Will the Latest Trouble at Notre Dame Finally Get Brian Kelly Fired?
As most of you probably know by now, Notre Dame football has been forced to vacate all their wins from 2012 and 2013 due to academic violations. This should all but assure that Brian Kelly gets fired either this week or this weekend.
First off, Notre Dame is in the midst of one of their worst seasons in about 5 years. They sit at 4-7 as I write this, and unless they somehow find a way to beat USC, they will be staying home during bowl season. You may have read that and thought that with 7 losses, they are ineligible for a bowl bid, but we did have some 5-7 teams make bowls last year because there are way too many bowl games. I don't think they have a chance to beat USC, so this whole point is basically moot, but you never know.
Kelly has thrown people under the bus all season long too, except for himself. This dreadful football year has been everyone's fault but his own. He has complained about his players, he has fired staff members, he has called out fans, as I said, it is everyone else's fault. Well, who is he going to blame now? Academic fraud starts at the top, and the top at Notre Dame is the head coach. He is the one that allowed these staffers to fudge the numbers and give, what he deemed, "important" players the grades they needed to play.
This is going to be a big, big mess for a university that has never really been in trouble like this. Sure, they have had bad seasons, right now as I already stated, but they have never been in this kind of trouble with the NCAA. The NCAA is a very flawed system, but this is one of the easier rules for the teams and players to follow. You need a certain GPA, and if you don't have the numbers, you cannot play. Simple as that. A lot of great players in multiple sports haven't gotten the grades and been forced to sit, or go to community college to get the grades. Well, Brian Kelly and his staff thought that they were above this, and this is going to hurt them very much in the long run. They are going to get sanctioned, there is no doubt in my mind.
I remember when Rich Rodriguez was at Michigan, and they got in trouble for over practicing. ESPN treated that like it was the end of the Michigan football program. They assumed it would be akin to what happened at SMU. I am very anxious to see how they treat this news. Academic fraud is way, way worse than some extra practices, but I feel like ESPN is in bed with Notre Dame, and most of the people there love Brian Kelly. I bet they will find any excuse to try and help Kelly and ND cover this up as best they can, but they won't succeed.
This is a big deal. You cannot give players fake grades. I know that it is a joke, but the student comes before the athlete. It always has, and it always will. The NCAA is definitely flawed in what they expect from "student-athletes", but they have never budged on the grades stuff. And, how hard is it really for these kids to go to class? School is easy, for most students. Hell, I did next to nothing in high school, and I graduated with a 2.6 GPA. All you really have to do is show up, study for the important tests, pass those, and you are good. But, Notre Dame felt they had the importance to not have these kids live up to that small expectation. People will blame the players and the staffers, but I blame Brian Kelly solely for this. He is the one who allowed this happen. He is the one who knew it was happening, didn't think he'd get caught, and let it continue to happen. He is the one that did not hold the accountable parties responsible for what they were doing. The kids are not to blame, and the staff is not to blame, Brian Kelly is to blame.
Notre Dame's season is going to end this Saturday after USC crushes them. Then, they will be investigated, and since they are a blue blood, they will be treated as such. They have already had to vacate the wins, but I see postseason bans possible, scholarships being taken away and a lot of mediocrity for the next 4 or 5 years. A lot of top flight recruits will stay away also because those kids want to play football well into January, and that will not be happening at ND anytime soon.
This horrible season for them just got a whole lot worse. Brian Kelly was already on the hot seat, but his previous seasons, mainly 2012, were his saving grace. Well, that is not the case anymore, since in the eyes of the NCAA, none of those games actually happened, just like the Fab five never went to the final Four, or Reggie Bush never won the Heisman, that is what Notre Dame's run to get blown out in the title game in 2012 is now, non existent. As I stated at the top, I do not see any way that Brian Kelly keeps this job, and this should be the final nail in his coffin. It is much deserved for that curmudgeon that never takes any responsibility, blames everyone else and thinks he is above the law. You are not above the law Brian Kelly, and you just got caught red handed. See you later.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. The only thing that would make Ty happier right now is for a certain team that rhymes with molverines beats a team that rhymes with duck eyes. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.
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