To any Notre Dame fans angry at the departure of Brian Kelly to LSU, they’d be better off channeling that emotion to being thankful for what he's leaving his successor.
Kelly’s 12 seasons included the resuscitation of the program from the ashes of the Charlie Weis era, the modernization of the program to compete in the sport's current climate and he capped that time by forging Notre Dame into an annual College Football Playoff contender.
Kelly’s most important legacy, even more than being Notre Dame's all-time winningest coach, is that he re-directed the program’s directory.