Good afternoon, Everyone! Recently, I wrote a post over at FistfulofTalent.com (FOT) about Charlie Weis and his QOH debacle with Notre Dame. You can see the original article here.

After seeing the comment thread, I thought that RBC might be a super place to write a follow-up post and continue the conversation. Looking forward to your thoughts!

"Everyone, just wanted to take a moment to thank you for all your comments :) I'm a big believer that we all learn together, meaning from the conversation that follows.

Lance, you bring up a great point and one that I was expecting. "Clearly, the best past performance data to consider is prior head coaching positions at the college level."

This mirrors the belief that past performance alone isn't enough, meaning NFL experience is not relevant enough to be considered as a predictor of future performance. I don't disagree, however I'd ask the following:

How successful do you think Brian Kelly will be in the Notre Dame Head Coaching role? If we're going to say his experience is more 'relevant' than Weis's, then are we suggesting he is going to be highly successful as he was at the University of Cincinatti?

And for that matter, let's take this one step further -- are we oversimplifying the performance equation by only evaluating the variable of 'past performance' despite how relevant or irrelevant it may be? In other words, what about the other variables?

1. What about how the cold weather in South Bend isn't attractive to the hotbed of football talent in the Southeast, Texas, and California?

2. What about not only ability to politically handle the press, but the boosters as well?

3. What about the current attitude of Notre Dame players who were loyal to Weis (i.e. those he recruited)?

4. What about the negative press Kelly received in the way he departed the University of Cincinatti prior to the biggest bowl game in their history? Do we think his 'brand' was impacted, meaning in the minds of the players he's moving on to coach? Do you think they will be fully loyal to Kelly if they believe he'll leave them high and dry, just as he did at Cincinatti?