http://leanblitz.net/2012/07/toyota-way-principle-9-and-notre-dame-football/

I think the lack of staff turnover and following a blueprint that has been successful in other programs gives Kelly a leg up that will eventually be proven right. I believe in his process.

As a fervent supporter of CBK, how do you possibly explain the second half of the last game? After 2 full years of implementing your philosophy and coaching style, why such a monumental breakdown? Why abandon the first half strategy that had your opponent on the ropes? To me, it’s worst than the Navy game – at least in that one, Kelly never had the opponent figured out and had, evidently, no idea how to stop the bleeding. If he is so good at putting his players in position to succeed, why does he seem to sabotage his efforts with questionable calls? I agree that he is building the personnel for a great program, but he has far from convinced me that he knows why to do when he gets all these RKG’s on campus. Another year like last (i.e. turnovers, penalties, and dubious calls) and you’ll go from BK supporter to apologist.

My only disagreement with you here is about the BG game. You place erroneous significance on the playing order. Kelly started the competing QBs in pure order of seniority. That was made clear up front. There was no relationship between the order, the minutes played, and what defensive and offensive personnel there were on the field. The exception was Kiel, who wasn’t in the normal rotation and only played in the abbreviated second half.

It will never make sense to me
Something had to have been said or done in the locker room at half to precipitate such a move

THEN … HE STUCK WITH REES after he got a little worse every week, until the point where by the BC, Stanford and FSU games he was just unwatchable. Then he started him in the BG game because “we can’t embarrass Tommy and demote him in Spring”

WTF

If BK goes there again this year, it could be his ND epitaph

He has hands down down a great job of recruiting for and improving the D
He’s done a lousy job offensively.
They were ranked near the bottom of the NCAA last year in O efficiency.
I blame his love affair with Tommy Rees as the single biggest reason for that

If he goes with Rees again this year, all the good things he’s done for the program (and he’s done LOTS of good) will be undermined

Your choice BK. You want to move forward or stay stuck in neutral?

Bad English drives me nuts. “Could have” and “should have”
Or if you must, “could’ve” and “should’ve”

And remember, you can’t spell “nude” with out an “N” and a “D”
ND

1. Crist lost the coaches’ confidence in the first half of USF
2. Rees had good success in taking over from Crist the previous year.
3. Rees continued to do very well in practice, ostensibly at a virtual tie with Crist
4. Rees did better in the second half of the USF game than Crist did in the first half.
5. Key players such as Floyd and Eifert lobbied for Rees to start.
6. Coaches hoped and expected Rees to develop quickly and improve as he gained experience.

With that said, most/all of us here are mystified as why Rees continued as QB as his performance appeared to continually degrade. We saw everyone have unanswered questions like:

1. Why was Crist yanked so quickly?
2. Why wasn’t Crist given another chance, especially during periods where Rees struggled?
3. Why wasn’t Hendrix given more minutes, especially after the Air Force game where he had a stellar performance. Hendrix got zero the next few games and there was lots of opportunity to give him experience.
4. As the season progressed and Rees didn’t, why wasn’t he benched and others given a shot? Hell, we had guys wearing red hats that could have done better.
5. After Hendrix got the team going in the second half of Stanford following the first half where Rees did zero, why did Rees get the start at FSU?
6. Why is Rees still being considered for the starting job this year? We hear he picks up defensive reads before the snap better than anyone else, but unfortunately what happens after the snap is what counts, and there Rees has sucked. We know what Rees does in games and we all want something (far) better.

Seems I remember Cave saying he screwed up The Snap.

And, it also seems no one ever seems to comment on what the coaches see in practice with the QBs. Have any of the players ever commented?

Also remember that as a coaching staff building a program like this you need to put your players in situations to succeed. It’s nice to have a ton of talent like Kelly and company are bringing into South Bend. The next step to building this program up to greatness is aligning your players so they can have the best opportunity to succeed.

Kelly has done a much better job than NDs last few coaches at placing his players with a few exceptions. It’s very difficult to win games when players are being switched from DL to LB and then over to OL. I understand injuries forcing a coach to move a player out of position. Now Charlie and Ty moved players around like they were playing dress up with little dolls. Kelly has kept his moving of players to a minimum the last two years. The players he did have to move were the fault of poor recruiting by his predecessors who left Kelly very very thin at several positions.

This staff is just starting to build up a solid full rotation in the near future. By 2014 I don’t think Notre Dame will be in this same situation needing to move players out of their natural position.

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase ( he’s a big 6’3.) That can be the difference between one player versus another player. Now I’ve never seen these players up close and personal so I can’t say 100% this is the answer to your question. I know though that you look at someone and see what he weighs or how tall he his but your eyes don’t believe what you’re seeing. Take Manti or even Floyd for examples. Both players look bigger and play bigger than their weight and height show you. In my opinion this is the answer to your question.

It also could be that Kelly and company just didn’t want to recruit him so they gave him
Some B.S line. Haha

First, if you’ve ever coached a sport at the high school level or above you know that EVERY coaching decision made during a game is the right decision. The failure comes with either the coach not preparing his players well enough to execute the play OR the players failing to execute the play. Calling a hit and run in baseball or a QB sneak on 4th and 5 is ALWAYS a good call if it is executed. The failure of a head coach comes in the preparation BEFORE the game

And second, when BK was hired, i wondered if he would work out because i saw him as a solid coach that won by scoring 56 points against Big East opponents. So, while i thought his offensive philosophy would be a great addition to the ever evolving CFB world, i worried about the defensive side of the ball. It turns out, I was wrong (don’t tell my wife). The defensive side of the ball has been the most impressive part of his tenure….probably part of the reason why i have a man-crush on Bob Diaco.

You are right. Timidity was a poor choice of words. Uncertainty might be a better fit… Whatever word implies that there is a lot of second guessing on the players’ parts.

Here in lays the question much more than a problem. After all with the ton of mistakes both turnovers and penalties Notre Dame still had a decent season that could have been a breakout season with less mistakes.

I know could of and should of don’t win games but it shows people something. It’s one thing to see a team get beat because it doesn’t play hard and another to see a team lose because they haven’t learned how to win. I think ND is having success in this recruiting class more because of seen potential with the right attitude.

As far as Crist fumbling, did the shuttling contribute to that?
Maybe/maybe not. No way to know.

However you have to remember this: Up to that point Crist had played brilliantly on that drive. I think he even converted a 4th and 8 or something like that. So there was nothing timid about his play.

Last point: That single play might have been the most pivotal of the entire season. If Crist takes them in to score, perhaps he builds confidence with BK and maybe he wouldn’t have been so quick to trot Tommy back out there. Instead … well, never mind.

Your other examples of combo QB’s that worked aren’t really relevant. If Kelly HAD the trust of his team AND his team had built season long momentum, I might buy your argument. The cold truth is that neither of those things were in place because of a litany of poor decisions and player development had led to timidity on the field which equals death. Certainly the kids dropped the ball and Kelly didn’t, but the way he has handled his coaching duties thus far, the kids had already fumbled the ball in their heads before they took the field. And to mention Kelly at this point in relation to Meyer and Hoke is to demean the latter coaches’ accomplishments.

In the theme of this story, I’m really looking forward to seeing thiS defense in about 3 years. Not just better, but hopefully dominating like LSU and Alabama.

Having said that, you’re right – no new ground here
Onward.

Therein lies the problem.

We just disagree here, not worth going through this again.

Those three games – Stanford/FSU/BG – might be the three worst back to back to back QB performances I’ve ever seen.

So there is no predicting that Kelly finally “gets it” here. Someone said here that “you can’t embarrass Rees and not have him start the BG game. It would send the wrong message to the team”.

Really?

That is possibly the worst thing I’ve ever read on this board. Does anybody really think the players don’t know that Rees is overmatched? If BK had started Golson or Hendrix in the BG game the message that would have sent to the team would be “We’re moving on; we’re trying to get better at every position. We’ve got two other guys (3 counting Gunner) who are more talented, have worked hard and deserve a shot.”

Instead he ran Tommy out there because Tommy has been, is and always will be his boy. Stop me if you’ve heard this before but he was terrible.

So the point is that, as far as Rees being moved down the depth chart, I’ll believe it when I see it. It won’t shock me if he starts him in Ireland.

Again, while the QB situation generally can be laid at the feet of Kelly, the inability for a QB to take a snap, the failure of a CB to turn on a floating lob ball, or the bizarre quantum bounces of footballs are beyond his control.

I will also add that Kelly obviously realizes that he handled the QB situation badly. Else he would not have opened the competition given that the job normally is automatically inherited by the two-year starter.