Good post. A few thoughts:
by oneill3b (2011-09-14 10:37:11)

In reply to: This is really a terrible shame  posted by ACross


"I really do hope Kelly can turn it around and succeed. I think he can; the turnaround after Tulsa provides a basis for some hope."

I think a lot of people, myself included, share this sentiment. Much of the discord here stems from reactions by people who feel this way to posters who seem to conclude, with certitude, that Kelly is doomed to follow the path of Davie, Willingham, and Weis. Obviously, you are not doing that.

I think the ND fan base can eat its own, to an even greater degree than the fans at other major schools do. I continue to wonder how the crushing negativity affects the team and even the coaching staff. There are numerous reasons why one could reasonably believe that Kelly is not doomed to follow the death spiral of his predecessors: he has a track record of winning as a head coach (albeit on a smaller stage); he turned it around after Tulsa last year (which seemed remarkably improbable); he has improved the team in many respects (most significantly, offensive line play); he recruited very well last year; ND statistically dominated large chunks of both games, etc.

The point is that we don't know what will happen during the rest of this season, and reasonable minds could disagree as to the most likely outcome. Although ND could well spiral downhill and not win more than 2-3 games, they could also win the rest of their games. They could also go 8-4, like Holtz did in his second season. We don't know.

Yet many posts on this board (not yours) reflect a conclusion that there is simply no way Kelly will turn this around. To me, those are just as wrongheaded as the posts on other boards predicting that ND is going to win the rest of its games, or go 9-3 at the worst. Sometimes, you just have to wait and see. I think the message board (and the program) would benefit if more did that.


Replies: