College Football: 25 greatest head coaches of the 21st century

Best college football coaches of 21st century: 12. Brian Kelly

• Grand Valley State Lakers (1991-03)
• Central Michigan Chippewas (2004-06)
• Cincinnati Bearcats (2007-09)
• Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2010-Present)

There are certainly pros and cons that come with being the head coach of Notre Dame. Very few college football programs have the legacy and history of the Fighting Irish. However, being independent from every conference gives them a microscopic margin of error. Despite the pros and cons, Brian Kelly has done so well with Notre Dame.

Notre Dame has made it to a BCS Championship game and multiple College Football Playoff games under Kelly’s regime. However, they haven’t performed well in these games. Nonetheless, undefeated regular seasons are incredibly tough to achieve, and Kelly did it multiple times.

However, Kelly has also struggled with Notre Dame at times. Most of the top coaches of this century don’t have a season without earning bowl eligibility, but Notre Dame went 4-8 between 10-win seasons in 2016. Many thought he was on the hot seat after that year. However, he righted the ship, and things have been better in the past few seasons.

Notre Dame wasn’t Kelly’s first landing spot as an FBS head coach. He started with Central Michigan with a few average seasons, and he later went to be the head coach at Cincinnati. He won at least 10 games every year he was with the Bearcats, and he ended with a 13-0 record in his final season before going to Notre Dame.

The lack of a national championship will always be a bad point on Kelly’s legacy, but he has still done a lot to keep Notre Dame relevant while he’s been there. He’s one of the best active coaches in college football, and that puts him at the middle of the top 25.