Brian Kelly is a polarizing figure among the Notre Dame fan base. Some love him for taking Notre Dame out of the doldrums of twenty years of mediocrity. Others can’t stand him for some of his faults that nearly kept the Irish continuing that mediocrity and resent him for not winning a national title yet. ESPN, on the other hand, just ranked the hiring of Brian Kelly in 2009 as one of the best college football hires of the last quarter-century.
ESPN ranked the top 25 hires in all of college football since 1995, and Brian Kelly came in ranked 13th on their list.