Kyle Whittingham - agree love Whittingham
Dan Mullen - he might get fired after this year. He just lost to Missouri tonight and has Fl worse SEC record since 79.
James Franklin - all image, no substance. Lost to unranked Illinois this yr, lost to bad Nebraska team last yr
Jim Harbaugh - is that a joke? He is having a good year, but come on. He would have been fired by now if he didn’t have his reputation from SF and Stanford, . They didn’t win one game at home last year. He can’t win a big game.,. I mean ever.
David Shaw - please. He should have been fired by now.
Chris Petersen - are we picking coaches who aren’t coaching anymore? Why not add Holtz and Urban too
Bob Stoops - see above
Mario Christobal - agree
Kirk Ferentz - probably agree, but I don’t think he would recruit well at ND and he seems to be a coach who is content at 8-3 or 7-4 every year. That shouldn’t work at ND.
PJ Fleck - the hot coach du jour? He has to prove it on the big stage and he really has only had 1 good season
Mike Gundy - stop, besides he would never be at ND, his offensive style would kill Across. It makes Kelly look like a run first offense
Mark Stoops - good coach, maybe, hard to say as he has never been at a legit football program, but has done well with a shitty program in Kentucky. Obviously has some bad losses, but I admit he never had the talent of ND.
Mack Brown - stop. Great recruiter, horrible coach, Kelly has beaten him twice.
Jimbo Fisher - see above, but I would say yes, however, would never be at ND
Lane Kiffin - maybe now, certainly not before this year though. Was a train wreck at USC.
Tom Herman - the guy who couldn’t make it at Texas? Surely you jest
Matt Campbell - coming into this year, maybe. He is a .500 coach in the weak Big 12. I can’t say yes if that’s what he is now.
Jeff Brohm - he doesn’t even have a winning record at Purdue
Paul Chryst - seems to be going the wrong way at Wisconsin. Maybe same as Kelly, but no upgrade
Luke Fickell - yes, but still has to prove it at a real program
Pat Fitzgerald - is that a joke?
Lincoln Riley - sure, ok
Mike Leach maybe. Would kill Across worse than Gundy
Dave Doeren -he is an ok coach, lost 6 games in a row 2 years ago though. Strong coaches just don’t do that.
Overall I would say you have like 6 coaches who are most likely yeses and 3 or 4 more who are maybes. Some of those guys would never be picked at ND however for various reasons and I’m not going to include guys who have shown no interest in coaching again. I would honestly say maybe 4 or 5 of them would be clear upgrades over Kelly who could actually be at ND. (I know that wasn’t exactly the statement, but I think it matters to the overall point of replacing Kelly)I think Whittingham and Riley would be very difficult to get over to ND. Fickell is a clear top choice if Kelly left tomorrow. But that is for today. If the question was asked last year it probably would have been Mullen or Campbell.
But I respect you for making the list. Most would get called out and run into a hole.