Mich is a real threat to his dominance. It will be like Bama/LSU in the same division. And it will be interesting to see how he reacts if he has a couple of 11-1 seasons and can't even make the conf champ game. Oh, the irony of Jim Delaney arguing on behalf of his non-division winning team to make the playoff . I wonder how much Delaney and Meyer will enjoy the smell of bitter Rose petals ?

GrayTide said:

...Contrary to what the media and ND loyalists believe; ND is no longer the top of the mountain in college football. Scholarship limitations and academic requirements has for the most part neutered the Fighting Irish. The loss to Duke at home should be the "handwriting on the wall" for letting Kelly go. They would now have a hard time competing as a full time member of the ACC. ND is simply not the job it once was.

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All your premises may be true, but your conclusion doesn't necessarily follow for ND in 2016 any more certainly than it did for Alabama (with only slightly different premises) in 2006. If one believes that leadership matters, and that Kelly is lacking in it (ya think?), one may reasonably conclude that a sound coach who knows how to lead young men and assistant coaches can still win at ND as ND would define the term (compete for national titles; graduate your players; don't rape anyone).

As to ND's on-the-field performance the last four seasons, I don't think one can overstate how much Kelly's moral authority with his players and assistants was neutered after the 2012 BCS title game, when he flirted so hard with the Eagles. Using Fran's failure at TAMU as an object lesson, he should either have left for the pros then, while he still could do so on his own terms, or told all comers to take a hike because he was not leaving Notre Dame. Now, it's too late...

I think that we can all agree that, while ND does handcuff it coaches a bit, with the right head coach it could rise back to the top as quickly as it fell. Imagine Saban at ND and a team full of players as smart as G-Mac and Barrett Jones?