Like you, I don't understand the rationale for propping him up, such as in articles like you cite. There are probably a couple of things happening there, but both are beyond what I was really meaning.

My post was more directed at the perception of the ND team led by Kelly vis a vis its ranking among top teams rather than than Kelly's ranking among coaching peers.

Doesn't seem crazy. The reality is that the top has been dominated by a few coaches - Saban, Meyer, Dabo. Chryst seems awfully low, but I see that have Dantonio above Kelly and I assume that would change now.

The lists may not give a enough weight to the advantages of coaching at one of the top football schools and therefore give too much credit for a coach simply being at a football school.

In any event, as I have said here in the past, BK's specific level doesn't matter to me. Is he average, above average, good, very good? 5-15, 10-20, 15-25? I don't really care.

There is only one question on the results side of things - has he or can you reasonably expect that he will win an NC? That's it. No need to parse any farther.