re: What brian kelly did right that coaches of mich, tenn, nebraska, texas haven't?

One thing Kelly does right is that he has very little patience with below average assistant coaches. After Notre Dame had that horrendous 4-8 season a few years ago, he canned both of his coordinators. He also didn't retain Chip Long as his offensive coordinator who wasn't terrible by any means but failed to meet up to Kelly's standards. An absolutely essential quality to having sustained success as a head coach in CFB is 1) Having very little loyalty to assistant coaches and evaluating them strictly on a performance-based level and 2) Having a keen eye for hiring good assistant coaches. Kelly fits into both categories which is why he's still going strong after a decade at Notre Dame.