Racist or stupid, a Final Thought

 I suppose more people than not are saying "God bless Brian Kelly" around the University of Notre Dame these days, even if he's now into quarterback timeshares and there are still soreheads who are mad he hasn't won a national title yet. 

But you generate a lot of good will when you're good enough long enough to put Knute Rockne in your wake. And winning national titles isn't as easy as it used to be for a lot of reasons, not all of them spelled "Alabama." 

So, yeah, God bless Brian Kelly. He saved Domerville from Jon Gruden, after all.

Follow along, kiddos ...

First off, everyone in America knows what Gruden is now, which is an unemployed gaping orifice fond of spewing racist, homophobic and misogynist trash. In this, he's likely no different than a pile of folks in the NFL who weren't stupid enough to air their caveman-ery in e-mails. There are calls out there now to purge the league of any and all Gruden fellow travelers, which is frankly hilarious. You might as well try to purge the Sahara of sand.

But back to Notre Dame.

Remember a few years back, before Notre Dame found its (presumably) forever coach?

Back then Jon Gruden's name popped up every time some high-gloss college job came up, and that included Notre Dame. At least some of the speculation was tied to the fact he was a South Bend boy, a proud graduate of Clay High School. The rest was tied to the perception that he was some sort of wizard coach, a notion that never was supported by the facts. 

He was a barely .500 NFL coach who won a Super Bowl in Tampa with Tony Dungy's defense. That's what he was. But somehow he was everyone's answer.

In any case, Someone up there was looking out for Notre Dame, because the school never hired Gruden. Can you imagine if it had, and what's come out about him in the last week or so came out while he was patrolling the Irish sideline?

Now, Notre Dame has had its share of public relations messes, most of them attributable at least in part to its hubris. Kelly, certainly, has presided over his share -- up to and including the death of a student worker on his watch, for which he was never fully held accountable.

Jon Gruden would have been yet one more nuclear mess. 

And so, again: God bless Brian Kelly.