Brian Kelly Extension: Why 2012 Will Be a Make or Break Season for Notre Dame

8-5 seasons aren’t going to buy a coach a lot of brownie points at a place like Notre Dame, but even though head coach Brian Kelly has put together consecutive mediocre 8-5 campaigns in his first two seasons in South Bend, school officials still deemed it necessary to extend Kelly’s contract for two more years through 2016.

The extension is a vote of confidence from athletic director Jack Swarbrick and the school, but it’s in no way a guarantee that Kelly will stay with Notre Dame for the long haul if he can’t start churning out more than eight wins a season. Remember, the school extended former coach Charlie Weis’ contract through the 2015 season, but after Weis failed to get the job done, he was let go in 2009.

Kelly got a pass in his first season, after rallying the team from a 1-3 start and finishing the year 7-2, but to say that the Irish didn’t live up to expectations this past year is certainly an understatement.

Notre Dame entered 2011 with a top-20 national ranking, an abundance of returning starters, two future first-round NFL draft picks leading the way on offense and defense and most importantly, a ton of hype.

There was preseason talk that Kelly’s squad could be in the running to make it back to a BCS bowl, but the team received a quick dose of reality in the first game of the season, when the Irish were shocked at home by South Florida.

After a Week 2 loss to Michigan, Notre Dame quickly found itself 0-2, and fans promptly started wondering why the team had come out of the gate so slowly once again.

With a schedule that included just two ranked opponents in the final 10 games of the season, the Irish were able to rebound and finish with a respectable 8-4 regular season record, but a disappointing loss to Florida State in the Champs Sports Bowl once again left Kelly’s team with another 8-5 mark.

The past is the past, though, and as we move towards National Signing Day, everyone’s sights are now fully set on the 2012 season, a year that is shaping up to be a pressure-packed, make-or-break type of season for Kelly and his team.

Even though the Irish look like they’re going to lose out on talented cornerback prospect Ronald Darby, it looks like Kelly is once again going to bring in another highly-touted recruiting class full of potential impact players.

Kelly’s recent success on the recruiting trail should start paying dividends, as “his guys” should be able to begin working their way into the starting lineup next season.

Notre Dame has plenty of talented young reinforcements waiting in the wings, and there will definitely be a few of those inexperienced players who will be asked to contribute in a big way in 2012.

While the Irish will lose star wide receiver Michael Floyd, they'll return a solid offensive nucleus with key players like RB Cierre Wood, WR Theo Riddick, TE Tyler Eifert and OT Zack Martin all coming back.

The real question will be at quarterback, though, as Kelly will have to choose between Tommy Rees, who had his fair share of successes and struggles as a starter in 2011, or Andrew Hendrix, a more naturally-gifted athlete and passer than Rees who lacks a lot of game experience.

Neither Hendrix nor Rees looked all that inspiring against Florida State in the Champs Sports Bowl, as they combined to throw three interceptions (Rees—two, Hendrix—one) against the Seminoles.

Kelly will have a tough call to make, and he certainly can’t afford another wrong decision like he made with Dayne Crist last year, because his team definitely can’t afford another slow start.

Don’t be shocked if Hendrix ends up unseating Rees by the time the season opener rolls around.

On defense, the front seven, led by All-American linebacker Manti Te’o, will once again be the strength of the team, as Te’o, fellow linebackers Dan Fox and Carlo Calabrese and defensive linemen like Aaron Lynch, Louis Nix and Kapron Lewis-Moore will form one of the strongest defensive front sevens in the country.

It’s the secondary, though, where safety Harrison Smith, and cornerbacks Gary Gray and Robert Blanton are all departing, that could be a major weakness for Notre Dame next season.

Defensive backs like Zeke Motta, Jamoris Slaughter and Bennett Jackson are all going to have to step up in a big way next season, or else the Irish are going to be very vulnerable against opposing passing attacks.

With a schedule that includes names like Michigan State, Michigan, Oklahoma, Miami, Stanford, BYU and USC, nothing is going to come easy for Notre Dame next season.

After a trip to Ireland to play Navy in the season opener and a matchup with Purdue in Week 2, there’s no reason that the Irish shouldn’t be 2-0 when they go on the road to play Michigan State, but then again, many thought that they would start off 2-0 in 2011 and look what happened.

The time for slow starts and excuses has passed. Now that Brian Kelly has received his extension and the school has shown faith in its head coach, it’s time for him to start producing the results that are expected from him, and that includes double-digit win seasons and BCS bowl appearances.

8-5 isn’t going to cut it for much longer.

It’s now time for Notre Dame to take the next step, and Kelly knows full well that the pressure is going to be squarely on his shoulders in 2012.