Notre Dame Football: Brian Kelly's Future in South Bend Is Still Bright

This certainly hasn’t been an easy second season for Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly.

With 17 returning starters, a Top-20 preseason national ranking and plenty of media buildup, this was supposed to be the year Kelly brought his team back to the national stage and made the Irish relevant again. However, an 0-2 early start quickly put an end to the thoughts of making it to a BCS bowl game and earning back the national respect the program's lost in recent years.

A second disappointing start left some Irish fans grumbling, and others wondering whether or not Kelly was truly cut out to be the head man in South Bend. But for the second year in a row, the coach has found a way to rally his team in the face of adversity, and yet again the Irish are finishing the stretch run of the season in strong fashion, as they’ve reeled off four straight wins.

Notre Dame now stands at 8-3, as the team prepares for its trip out west for this weekend’s big showdown with No. 6 Stanford.

The Irish still have a shot to salvage the season and finish with a double-digit win campaign, but the hopes of making it to a BCS bowl game have obviously faded.

Now fans will begin to look towards next season, which is setting up to be a big make-or-break year for both Kelly and his team.

The coach knows the pressure will be on next year and that excuses and sluggish starts won’t be tolerated anymore.

Luckily for Kelly, he’s going to have some nice pieces to work with next year.

Sure, star wide receiver Michael Floyd will be catching passes in the NFL, and dominant linebacker Manti Te’o will likely join him if gets a good enough grade from the draft advisory board, but there will still be a lot of emerging talent for Kelly to work with next year.

QB Tommy Rees is only going to keep maturing and developing, and then you’ve got guys like RB Cierre Wood, TE Tyler Eifert, DE Aaron Lynch, LB Dan Fox, WR Theo Riddick and OT Zack Martin that are all set up to have big campaigns next year.

Plus, you also have to remember the infusion of young talent we’ll see in 2012.

So far, you have to give credit to Kelly for his wild success on the recruiting trail. After pulling in a Top-10 recruiting class this year, the coach is set to reel in another star-studded crop next February, which is likely to include big names like WR Deontay Greenberry, CB Ronald Darby and DT Jarron Jones.

Kelly’s going to have some work to do this offseason, trying to rebuild the secondary and trying to figure out a way to cut down on his team's turnovers, but it’s clear he’s going to have some really nice pieces to work with next season.

Expectations will be high once again, because let’s face it, this is Notre Dame—expectations are high all the time, whether they’re warranted or not.

Kelly knows how important next season will be, now we just have to see if the coach can finally handle the pressure and get the most out of his talented team, something his predecessors couldn’t do.

The future is still bright in South Bend, but it’s up to Kelly to keep it that way.