Brian Kelly era to begin in South Bend

The University of Notre Dame is introducing Brian Kelly as the next head coach for the fighting Irish. He has won everywhere he has been, Grand Valley State, Central Michigan, and Cincinnati. Will he win at Notre Dame, nobody knows. usually a winner keeps winning, but it will be different, South Bend Indiana is not Cincinnati Ohio, and he has never had a pressure cooker job that he will have now. What is difficult in these times is the coaching carousel that will begin. Kelly leaves an undefeated Cincinnati program that is headed to the Sugar Bowl to play the Florida Gators. Most likely whoever gets that job, will be leaving a team that had a good year as well. The Cincy players feel that Kelly lied to them, he told them he wasn't going anywhere before the Pitt game. He told them that so that they would play hard and win the Big East Title outright and get that BCS bowl berth and possible National Title. He has no choice, he has to go to Notre Dame right away and get busy with recruiting and getting a staff. If he stayed and coached the Sugar Bowl, would the players really respond to his demands, just not a good situation. He is the one missing out on winning a BCS bowl, but he plans on better things at Notre Dame ultimately. Players leave early for the NFL draft for the money, so don't blame your coach for more money and a better program. Cincinnati has to practice in their stadium because they have no practice facility, Notre Dame has everything under the sun. Kelly has the tools to recruit better athletes, but he must bring in smarter ones as the entrance to Notre Dame is not like Cincy and Fresno State. Nobody knows if this is the right fit, some will like it, some will not like it, but wins fix everything. The Iowa Hawkeyes hired Kirk Ferentz, and everybody wanted Bob Stoops. I didn't even know who Ferentz was, and today I wouldn't trade him for anybody. I'm glad we have Ferentz, and Sooners have Stoops. I'm not sure that Stoops could have done what Ferentz has done with the Hawks. So the Kelly era begins at Notre Dame, and in 5 years Notre Dame may be in the same situation they were in this season.

Love/Hate Relationship, But Very Intriguing

Yes, I am taking a moment to discuss the University of Notre Dame. The Love/Hate relationship I have with Notre Dame is this. I love the tradition of this college program and the rich history. I love the movie Rudy, and can watch it over and over, their fight song is even addicting. I have never been to South Bend, Indiana, but I hear that its a very beautiful campus. I'm sure it is as its in the midwest. The thing that I hate about Notre Dame is the arrogance. The same arrogance that you would find at Alabama prior to Nick Saban's arrival. Notre Dame has not been relevant since 1993 according to Kirk Herbstreit. I agree with him to a point, but they are still relevant because they are talked about like they are a top 5 program every year. Bama fans just think they are better than everybody, and when they were bad, they still felt like they could beat anybody, cause they are Alabama. I heard some great stories about that when they played Iowa State at the Independance Bowl. Bama fans stated that ISU should be so honored to even be on the same field as a team like Alabama, I think Bama only won 6 games that year, and ISU almost beat them. Notre Dame fans are still living in the past, and their program isn't in good shape right now. But I am here to tell you, that if they get the right coach, this program has potential to explode again, because everybody knows about Notre Dame. If this program can make a run at a National Title and win one, it would be like the Cubs winning the World Series, their would be an explosion of popularity. Could you imagine if the Cubs won the World Series, it would be just like when the Red Sox did. Boston now is seen as a major player for World Series titles and you see Red Sox fans everywhere. It changes things forever. That would be Notre Dame. They would be back on the map as a major player in College Football.
Now, to the answer of who should be the next coach of the University of Notre Dame. Urban Meyer is not leaving Florida to another football job. He is a great coach, and has learned that recruiting is golden in Florida. He hardly has to recruit, nice weather, SEC is big time, and so is Florida. He has it made there. Bob Stoops of Oklahoma, maybe, recruiting would be tougher, but he grew up in Ohio, played at Iowa, so he would know the midwest pretty well. Oklahoma is a great program, he has been there for 10 years now, and lets face it, Oklahoma will always be second to Texas in most years. I could actually see this happening. Brian Kelly of Cincinnati, he has won everywhere he has been, has a great track record, but I'm not sure his name is big enough for what Notre Dame wants. He may be their choice though if they don't get the ones they want. Plus, Cincy can recruit any kid and they will get in at Cincy, but Notre Dame has high standards of admission, half the team at Cincy couldn't get in at Notre Dame. Jim Harbough of Stanford, he is doing a great job at Stanford. He already is familiar with tough admission standards, played at Michigan, would do well, but Stanford is not the pressure cooker that Notre Dame is, plus he is waiting for Rich Rodriguez experience to blow up in Ann Arbor and take that job one would think. My pick, won't happen because of that Notre Dame arrogance of being better than everybody. Pat Fitzgerald of Northwestern. He is young, he is doing an outstanding job with lesser talent than the rest of the Big Ten, and he is a leader, plus as a Hawk fan, I don't want to play him anymore. He walks out of the tunnel with his team with his arms embraced with theirs as if he is playing in the game. He brings high emotion, and loves his school. That may be the problem, he loves Northwestern because he played there, and I don't believe he cares for Notre Dame much. The storyline would be great, as Ara Parseghian came from Northwestern to lead Notre Dame to 2 National Championships in 1966 and 1973. He was 5-4 in 1963 at Northwestern and had a falling out and Notre Dame took him and now their is a statue standing outside the stadium in South Bend in his honor for what he did while at Notre Dame. He compiled a 95–17–4 record, for a .836 winning percentage, making him the most successful Notre Dame coach of the modern era. You can't tell me it wouldn't a great storyline for Notre Dame to bring in a Northwestern coach and try to bring the Irish back to greatness.