Kelly Green

After all the talk about relevancy and whether the football program will ever return to prominence, at least one thing is certain for Notre Dame - they got their #1 choice for head coach.

Brian Kelly agreed to take the reigns of the Irish on Thursday afternoon, news that has since been confirmed by Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick.

Sure it's not Urban Meyer or Bob Stoops; both of which were pipe dreams. It's also not a guy with any Super Bowl rings like Brian Billick, Jon Gruden, or (gasp!) Charlie Weis. Though not the sexiest candidate, Kelly fit into a lot of the criteria of the kind of coach Notre Dame needed to hire:

A COACH WITH ATTITUDE
Weis could be a jerk, but after a very abrasive first two years on the job, it seemed that he did a complete reversal. After being humbled during the 3-9 campaign in 2007, Weis seemed to coddle his players more, trying to be their friend instead of their coach. At least he showed some emotion - it was hard to detect a pulse with either Willingham or Davie on the sidelines.

Not to reach too far into the cliché bin, but Kelly does have some of that fire that Notre Dame hasn't seen since the days of Lou Holtz. Also, instead of coming off like a cocky jerk, Kelly's attitude comes off in a more favorable, old-school kind of way. Players, alumni, and the media all seem to eat it up.

A COACH THAT WON'T TRY TO CHANGE EVERYTHING
The reason why Rich Rodriguez has failed so far at Michigan is because he came in and blew everything up. He shifted from Michigan's physical, beat-you-in-the-trenches style of football which made them one of the country's most consistent winners, into a spread-attack. He went as far as running off Ryan Mallett, one of college football's great young quarterbacks, just because Mallett didn't fit his "style". The Wolverines would've been better served skipping the last two seasons, considering the overhaul of athletes that a drastic change of offensive philosophy requires.

Kelly already runs a West-Coast-esq offense at Cincinnati, similar to what Notre Dame has had in the decade since they ditched the option following the Davie era. Sure it has a few twists (i.e. primarily going no-huddle), but that should suit former five-star recruit Dayne Crist as well as future NFLers Michael Floyd and Kyle Rudolph just fine. Scoring points has never been a problem for Kelly's football teams.

A PROVEN, CONSISTENT WINNER ON THE COLLEGE LEVEL
What is the one common trait that Bob Davie, Tyrone Willingham, and Charlie Weis all shared? None of them had experience as a consistent winner as a college football head coach. Davie was a career-assistant during stints at Pittsburgh, Tulane, Texas A&M, and Notre Dame. As for Weis, the closest he ever got to the college game was his seat in the student section at Notre Dame Stadium in the late 70's. The only coach that had any experience at all was Willingham, who enjoyed a pedestrian 44-36-1 record in seven years at Stanford. That resume was bloated by a fluke Rose Bowl appearance in 1999 with an 8-4 football team.
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One fluke Rose Bowl didn't qualify Ty for a job like this

None of those coaches had the track record of Brian Kelly, who has gone 171-52-1 in 19 years as a college head coach. That includes a pair of Division-II National Championships at Grand Valley State (2002-03), a MAC Championship (2006) in a short three-year stint at Central Michigan, plus three 10+ win seasons, two Big East Titles (two BCS bowls), and a 34-6 overall record at Cincinnati. Another thing about Kelly is that the programs that he has coached have stayed at a high level. Grand Valley State has capture two more D-II Titles (2005-06) and a 36-2 record in the last three seasons. Ditto for Central Michigan, who has won back-to-back MAC titles and gone to bowl games in every year since Kelly's departure.

A COACH THAT CAN DEVELOP TALENT
Maybe the only good thing Charlie Weis did for Notre Dame was proving that top-level talent could still be drawn to South Bend. But, once they got to campus, none of them seemed to get better (see: Young, Sam). Willingham, who spent a majority of his time on the golf course, was one of the worst recruiters in Notre Dame history. Davie rode Holtz's coattails as long as he could, but eventually his bland personality turned prospects away.

Kelly hasn't exactly set the recruiting world ablaze, but he has proven to be a great developer of talent. Not a single member of Cincinnati's current senior class was rated higher than a two-star prospect. To put that in perspective, every single starter for Notre Dame this season was at least a three-star recruit. There are only three scholarship players that were rated as two-stars on their entire roster. I'd still rather have a 34-6 record with kids that didn't have all the accolades, rather than a 35-27 mark with star-studded recruiting classes.

Hiring Brian Kelly may not have been a grand slam, but at the very least he has to be a bases-clearing double for the Irish. He could fail, just like his predecessors did, but it's far more likely he finds success. Immediate results may not come like they did with both Willingham and Weis, but sustained success is what Notre Dame is looking for.

They may have finally found it.