Brian Kelly Becomes Notre Dame's Fourth Head Coach in Eight Years

Well, it’s official.  This afternoon Brian Kelly will be named the fourth Notre Dame football coach in the past eight years.

Kelly led the University of Cincinnati to an undefeated season in 2009, and will take over his coaching responsibilities at Notre Dame starting immediately.  

So, Notre Dame fans and alumni have gotten exactly what they wanted.

Charlie Weiss was run out of town, and a new fresh face has been brought in…or shall we say fresh meat?

Go back and read the first sentence of this article one more time.

Yup, that’s right.  Kelly will be the Notre Dame’s fourth head football coach in the past eight years.

This is not the NBA where if team goes on a six-game loosing streak everyone expects the head coach to be shown the door.

It’s no secret that Notre Dame fans are intensely loyal. In their eyes, any badmouthing of the program is the equivalent of blasphemy and should require a trip to the confessional booth.

However, considering that the head coaching job in South Bend has been a revolving door over the past decade, is it at all possible that Notre Dame’s issues run a little deeper than the head coach?

Could it be that most of the top players in the country these days are more interested in attending schools like Florida, Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, etc. than they are in Notre Dame?

Could it be that Notre Dame’s stringent admissions policies might be inhibiting the football team’s ability to attract the same caliber of players as teams like Florida, Alabama and USC are able to attract?

Could it be that Notre Dame’s independent status might actually be a bad thing? That many top high school players with aspirations of playing in the NFL would rather go to an SEC school or a Big-10 school where they guaranteed to play against the top teams in the country each year?

Notre Dame played only two teams ranked within the top-25 during the 2009 season.

Could one of the major issues be that in this current era of college football, Notre Dame's fans and alumni might have unreal expectations for their football program?

Sure, Notre Dame football is one of the most legendary programs in all of sports, let alone college football.

However, how far back in Notre Dame’s history do you have to dig before you get to one of those “magical” seasons?

Notre Dame hasn’t won a National Championship in 21 years.

SEC teams have been named BCS national champions four out of the last six years.  

As with any major sport, the tides are continually changing.  

Teams that were great 20 years ago might no longer be great today.

Teams that are great today might not be great in twenty years.

Can Notre Dame’s football program get back to that level of prominence they have experienced for much of the university’s history?

Of course they can.

However, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

How many times will Notre Dame continue to look solely at the head coach as the ultimate cause their troubles?

Could it be at all possible that the team’s issues run a little deeper than just the head coach?

If Brian Kelly is shown the door two years from now, the answer to that question should become a little clearer.

But then again, Notre Dame has been going through football coaches faster than Tiger Woods has been going through women.