Kelly unhappy with ND offense

Submitted by ChitownWolverine82 on
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/football/ncaa/03/31/notre.dame.ke… Well its good to see that they are further behind in their progress then we expected. They can get good once we've established a winning season with a positive future outlook. Nothing could be more obnoxious then hearing the MSM talk about how much quicker ND improved under a new coach.

spacemanspiff231

April 1st, 2010 at 11:00 AM ^

Kelly will be gone in a couple of years anyway. Who knows how he will do as a head coach there, but if he doesn't do well, he'll be fired, if he does well, he'll be moving on to the NFL. Everyone knows that Kelly's not going to stop until he gets to the top. Notre Dame is just another platform for his ascension to him. Either way, he's not gonna be there long.

Captain Obvious

April 1st, 2010 at 10:02 AM ^

I'm all for motivating your team in that way at practice - but telling the media that his offense stinks, they are slow to pick up basics, there's nothing positive right now and that his (injured) quarterback is doing terribly fundamentally is pretty weak. Way to instill confidence, coach! I suppose he is just trying to lower expectations, but like, sorry. It's ND and they will can your ass in a few years if you don't produce.

OysterMonkey

April 1st, 2010 at 10:23 AM ^

He's a really good football coach, but he has the reputation of being an impatient asshole with his players. I live in Cinci and watched a lot of UC games over the last few years, and he is really hard on his players, especially the QBs. People freaked out a bit last year when Rodriguez got on Tate in the Iowa game, but that was pretty much how Kelly treated his quarterbacks after every possession that didn't end in a touchdown.

Tater

April 1st, 2010 at 1:07 PM ^

To me, it looked more like he was trying to get a kid who he didn't know had a concussion to respond in something other than non-sequiturs. Also, Kinnick Stadium isn't the quietest stadium in the world, so yelling might have been appropriate. I don't think RR has done anything to "throw" any player "under the bus" since he has been at UM. If anything, RR has been kind to them in the media. I have a feeling he can "bring it" when the cameras and microphones are off, though. That is how it should be.

OysterMonkey

April 1st, 2010 at 1:58 PM ^

My point was really more that at UM Rodriguez is in a fishbowl, and everybody is ready to jump on him for anything that even seems questionable. At UC, Kelly could basically do whatever he wanted because most of his games were on ESPN+ and nobody paid too much attention to his sideline demeanor. Presumably that'll change at ND, and we'll see if his assholery gets noted like I think it ought to.

ShockFX

April 1st, 2010 at 10:03 AM ^

I'm not sure how much his players like being called lazy though. He's been pretty negative on them so far.

KinesiologyNerd

April 1st, 2010 at 10:11 AM ^

As far as I remember, he just stuck to his usual "oh we gotta improve everything, but we'll get there" line. I like that better than calling out specific players. The interesting thing now is that he has slowly gotten more and more positive as the last three seasons have progressed. It's good to see him acknowledging players really stepping it up too.

ijohnb

April 1st, 2010 at 10:25 AM ^

I think that RR was pretty open with his frustration with Threet/Sheridan. He may not have used their names, but there was a lot of space between the lines. This actually seems remarkably similar to RR's rhetoric during his first few months. I remember him being almost painfully modest and saying things like "not after I got here" in response to questions regarding whether he thought the transition would be easier. And we all remember the "we will play hard" guarantee at the BB game.

jblaze

April 1st, 2010 at 10:13 AM ^

but ND fans will understand our pain in switching from a pro to spread offense. It's interesting, to say the least that Kelly is so openly critical (another parallel to RR, not in being critical, but in being open with the media).

spacemanspiff231

April 1st, 2010 at 11:18 AM ^

Kelly's spread is completely different from Rich Rod's. In Kelly's spread, a mobile quarterback is not at all required. It's much like Texas Tech's spread, a west-coast offense. It's interesting, Deanthony Arnett said that he wouldn't mind playing in the spread, but he doesn't want to play in a "gimmicky" offense. It pissed me off when he said that, because he was referring directly to our offense. When he's talking about playing in the spread, he's referring to something like Texas Tech or, now, Notre Dame. The transition won't be as rough for Notre Dame b/c they don't have to change the type of players that run their offense, whereas we did. Notre Dame can pick up from where they left off with all of the same personnel. They will just be running a different scheme that they need to learn.

SysMark

April 1st, 2010 at 10:24 AM ^

Seems like classic coach-speak, lowering expectations, but he does seem more than a little harsh. I hope they continue to stink through Game 2 this fall.

OHbornUMfan

April 1st, 2010 at 10:39 AM ^

BKell takes some interesting paths to motivate his teams. To get his team pumped against Florida, he went so far as to take another job. Those players were fired up!! Although, retrospectively, it seems that he drew more of their ire than the Gators did. Hey, you can't win 'em all.

Don

April 1st, 2010 at 10:40 AM ^

There's not a single comment by Kelly that's remotely harsh. He's simply telling like it is and setting expectations. A good coach has to do that when he's inheriting players from a previous regime. Any ND player who gets his panties in a bunch about those comments won't last three weeks with Kelly, or any other coach for that matter. The difference in media reaction will be another matter, as compared to RR, but we knew that going in. Kelly's a glib, smooth-talking urban northern guy with a bit of the blarney in him, whereas RR is a small-town hick from WV with an accent to prove it and an unsophisticated, straightforward speaking style. Northern sports media assholes will slobber all over Kelly (at least until he starts losing more than he wins) while they'll sneer forever at RR.

blueblueblue

April 1st, 2010 at 10:47 AM ^

"The difference in media reaction will be another matter, as compared to RR, but we knew that going in." I am guessing that I speak for a lot of us in that we had no idea what we were in for in terms of the local media's treatment of Rich Rod. And I can't even say that in retrospect we should or could have known.

Hannibal.

April 1st, 2010 at 10:53 AM ^

I will be watching Notre Dame's progress with great interest. Will they have the same growing pains as RichRod's 2008 team, or will the come out firing on all cylinders? If ND's offense looks good in their game against us and we lose, Rodriguez had better start polishing up his resume.

Hannibal.

April 1st, 2010 at 1:18 PM ^

You are forgetting that Rodriguez also inherited two more starters (Boren and Mallett) who decided that they didn't want to play for him. Three if you include Arrington, who gave up his senior year to be a seventh round draft pick. Notice how there hasn't been a mass exodus from Notre Dame yet, even with the numerous players recruited to play a completely different type of offense. Crist's knee isn't even fully healthy this spring. Rodriguez apologists have been saying for two years how unreasonable it is to expect a coach to win with players that weren't recruited for his system. If this is true, then Notre Dame's offense should still look pretty ugly and primitive in game #2, and ours should look light years better. Let's see if this happens. If Kelly succeeds immediately at ND, it will make Rodriguez look even worse than his 7-16 vs. I-A record has already made him look.

blueblueblue

April 1st, 2010 at 1:32 PM ^

The comparison will make RR look worse only to someone who has had a lobotomy and happens to also be legally blind. Whether you are for or against RR, drawing comparisons between his start-up time at UM and Kelly's at ND is grasping for something that is just not there. The contexts, cultures, institutions, etc., etc., are just too different for a meaningful comparison.

MCalibur

April 1st, 2010 at 3:14 PM ^

I'm not forgetting that at all. We can sit here and speculate all day whether or not Mallet would have stayed which would have convinced Arrington to stay, whatever, and not make any progress in the matter. I'm not interested in that conversation. Not to mention it's irrelevant to my point which is: when foot met leather in 2008, Michigan had 2 players with starting experience on their offensive roster. You can call that being an apologist if you'd like; I call it stating facts. Even if you assume Boren and Mallet has stayed you're still only talking about 4 returning starters...my point still stands. Not to mention Crist+Floyd are much more suitble for Kelly's spread than Threet/Sheridan + ??? were for RichRod's spread. Again, ignore if you want. It's a relevant point. Also, the circumstances around the coaching transition at ND are much different than they were at Michigan. But, that's a different post.

Hannibal.

April 1st, 2010 at 11:51 PM ^

Crist and Floyd are both prototypical pro style offense players and all of their linemen were recruited for Weis's system. Just like ours. I don't expect ND to go 3-9 in Kelly 's first year, but Michigan should have a massive advantage on offense, don't you think? If that advantage doesn't materialize, it's a really bad reflection on Rodriguez.

MCalibur

April 2nd, 2010 at 1:30 AM ^

Hang on, you're changing topics here. You started off by saying, or at least implying, that the speed at which ND's players adapt to Kelly's system has something to do with the speed at which Michigan's players adapted to Rodriguez's system. I disagree completely and you've provided nothing new for me to consider. Now, as to your new point--Crist is a prototypical passer and Floyd is a prototypical receiver; both with starting experience and demonstrated proficiency. Their respective skill has nothing to do with the system/formation they are deployed in. Both those guys are way better than anyone Rodriguez had available to him at their respective positions both of which are highly important to offensive success (check out Mathlete's work); you can't deny that. If you want to say that the skills needed (ie. run route, throw pass) to execute a slant or a post are different within a spread as compared to pro-style offense, go right ahead. I would disagree there as well. But you have to admit that the skills needed to successfully execute an option read are way different that those needed to throw a slant; right? As for the lineman I think the problem has less to do with system and more to do with experience ... advantage ND-2010, Look at the ND's roster. Armando Allen (SR, starter), Michael Floyd (Sr, starter), Duval Kamara (Sr, starter), Kyle Rudolph (Jr, starter), and 2 returning starters on the O-line interior. Add to that a QB and another interior lineman who were key players in 2009. Then all you have to do is call plays out of the shotgun instead of a power-I or single-back or whatever...it's just a better fit. Go ahead and deny it...suit yourself. Bottom line is that Kelly doesn't have to make the decisions RichRod needed to make. He doesn't have to choose between fitting square pegs into round holes and making his round holes square ones. That's not RichRod's fault, its Bill Martin's. All Kelley has to do is install his system then call his plays. His is a drastically different, and simpler, situation. He should be more successful in year one, but that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with his coaching ability which, by the way, I believe to be high. In my view, Kelly can only hurt his image this year but he can't enhance it. He's expected to succeed. No different than RichRod. Finally, an offense does not need to demonstrate an advantage over the opposing offense, it needs to defeat the opposing defense. ND's offensive success has nothing to do with Michigan's offensive success what so ever. But to answer your question, maybe Michigan has an advantage offensively continuity-wise over ND this coming year but, it's not as big as you're making it out to be. Match-up wise...I'd put ND off vs. Mich def as advantage Notre Dame. And, oh yeah, they'll be at home. Regardless, the concern with Michigan this year is not the offense, its the defense. Or do you want to argue that as well?