The 2016 season was an abject disaster for the Notre Dame football team. The 4-8 record. The loss to Duke at home, the hurricane game, the USC debacle. The program was reeling, ads were taken out in the student newspaper calling for the job of Brian Kelly, and predictably recruiting was struggling. Heading into December of that year, the class was sitting on 14 commitments, and with the staff overhaul that was taking place, things were looking rather bleak.
The new staff came in, they got right to work and they finished with a flourish, nabbing seven commitments from December to February, and saving the class, which ended up 10th nationally.