Notre Dame football: Brian Kelly ranked outside of top-10 head coaches
By Brad Weiss
The Notre Dame football program has one of the best head coaches in all of college football, but Brian Kelly was recently shown no love by PFF.
The Notre Dame football program has a tremendous leader in Brian Kelly, someone who has come in and brought the program back to its winning ways. Kelly has won 72 percent of his games since taking over in South Bend, and once again has them as one of the last teams standing almost every season.
Recently, Pro Football Focus put out a ranking of the top-20 head coaches in college football, and of course, Brian Kelly made the list. The Irish have been one of the top teams in the country under Kelly across the last five seasons, as he has led them to the College Football Playoff in two of the last three seasons.
However, the strange part of the ranking was the fact that when it came to the top-10, Seth Galina left Kelly out. In fact, Kelly was ranked the No. 12 overall head coach in the country, behind the likes of Kyle Whittingham, Matt Campbell, Lance Leipold, and Jamey Chadwell.
While all four of those men are great head coaches, there is no way they should be higher than Kelly when it comes to being the best in the country. Keep them in the top-20, for sure, but after the likes of Nick Saban, Dabo Swinney, Lincoln Riley, and even Kirby Smart, you have to make the argument that Kelly is the best.
Notre Dame football in great hands with Kelly
Though Galina has Kelly as the No. 12 head coach in the country, it is clear that Kelly is a top-10 coach, and the Irish are in great hands with him at the helm. He has crafted an incredible coaching staff, including Marcus Freeman, who is not only one of the best coordinators in the country but is proving to be an elite recruiter.
After going 4-8 during the 2016 college football season, the Irish have won at least two games in every season since, while losing only eight games in that stretch.
Overall, based on his record, and how he has brought the Notre Dame football program back to prominence, Kelly should have been ranked way higher than No. 12. In fact, you could make the argument that he is a top-5 head coach in college football, something he can once again prove in 2021 if the Irish make another run.