How good will it get with Brian Kelly?

Don’t get me wrong, under Brian Kelly the state of the Notre Dame program is the best it’s been since Lou Holtz left after the 1996 season. The talent pool is as good as it’s ever been. Notre Dame has been back in the national spotlight multiple times. The Irish are so far removed from the dark days of Weis and Willingham. With that being said, will the Irish ever win big under Kelly? Win big as in consistently competing for championships.

We just saw LSU fire Les Miles who was averaging 10 wins a year, and thats at LSU, a school that pales in comparison to Notre Dame in terms of football history. Kelly is currently averaging 9.3 wins a season. If 10 wins a year doesn’t cut it at LSU, nine wins a year sure as heck doesn’t cut it at Notre Dame.

What we’ve seen from Kelly so far, is what we’re going to get. We’ll see them win eight or nine games a year, with a few years of 10 or 11 wins sprinkled in. Just enough to keep us believing that maybe one day they’ll knock down that door. That simply shouldn’t cut it at Notre Dame.

Do I sound a little greedy? Probably, especially in today’s college football climate where there really are only two 1000 lb. gorillas in Alabama and Ohio State. But if you’re Notre Dame it should be time to start getting greedy.

It should make the Notre Dame administration sick that schools like Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State are able to field teams that are able to compete for and win championships. And don’t give me the narrative that Notre Dame’s academic standards are too strict because Stanford doesn’t have too much trouble churning out championship caliber football teams. The one thing common with those four schools is that they have REALLY good coaches.

If Notre Dame is serious about winning championships, or at least consistently competing for them, maybe it’s time to start thinking about the head coach. Kelly has turned Notre Dame back into a good program, but Irish fans don’t demand a good program they demand a great program. I don’t know if we’ll see that under Kelly.

Kelly has brought Notre Dame back to relevancy, but is he the guy to bring the Irish all the way back? It may be time to start pondering that question.