Notre Dame Football: Can Irish court better coach than Brian Kelly?

The crop of young talent is appealing but unlikely to justify switch

A coach like Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma or Scott Frost at Nebraska is an attractive proposition in terms of landing a younger coach. But with both guys in prime situations at powerhouses of their own, there is no reason to think either would want to leave their current positions for a new job.

Then there is a coach like Josh Heupel, who followed Frost at UCF and kept the winning streak going in Orlando. Going to the Group of Five well, though, is not going to be much of a hit with the fan base.

Matt Campbell, Justin Fuente, and Dino Babers offer potential candidates to step into the role and build the Irish back up. But none offer the level of experience that makes them any more attractive than Kelly was when he came in to the position, and there is no guarantee that they would be able to generate a title opportunity every five to six seasons like Kelly has mustered.

When it boils down to it, the sting of the Cotton Bowl loss is going to make it very tempting to take a knee-jerk reaction and ditch Kelly. But without any comprehensive plan in place for getting things sorted out in South Bend, it would be unwise to get rid of a coach that is hardly someone to scoff about.

Kelly’s resume both recent and historical makes him probably the best candidate that the Irish would be able to land on the open market at this point. It would be foolish to toss him aside now after a 12-1 season ended in a disappointing finish.