Notre Dame Football: 7 Reasons Brian Kelly Isn't the Man to Lead the Irish

Brian Kelly arrived in South Bend with high expectations and with the look of a coach who was capable of righting all the wrongs of the Charlie Weis era.

With a high-powered offense, a get-things-done type of attitude and a little Irish charisma, Kelly had many believing that he was finally the guy.

Yes, he was the guy who was going to restore the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

The reality is, however, that it just hasn’t happened.

Kelly’s own words after a devastating loss to Michigan on Saturday night pretty much sum it up best:
“We’re just not a good football team right now.”

After the loss to the Wolverines, Notre Dame is now 0-2 and staring at a schedule that includes six more possible losses on it.

With so much returning talent, a preseason Top 20 ranking and a ton of hype, many thought that this was the year Kelly would have the Irish ready to take the next step, but so far that certainly hasn't been the case.

Has Kelly been able to recruit well? Yes.

Has he been able to sell the program to the fans as one that’s on the rise? Sure, but when you fail to get results on the field, tough talk can only get you so far, and after a disastrous start, some are starting to wonder if Kelly is really cut out for the job.

Kelly can still get this ship turned around but it's certainly fair to wonder if he’s actually capable of getting the job done.

Here’s a look at a few reasons Kelly may not be the man to lead the Irish.

Unmet Expectations

We watched the ESPN specials, we read the magazine articles, and mistakenly a few of us bought into this summer’s Notre Dame hype machine.

And yet again, the Irish have let down their supporters.

After starting off the year with a Top 20 ranking, Notre Dame has proceeded to plummet out of both polls after an 0-2 start.

We overlooked the losses to Navy and Tulsa and chalked it up to first-year jitters, but now it’s time for Brian Kelly to get this Notre Dame train rolling.

You can only survive being paper champions for so long before that starts to wear thin with the fan base.

Slow Out of the Gate

Brian Kelly is now a combined 1-5 in the month of September during his time at Notre Dame and that’s just not acceptable.

It’s great that Kelly was able to rally his troops and finish 8-5 last year with some big wins over USC and Miami down the stretch, and he may very well do the same thing again this season, but digging early holes for yourself is a dangerous practice that has cost a lot of college coaches their jobs in recent years.

Failing in Crucial Moments

Notre Dame’s last-minute breakdown against Michigan reflects poorly on the coaching staff, and the blame has to fall squarely on Kelly’s shoulders.

After scoring the go-ahead touchdown late in the game, the defense just can’t have that type of lapse in such a key situation.

You’ve got to have your team prepared to handle big moments and it’s obvious that Kelly didn’t have the Irish ready for that one.

Bad Decisions

Brian Kelly’s decision to name Dayne Crist the opening-day starting quarterback blew up in his face, as Crist only managed to make it through one half before being pulled.

Kelly seems to have redeemed himself by throwing Tommy Rees into the mix.

Rees appears capable of getting the Irish offense back on track, but the fact that Kelly could initially misread such a key decision is definitely cause for alarm.

Undisciplined Football

So far, Notre Dame has racked up 10 turnovers in just the first two games of the season and the Irish currently rank dead last in the country in turnover margin.

They’re now on pace to wildly exceed last year’s poor 24-turnover total by a huge margin.

Mistakes and lackadaisical ball-handling comes from bad preparation in practice, and that’s a facet of the game that the head coach is solely responsible for.

Explosive Personality

Brian Kelly got into some hot water after pulling a Bo Pelini on the sideline during the loss to South Florida.

The NBC cameras clearly caught Kelly letting the expletives fly and the Catholic contingent at Notre Dame didn’t seem to be too pleased with how he conducted himself.

Kelly has a fiery personality, and he’s going to either have to find a way to tone it down a bit or he’s only going get himself into further trouble with the school's higher-ups.

This Isn’t the Big East or the MAC

Brian Kelly has worked his way up the ladder, winning everywhere he’s been, whether it be Grand Valley State, Central Michigan or Cincinnati, but now that he’s finally at the top, he’s been forced to deal with a whole new level of pressure.

This isn’t the Big East or the MAC, where you can just put together a high-octane offense and overwhelm all your opponents.

This is Notre Dame. This is one of college football’s most prestigious programs and Kelly will have to learn how to deal with all of the different nuances of being the leader of this kind of team.

It’s something that his predecessors like Ty Willingham and Charlie Weis failed to do, and we saw what happened to them.