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Notre Dame Fighting Irish Slappy Awards: Coach of the Year

By Sonny Martinez

Muffet McGraw (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Muffet McGraw (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /
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Brian Kelly, Football:

Notre Dame football
EVANSTON, IL – NOVEMBER 03: Head coach Brian Kelly of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish leads his team onto the field prior to a game against the Northwestern Wildcats at Ryan Field on November 3, 2018 in Evanston, Illinois. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) /

The team most Notre Dame fans are most familiar with, the football team came into the season with decent expectations.

Many were looking at the Irish to win 9, maybe 10 games and be in the fight for a New Year’s Six Bowl. When Notre Dame football defeated Michigan in the season opener, things were on the right track until two extremely close calls against Vanderbilt and Ball State.

That’s when Kelly made a difficult — and season changing — decision, when Kelly pulled Brandon Wimbush and gave the starting quarterback job to Ian Book.

After the change, the powerful Notre Dame offense headed by Book and Dexter Williams lead the Irish to 9 consecutive victories, only two of which were by a touchdown or less, including three Top 25 wins. Notre Dame scored 40 points or more 4 times in those 9 games with Book at the helm.

It ended with a 12-0 record and a College Football Playoff appearance that most did not see coming, as the 3rd seed against the eventual National Champion Clemson Tigers.

The Irish lost that game, but Kelly’s excellent coaching and extremely gutsy quarterback change defined a season that without a tough call, could have ended very differently.

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