The college football landscape has already made it move on from the 2020-21 season and has turned its head to the ‘21-22 campaign. With the offseason in full swing, The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman and Stewart Mandel ranked the top 25 coaching in the sport. You’ll be pleasantly surprised to see where Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly ended up on their individual lists.
Starting with Feldman’s, Kelly was ranked (subscription) behind only Alabama’s Nick Saban and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney. A top 3 ranking is lofty but as Feldman explained that Kelly “hasn’t led the Fighting Irish to a national title but he’s produced a bunch of really good teams and elevated the program.”
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That some high praise from a reporter who’s been covering the sport for a very long time.
As for Mandel, he actually agreed with his top three choices, once again Kelly getting ranked (subscription) behind Saban and Swinney. Mandel pointed out that Kelly has led the Irish to 10-plus wins five times over the last six years, something the “Irish did that just twice in the 16 seasons prior to his arrival.”
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There are obvious blemishes on Kelly’s record, most notably the failures in big game situations in the old BCS format and the current College Football Playoff’s. Interestingly enough, Kelly lost to both the coaches ranked ahead of him this past season. If those are his only detractors, then both Feldman and Mandel hit this one right on the head. Brian Kelly is one of the best coaching in all of college football.