Notre Dame Football: A Message to Fighting Irish Fans

You're very worried about Notre Dame's 0-2 start, aren't you? I'm talking to you, nervous Notre Dame fans.

You're already beginning to speak of Brian Kelly's seat beginning to heat up by the minute. Shame on you. Don't you know anything about the man?

If there's one thing you should know, it's that the man is a winner. Plain and simple.

He has won everywhere he has been. It all started at Division II Grand Valley State where Kelly guided the Lakers to consecutive national championships in 2002 and '03.

Kelly transformed a bottom-feeding Central Michigan program into Mid-American Conference Champions in only three seasons.

What he did at Cincinnati—guiding the Bearcats to consecutive Big East Conference titles and subsequent BCS games—is common knowledge and is also the reason he got the job at Notre Dame.

Now that you've had a refresher course in Brian Kelly history, it's time for you to sit back and relax.

Yes, Notre Dame has fallen short of expectations with losses to South Florida and Michigan to begin the season. But were those expectations realistic?

Not with concerns about depth at multiple positions and a quarterback battle that wore on until 10 days prior to kickoff against USF.

To be blunt, the expectations placed on the program prior to the season weren't a result of the team's play last season. They were due to the fact that the media and fans place enormous expectations on the program on an annual basis.

It likely will never end, so it's up to you, the fans, to wipe your lenses clean of the media biases and look at this team from a realistic point of view.

I hope you all understand that before this season started, this team was a 9-3 team at best.

That may very well be the Irish's record at season's end, but either way, please do not be dismayed if the team doesn't qualify for a BCS game.

You have to give Kelly time to build the program the way he sees fit. Being fans of Notre Dame, patience is something we don't do well with, but it is required.

Just look back at what Kelly has done at every head coaching stop in his career.

He has won and won big, but not immediately. Be patient and give this thing some time. Our collective BCS dream will come to fruition in due time.