Of course timing is a big issue with most coaches, especially with Meyer and other coaches whose teams are bowl bound. At the risk of sounding like old dabaxter, but a winning coach should be able to win at any level. Paul Johnson won several NCs at Ga Southern, had great success at Navy and has really turned the fortunes of Ga Tech around in only 2 years.
Brian Kelly has pretty the same history as Johnson, several NCs at a lower level, good success at Central Michingan, and has now won 30+ games in 3 years at Cincinnati and probably headed to his second BCS bowl in 2 years.
Quite frankly looking at ND's schedule year in and year out, with the possible exception of USC, it is not really any more difficult than Cincinnati's. Outside of Meyer, IMO Kelly is the front runner.