Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
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BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2017 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ✦ 29 BY LOU SOMOGYI E ven before the start of the 2016 foot- ball season, head coach Brian Kelly would half-jokingly state that his position could be measured in "dog years." One year at Notre Dame was like seven elsewhere. In 2016 — which happened to be the real year seven for Kelly — it was more reality than exaggeration. Not many Football Bowl Subdivision coaches can weather a 4-8 storm in their seventh year. Oregon's Mark Helfrich, who was in the national title game in 2014, posted the same 4-8 result in 2016, and it resulted in his ouster despite a 33-8 ledger his first three years. Charlie Strong was jettisoned at Texas last year with a 5-7 mark in only his third season. Yet Kelly survived, and now his concen- tration is on advancing. Perhaps he can take solace in the ebbs and flows that TCU's Gary Patterson has had. His 2004 Horned Frogs finished 5-6, but then were 11-1 a year later. In 2013, Pat- terson posted a 4-8 record — and then came back with a 12-1 result and No. 3 finish the next season. However, Kelly — who in the past used to be rated with Patterson among the top 10- 15 coaches in the nation — said there was no reaching out to any previous or current coaches for a primer on how to repair the damage. As one of two coaches in the FBS who has recorded a 12-0 regular season at two different schools (Ohio State's Urban Meyer is the other), Kelly has had his self- assuredness far more stirred than shaken. "You look at what you need to do, because you know how to win," said Kelly, who be- gins his 27th season as a college head coach this year. "I've had undefeated seasons, I know the things I need to do to be success- ful. A lot of it is more, 'What are the things I needed to improve on, the things I need to do from an organizational standpoint, and then make some adjustments.' A lot of it was within the walls. It wasn't searching outside the walls. Each situation is different. This one I wanted to tackle myself. "Probably the most important thing is you approach the situation with a flexible mind- set in that you're open to all kinds of adjust- ments that need to be made. I made them and feel real comfortable about where we're at." Where he is perceived to be at right now from a public standpoint is the No. 1 hot seat in college football. "You get everything that you deserve," Kelly said. "The scrutiny that goes with this position is well founded. … We're thinking about right now, not what happened last year." Delaying The Inevitable The adjustments have been numerous: six new on-field assistant coaches, including three coordinators; a new strength and conditioning staff; better rapport with the players … Kelly's second-guessing of himself in- volved mainly not taking action sooner. "I wasn't shaken as much [about the 2016 campaign] as I questioned why I didn't make some of the adjustments I needed to make sooner," Kelly said. "More than anything else, it was knowing that I needed to make some changes that probably should have been made the year before — but they were covered up by winning [a 10-1 start in 2015 that ended 10-3]." Change, he insists, was prompted not from solely the 4-8 record but from a precarious, if not eroding, infrastructure. "The issues were coming to the forefront regardless of whether it didn't rain at North Carolina State, regardless of whether we were able to put together a drive against Michigan State, or make a stop here or there … the issues were percolating," Kelly said. "I could see those things were issues coming into the season, and quite frankly was con- cerned leading into the first game." A 1-3 start while yielding 41.3 points per game in the three defeats resulted in the fir- ing of third-year defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder. Later, two of his longtime associates — strength and conditioning coach Paul Longo and offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock — also departed. Longo was no longer physi- cally able to function in his capacity. Den- brock was invited back, but not to call plays or lead the offense (he is now the offensive coordinator at the University of Cincinnati). The obvious question is whether Kelly was loyal to a fault with the staff prior to the 2016 meltdown. "I would look at it the other way," he re- plied. "I would look at it that I did a less- than-stellar job of really articulating what the needs were for the program. "The leader still has to be able to clearly paint the picture and the path that everybody follows. I look at it as I didn't do a very good job of leading the three individuals in the leadership positions." The problems with the strength and con- ditioning were the most baffling. How could he have not noticed the malaise? Kelly said the roots began with too much concession. "We changed the lenses, and the lenses we were looking through were faulty in the sense that we were trying to make things easier for our players because their day is so long and stressful," he said. "We tried to make it easier for them in the weight room, where in fact what we needed to do was make it harder. "Our players want to be challenged in the weight room. They want that structure, and they want to see themselves getting better every single day. "They don't want to be in a situation where they can work out as their schedule sees it. That was part and parcel my mistake and trying to accommodate our players' very difficult schedules." In Kelly's exit interviews last December with nearly 100 players, the consensus feed- back was that the structure in the strength and conditioning needed to be intensified. "The days of the singular headed strength coach running the program on his own — one man — those days are over," Kelly said of the new structure. "This program has [new strength and conditioning coach] Matt Balis at the top, but is functioning with five strength coaches that have an integral role. "The synergy of the five creates an in- credibly different environment. It's a totally different structure than was in there and that had been part of what strength and condi- tioning looked like over the last 10 years. "Secondly, Paul wasn't able to do some of NEEDED CHANGES After a 4-8 season and much self evaluation, Brian Kelly has made many adjustments to his program and is confident positive results will follow Kelly is only the fifth head coach to reach his eighth year at Notre Dame, joining Knute Rockne (1918‑30), Frank Leahy (1941‑43, 1946‑53), Ara Parseghian (1964‑74) and Lou Holtz (1986‑96). PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND