Ronald Darby Decommits From Notre Dame: Why This Is Brian Kelly's Failure

Notre Dame had their chance to succeed this season, but they failed to once again fulfill expectations. Now, one of their top recruits, cornerback Ronald Darby, has decommited from the program. Darby is still considering the Irish as a possible landing spot, but he will continue exploring other opportunities, including Florida State and Clemson. 

While every prospect has the freedom to choose wherever they'd like to play football, you can blame this on head coach Brian Kelly.

After three sub-par seasons under Charlie Weis and several mediocre seasons with coaches before him, Kelly was hired to bring this program back. He had great success with Cincinnati, so why in the world wouldn't he do well with Notre Dame?

Kelly has been with the program for two seasons, and although they have went 8-5 each year, they're still not fulfilling expectations.

He's 16-10 in two years and 1-1 in two lousy bowl games. That includes a sloppy season with a veteran team this year that had hopes of reaching a BCS bowl. Instead, they turned the ball over 29 times and lost three of five games in which they had the lead.

After an absolutely terrible season, it appears that the Irish are getting worse and not better under Kelly.

All season, the Irish have had to deal with rumors of this being Kelly's last season. Not only because of the poor performances on the field, but also because the head coach hasn't been able to control his anger at times.

After seeing this season, I'm sure Darby doesn't want to be a part of a team with a defense that plays to the best of their ability but an offense that struggles to put up points. Or one that constantly turns the ball over.

There's also the possibility Kelly is fired if the poor play continues, and then Darby would be stuck at Notre Dame with an uncertain future.

Notre Dame is simply not the same program they were several years ago, and the top recruits realize this.

Darby may end up returning to Notre Dame, but if he doesn't, you can blame the head coach.

Randy Chambers is a B/R Featured Columnist that covers college football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail]