You touched on what I think is the key to rebuilding ND

by Greg, seemingly ranch, Friday, February 03, 2012, 13:16 (5241 days ago) @ FunkDoctorSpock

While the question remains as to whether Kelly can be an elite coach, I have little doubt that by his fifth year he will have a program that has a strong foundation and will be capable of moving forward at a clip that at the very least sees us winning in the area of 9 games per season. Is that THE GOAL? No, it's not. Is that what made Notre Dame in years gone by? No, it's not. But I think it's somewhere we have to get if we are ever going to have a shot at making it all the way back.

Both the ND administration and the ND fanbase need to get this drummed into their heads and need to view the Kelly era in this light. We've been mediocre or worse since 1994 (with seasons of "return to glory" promise mixed in that were followed by shit sandwiches). That's 17 years of mediocrity. It was 15 when Kelly arrived; have we seen any change in the last two that would indicate that problems underlying the mediocrity are being fixed, even if the changes are not bearing fruit on the field yet? I say yes; it is my understanding that others see nothing changing.

At some point, we need to get to where we are consistently a 9-win team. That'll mean a few 7-5s mixed in with a few 11-1s, but consistently we're in that range instead of sporting 5-7s or 3-9s. We can't vault from where we are today to being back in the top 10 in 3 years. Just can't happen, and no reference to 1964 or 1987 is going to make me think otherwise.