Rockne's Roundtable

Still on the fence. Can't argue with success in November, but there were a few bonehead calls before November.

I'm not saying I don't believe and have the highest hopes. Just need a year or two to know.

LETS GO IRISH!
ndfaninmd

Met...beating USC and improving the D consistently towards the end of the season kinda sealed it for me.

he met them for me, especially the way he kept everything together when it seemed with everything going on that we would implode. It seems like things are going in the right direction.

I'd recommend him to a friend

Mixed for me. It's hard to get over the poor end of game management at Michigan State and against Tulsa as well as before the half vs Michigan. I expected to see a better sideline-gameday coach than that.

However, it's impossible to ignore the progression this team has made and of course ending the streaks vs ranked teams, and USC. If we beat Miami, an 8 win first year would be a nice launching point for BK's program at ND.

GO IRISH!

At this point in the process I would say Kelly has pretty much met my expectations. I expected an 8-4 record with signs of steady improvement, instead I got a 4-5 record with extreme ups and downs through the first 9 contests,so at that point I was very disappointed. It seemed as if we would take two steps forward and three steps back at times.....then came Utah, and the emergence of the Irish D! I don't know what "clicked" for our D but I am loving it.

.....so at 7-5 with a 3 game winning streak,a win over U$C,and a chance to lay the wood to Miami....I'm fairly content with BK.

At this point, I don't think it is possible to tell. We should never have lost to MSU or Tulsa. The first was an inexcusable mistake in alignment and the second was a very poor call. Add an an abominable performance against Navy and the staff looked outclassed. ( especially considering all the hype by some fans and the media and we assumed that we would have a very good year. As proof, think about the predictions made by many on this board prior to the season.

On the other hand, the team did improve motivationally and fundamentally in November. It feels good to defeat a ranked Utah and our nemisis Usc. But, the truth of the matter is that Utah was defninitely over ranked and Usc may have beaten us if they had their starting qb.

Even beatling Miami, another feel good win for ND fans,doesn't necessarily prove much. They may have some excellent athletes, but are they a very good team. Probably not.

So, regardless of the over ranking of Utah and the loss of Usc's qb, they were descent teams and ND played well against them. Hopefully, Kelly's coaching is starting to sink in and the road ahead is uphill.

Actually, for me, next year will tell us what we need to know. Even if it is only the second year for a Kelly team, we have seen many other coaches do well in their second year and with all the returning players there is no excuse for ND not having a great year. We have a lot of talent coming back and as long as we don't have any MSU's, Tulsa's or Navy's next year, we should do very well.

A final thought is that if we do well next year, then Kelly will have another question to answer. Has Kelly turned ND into a winning program or did he just have a good year ?. Unfortunately,many fans like to rush it and get very excited prematurely. Proving that a program is a consistant winner is done one step at a time and it can't be rushed. It just takes time. .

I remain on-the-fence until we get another 5-6 games under us next year.

very well said. A lot of mixed emotions in year 1, but the improvement each week is hard to ignore. The halfway point of the season I would definitely say "not met", but the second half I would say definitely exceeded expectations. My conclusion would be he has met my expectations because he, the entire coaching staff, and players have made strides each week.

Can't wait for the Sun Bowl and 2011.......Go Irish !!!

I think most of us had VERY high hopes at the start of the year but reality set in and made us all realize the difficulty facing Coach Kelly. If we had been able to see all of the hurdles with which Kelly had to contend would anyone have predicted a winning season.

First and foremost the injuries, my goodness when was the last time a coach has had to deal with those kinds of numerous injuries to so many starters? Maybe never..second the off the field "distractions" were enough alone to tear a team apart. Third we can only guess the battle Kelly has had to fight turning around the losing attitude that has permeated the program. Each of these reasons alone are enough to create problems for a new head coach with a new system...combined they could have been catastrophic.

Color my expectations met win or lose against my Miami...ofcourse winning will really add to my confidence in Coach Kelly and the direction of the program and I would change to exceeded. IMO his biggest accomplishment is finishing the way they did with defense and a determined winning attititude. Beat Canes!!!!!!

bob my expectations are irrelevant.
however brian is a great man and a fine coach for nd.
our program is on the up and up.
watch out yall.
nd shall be great agin in football soon. how soon-very soon
tex