Notre Dame football: Who is the greatest coach in program history?
Notre Dame football: Who is the greatest coach in program history?
Brian Kelly
- 2010-2021 (12 seasons), 106-40
Brian Kelly came to Notre Dame in 2010, after three (four if you count George O’Leary) coaches in a row struggled to find any kind of success at Notre Dame. So, like many other great coaches in Notre Dame’s history, it would be Brian Kelly’s job to fix the program.
Before getting to Notre Dame, Kelly had stops at Grand Valley State, Central Michigan, and Cincinnati. Unlike every other coach on this list, he left Notre Dame for another job. That’s the LSU job. The only other coach who worked for another team after leaving Notre Dame on this list, was Lou Holtz, who came out of retirement to do so.
There were initially issues for Kelly at Notre Dame. He struggled to put together a decent offense or a consistent team in his first couple of seasons. Then, in year three, Kelly managed to put together a magical season, going unbeaten in the regular season.
That included several miracle finishes late in games and having linebacker Manti Te’o finish second in Heisman Trophy voting. It was Notre Dame’s first trip to the BCS National Championship Game…and they got their teeth kicked in. Alabama dragged Notre Dame out back and beat them to death with a chain. It was that bad, and it forced Brian Kelly to reevaluate how he was building a roster at Notre Dame.
So, in that way, the 2012-13 BCS National Championship Game helped shape the future of Notre Dame’s football program under Brian Kelly. In particular, Kelly emphasized line play on both offense and defense to get stronger. 2016 came, and was an absolute disaster, going 4-8. Again, this forced him to reevaluate how he was building the team.
This time, he blew up and fixed his assistant coaches. It worked, and from 2017-2021 Notre Dame won 10 games at a minimum every season. They went to two College Football Playoffs, getting blown out in each, and had multiple unbeaten regular seasons. At the same time, he was still a tick behind the elite programs, who had become reliant on skill players, a position Kelly failed to recruit.
There are a few things that need to be recognized about Brian Kelly’s time at Notre Dame. First, he found a way to win at Notre Dame in the 21st century, and he revived the program. He also won a ton of games at Notre Dame. At the same time, he was behind the curve of other great coaches of his time, and Kelly was a failure come bowl season.
Brian Kelly did have one great problem during his time at Notre Dame. He couldn’t win big postseason games. Going to a BCS National Championship and making two College Football Playoff appearances was great, but the Irish were blown out of all those games. On top of that, it’s not like Notre Dame was able to win a major bowl game while Kelly was in town.
His unwillingness to recruit at the highest level kept Notre Dame from having the depth to win these games, and if how he’s recruiting at LSU is to be taken into account, then that was a blessing in disguise.
It’s likely that Brian Kelly will be elected to the Hall of Fame once he’s done coaching, but that likely won’t be for some time. Following the 2021 regular season, he left Notre Dame for LSU, looking for an easier path to a national championship.
He holds a 106-40 record at Notre Dame, which does make him the winningest coach in program history. That was a tenure that saw him both find a way to win at Notre Dame in the modern game, while also trying to understand the program’s current hierarchy.
Prior to starting his stint with LSU, Kelly has a career record of 263-96-2, with eight conference championships and two Division II National Championships.