Gunner Kiel Buys Brian Kelly an Extra Year at Notre Dame

Over the last 24 hours, Irish fans have received good news, which means even better news for head coach Brian Kelly.

Kelly hasn't exactly fulfilled expectations when he left Cincinnati for Notre Dame. Many expected him to be the guy to put the Irish back on top of college football and lead them to the promised land. Instead, he's put up a mediocre 16-10 record and 1-1 in bowl games.

Even with one of the more talented teams in the country last season, he finished with an 8-5 record and lost their bowl game, in which they had a 14-0 lead in the second quarter. 

In both seasons, turnovers have played a huge part in the team's failures, as they have turned the ball over a combined 53 times in the last two years. The lack of discipline both teams have shown has been largely blamed on the head coach. 

Kelly has had to deal with critics calling for his head all season long. Whether it was due to his team's lack of success or acting like a simpleton on the sidelines.

With the recent commitment from 5-star quarterback Gunner Kiel, it will easily buy Kelly another year at Notre Dame no matter what happens next season. Sure, Kelly did receive a contract extension recently, but that doesn't mean much these days. This commitment does.

Kiel will give the Irish what they have so desperately lacked the last two seasons—an elite player at the quarterback position. The last two quarterbacks to play at Notre Dame weren't exactly winners and were responsible for a lot of the team's lack of offensive production.

Dayne Crist completed fewer than 60 percent of his passes in 2010 and threw only eight more interceptions than touchdowns. He eventually ended up losing his starting job to Tommy Ress last season after a horrible Week 1 performance against South Florida.

Rees didn't do much better, as he turned the ball over a lot as well, throwing 14 interceptions last year and often forcing it into double- and triple-coverage.

Having an elite quarterback prospect really changes things for Kelly and the Irish. It's a lot easier to win when your quarterback is the leader and doesn't make mistakes that so often end up costing you the game.

With Rees and Crist, Irish fans were hoping they wouldn't lose the game and didn't make that crucial mistake that ended up being the difference-maker. With Kiel, they can ask him to win the game and expect him to come through more often than not.

It may take a year to get Kiel comfortable with the system or even on the field, with quarterbacks like Andrew Hendrix and Everett Golson on the roster. But when Kiel is ready to take over for the Irish, you can expect Kelly to be 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]