Rival Views: Future of coach Brian Kelly at Notre Dame debated

Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney don’t always see eye to eye. In this edition of Rival Views, the two debate whether it’s time for a change at head coach in South Bend.

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It is time for a change.

I’m not saying Notre Dame should do it mid-season because I’m not a huge fan of firing a coach in the middle of the year and I don’t think Notre Dame is either, but it seems the Brian Kelly era has hit its end.

Yes, Notre Dame still has games left with Miami, Navy, Army, Virginia Tech and USC, but do we really see this team running the table? And even if it does, is a 7-5 season with losses to a bad Texas team, a bad Michigan State team and a sub-par Stanford team, not to mention Duke and N.C. State, what Notre Dame can accept?

Even if the Irish beat Navy and Army as they should (although Navy always gives them fits), Miami, Virginia Tech and USC will be tough wins. If the Irish go 3-2 in their final five games, we’re looking at a 5-7 season. I know Kelly won 10 games last season and led them to the title game in 2012, but this is a “what have you done for me lately” world of college football coaching and Kelly’s decisions this season have been odd.

From throwing and long snapping in a hurricane to yanking his NFL-caliber quarterback against Stanford, the on-field choices have been puzzling. The way he has handled the media and thrown his players under the bus too much has me thinking he might have lost this team.

The Notre Dame I saw in the second half of the Stanford game didn’t look like a team that was hungry to win despite the late drive. The alumni is getting impatient. Kelly’s attitude and sideline antics were acceptable when Notre Dame was winning, but never overly popular regardless. Now that he’s losing, it could be time to move on.

When the going gets tough, it seems like Notre Dame fans want Brian Kelly going, like leaving town, finding a new job and never coming back.

But that’s premature.

Last season, this team won 10 games and played in the Fiesta Bowl. In the 2012 season, the Irish’s only loss all season came in the national championship to Alabama.

I know there are problems. Three 8-5 seasons are not great for Notre Dame standards. And this season is, bluntly, a complete disaster. A lot of it is Kelly’s fault, even if he wants to blame others along the way.

I’m not saying Kelly has done a great job this season because he has not. The defense was atrocious early in the season and coordinator Brian VanGorder paid the price for it by losing his job.

Two wins and five losses at this point in the season is unacceptable in every way at Notre Dame. But Kelly deserves a chance to reboot this thing and see what can be salvaged this season and most likely next season.

Every Notre Dame fan is frustrated. I know a lot of them. And a lot want to see Kelly run out of town. But that is not always the best – or smartest – decision.

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