Will Notre Dame Football Coach Brian Kelly Be Looking For A New Job Next Season? Defense Coordinator Brian VanGorder Fired [Update]


Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly failed to lead his team to a victory in today’s game against Duke. The 38-35 loss against the Blue Devils leaves the team struggling as they sit at 1-3 overall.

During the game, many fans were upset that the defense failed to show up, resulting in multiple unnecessary touchdowns by the Blue Devils. At times, the crowd chanted “VanGorder” repeatedly, as a way to signal that defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder is not fit to lead the team on the defensive side.

After the game, rather than defend his team’s poor performance, Kelly told the media that everyone on the team is now under evaluation and no one is guaranteed a spot on the field, according to ESPN.

“Every position, all 22 of them, will be evaluated. Each and every position. There is no position that is untouchable on this football team. And that’s the quarterback, all the way down to — maybe the long snapper’s OK. We’re not going to touch him. But everybody else is vulnerable.”

Kelly did not speak about his opinion on Brian VanGorder’s coaching style.

Although only four games into the season, fans are already guessing whether Brian Kelly will be replaced after the losing season, or if he will be given one more opportunity to prove himself as a coach. Unlike past coaches, Kelly is not one to place the blame of failure on others and takes full responsibility for his team’s performance.

“I must be doing a poor job. I’ve got to do a better job of finding out what those things are that are putting our football team in that position. But we got to have more of it.”

When the topic of his team’s poor defense was brought up, he simply stated that was the least of his concerns, according to USA Today.

“There are things that I want to get better at defensively, there’s no question. But that’s the least of my concerns after today,”

Although Kelly takes blame for his team’s poor performance, the one blame he places on his team is the lack of passion.

“They can’t burn for a long time. There’s no passion, There’s no passion for it. It looks like it’s hard to play. Like we’re pulling teeth. You’re playing football for Notre Dame. It looks like it’s work. Last I checked they were getting a scholarship to play this game. There’s no fun, there’s no enjoyment, there’s no energy. We’ve got to look for the guys that want to have fun and play this game with passion and energy and that’s where we got to go.”

Kelly’s demand to the Notre Dame football team is simple. If they want to play on the team, they need to “have some damn fire and energy in [them].”

Despite the plea of fans to fire Brian VanGorder, Brian Kelly feels comfortable with him in the position of defensive coordinator, claiming that the defensive performance on the field has nothing to do with the coaching, but instead with the players themselves.

Players like quarterback DeShone Kizer realize that the team is lacking in their passion to play, although he is not sure what to do to resolve the matter.

Recent Notre Dame coaches have faced the threat of termination when their team underperformed, much like Brian Kelly’s team is. Yet, there has been no word from Notre Dame about the potential of another head coach search.

Do you think Coach Kelly should be replaced? What about Brian VanGorder?

[Update]

Since the posting of this article, defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder has been terminated from the University of Notre Dame football staff.

[Featured Image by Jeremy R. Smith Sr./Shutterstock]

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