He has arrived

After much speculation and basically a week of deliberation, Brian Kelly was officially named Head Coach of the Fighting Irish.

It comes as no surprise to anyone, really. Kelly was one of the most successful D-II coaches in the country at Grand Valley State University, where he went 118-35-2, with 2 national championships.

He then went on to Central Michigan University, revamped their program, and won a MAC Championship in his third season. When a higher-level team came calling in Cincinnati, Kelly departed and built another strong football team.

The Bearcats went 10-3, 11-3, and 12-0 in his three full season there. His high-flying spread offense put points in bunches on the board, and even his defenses were solid. Kelly now has the chance to coach on the greatest stage of all, at one of the most historically-prominent schools in all of college football.

Though Notre Dame has been "down" for quite some time, there still is an immense draw to coaching there. Using the school's name alone, Kelly will be able to recruit regions he's never historically recruited like California, Texas, and elsewhere. Being a midwest native, Kelly will still have access to all the players he's recruited for the last 20+ years.

As a Michigan fan, this scares this shit of me for two reasons. 1- Kelly will now be in an even better position to compete for many of our recruits. And 2- With Michigan playing him every year, and Kelly's ability to develop low-level recruits (See Cincinnati's recruiting classes), I'm slightly afraid to see what he'll do with all the blue-chip recruits Notre Dame can get.

The one challenge standing in Kelly's way is defense. Notre Dame's biggest obstacle in being successful this decade has been the lack of a real dominant (or in recent years - good) defense. Now, word on the street is Kelly will be bringing in his former defensive coordinator (and current GVSU Head Coach) Chuck Martin. If Martin can whip the Domer's defense into a more respectable unit, and knowing Kelly's offensive prowess, then Notre Dame may just turn into the machine everyone believed they would be when Charlie Weis took over.