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Notre Dame football: What is the Legacy of Brian Kelly with the Irish?

By Daniel Morrison

BLACKSBURG, VA - OCTOBER 09: Head coach Brian Kelly of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish looks on before the game against the Virginia Tech Hokies at Lane Stadium on October 9, 2021 in Blacksburg, Virginia. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
BLACKSBURG, VA - OCTOBER 09: Head coach Brian Kelly of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish looks on before the game against the Virginia Tech Hokies at Lane Stadium on October 9, 2021 in Blacksburg, Virginia. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /
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Notre Dame Football
ARLINGTON, TEXAS – JANUARY 01: Head coach Brian Kelly and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players run on the field during player introductions before the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl football game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at AT&T Stadium on January 01, 2021, in Arlington, Texas. The Alabama Crimson Tide defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 31-14. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images) /

Notre Dame football: What is the Legacy of Brian Kelly with the Irish?

What he accomplished

On the other hand, you need to take into account what Kelly did for Notre Dame during his time there. When Brian Kelly first made it to South Bend, Notre Dame hadn’t been relevant to college football in fifteen years. The Charlie Weis era had been a disaster and the program was at its lowest point since the Gerry Faust era.

Kelly turned the program around from there and made them one of the most consistently dominant teams in college football.

Throughout his career at Notre Dame, Brian Kelly took Notre Dame to the BCS Championship Game, two different Playoff appearances, and an additional Fiesta Bowl. He put together seven 10+ win seasons, including five in a row to end his time in South Bend. Kelly’s record against USC was 8-3, and he managed to become the winningest coach in Notre Dame history with 113 wins. He cracked the secret to winning at Notre Dame in the modern era.

That’s no small feat.

He’s also left Notre Dame in a position to succeed going forward. They can easily promote Marcus Freeman to head coach and not have to deal with major changes to the culture or recruiting base. They could keep moving forward without any notable drop. They can also go forward with an outside hire and they should continue to find success.

All of that is possible because of the work that Brian Kelly put into the program.

Then you do have to come to terms with the fact that Brian Kelly never won a major bowl game in his 12 seasons in South Bend. Yes, he could win in the regular season and he got to a lot of important postseason games, but he never won any of them. He left to win those games elsewhere because he thinks it will be easier.

That is a major part of his legacy.

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