This is not a vent board or any other kind of therapy. Before you hit the POST button, ask yourself if your contribution will add to the level of discussion going on.

Important notes on articles:

• Please do not copy entire articles into your post; rather, provide links to them.. We are now links-only for ALL Internet publications. If only a small portion of the article pertains to your post, Fair Use allows you to copy those one or two paragraphs, provided you cite the author's name and the publication for which he writes. Otherwise, put a link in the HTTP Link box.
• Even if you're copying a reference to an article, provide a link to the page from which the article came. We're trying to cut down on duplicate topics, and the posting process will check the link to your article to see if it's already being discussed on this board. At the very least, you'll save yourself some grief on the boards.
• If your first reaction after reading the article you're going to share is the author is uninformed / stupid / a jerk / all of the above, it's not worth sharing with anyone. Not every article needs to be discussed. The more the hair-pulling articles are discussed (e.g. ESPN Page 2), the more the authors will write hair-pulling articles.

Post being replied to

I think there are really just two metrics that define by potatohouse

whether or not a coach at a program with "elite" aspirations is getting it done:

1. Has the team put itself in a position to compete for a national championship?
2. When it does, does it actually compete?

All this other noise about Top 10 victories, Top 25 victories, "major bowl" victories, rivalry games...I don't dismiss their value outright. But they are all just window dressing in the end. They are markers that either (a) ultimately don't mean anything or (b) are minor parts of a resume of greater accomplishment.

Over the past ten years, here is the list of programs who have finished in the Top 4 of the pre-bowl rankings (BCS or CFP):

Alabama 9 (Saban)
Clemson 6 (Dabo)
Ohio State 4 (Meyer) 2 (Day) 2
Oklahoma 4 (Riley) 3 (Stoops) 1
Notre Dame 3 (Kelly)
LSU 2 (Miles) 1 (Orgeron) 1
Florida State 2 (Fisher)
Michigan State 2 (Dantonio)
Oregon 2 (Chip Kelly) 1 (Helfrich) 1
Oklahoma State 1 (Gundy)
Stanford 1 (Shaw)
Florida 1 (Muschamp)
Auburn 1 (Malzahn)
Washington 1 (Peterson)
Georgia 1 (Smart)

Obviously the CFP didn't begin until 2014. So if you'd like to eliminate the #3/#4 qualifiers in 2011-2013, you end up with:

Alabama 8 (Saban)
Clemson 6 (Dabo)
Ohio State 4 (Meyer) 2 (Day) 2
Oklahoma 4 (Riley) 3 (Stoops) 1
Notre Dame 3 (Kelly)
LSU 2 (Miles) 1 (Orgeron) 1
Florida State 2 (Fisher)
Michigan State 1 (Dantonio)
Oregon 1 (Helfrich)
Auburn 1 (Malzahn)
Washington 1 (Peterson)
Georgia 1 (Smart)

Twelve programs, fourteen coaches who have put themselves in a season-ending position to compete for a title at least once over the past decade.

Now how many of those coaches actually took that opportunity and acquitted themselves respectably? There is no perfect criteria but I'd put the mark at winning a title or at least not being run off the field on a national stage:

Saban
Swinney
Meyer
Day
Riley
Orgeron
Fisher
Helfrich
Malzahn
Smart

IMHO, that list of ten represents three wheat and seven chaff. Nobody will quibble with the trinity, but the second group I think is fair game to a wide array of interpretation. Helfrich and Malzahn were fired and I personally don't think much of Smart (gross underachiever) and Orgeron (lightning in a bottle). I think Fisher is probably the best of the bunch. Riley seems like a gentle upgrade over Kelly's results (no playoff wins, but at least not all blowouts), and Day could be legit but I'd like to see a little more space between him and Urban's reign.

Ultimately, to get back to the original criteria, I think Notre Dame under Kelly has satisfied the first prong with greater consistency than almost anyone in the country. That should count for something. Three bites at the apple trails only Saban and Dabo. Sadly, that achievement is fatally counter-balanced by the putrid performances in each of those tries. I feel comfortable ranking him above the one-hit wonders and single-shot also-rans. On the other hand, I'm sure there are some lower tier up-and-comers and coordinators (maybe we have one of them) who can and will surpass his ceiling. I think counting him among the ten best current coaches is not only reasonable, but correct. It's just that being in that group isn't worth much in the end these days.