Tag: Charlie Weis (Page 4 of 7)

      Notre Dame fires Charlie Weis

      November 30, 2009 /

      In a move that will shock next to nobody, Notre Dame fired head coach Charlie Weis on Monday according to NBC Sports.com.

      In the end, Weis went 35-27 in his five years as Irish head coach, a .565 winning percentage that was worse than the .583 posted by his two predecessors, Tyrone Willingham and Bob Davie. They were both fired, too. He leaves with one of the worst winning percentages of any Fighting Irish coach: Only four of Notre Dame’s previous 27 coaches won at a lower percentage.

      Among the people considered likely candidates are Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly, TCU coach Gary Patterson and Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh. The task for athletic director Jack Swarbrick, who is in his second year on the job, is to find a coach who can end the longest title drought in Notre Dame history.

      It’s amazing to think that when it’s all said and done, Weis was one of the worst to ever coach at Notre Dame. He got off to such a promising start, but his crop of recruits never panned out (save for quarterback Jimmy Clausen and receiver Golden Tate), especially on the defensive side of the ball.

      It’ll be interesting to see where Weis will wind up after this. My guess would be in the NFL as an offensive coordinator, but I’m sure smaller programs would love to have him as their head coach. If he does stay in the collegiate ranks, it would be interesting to see if he would have any success or if his future is in the NFL as a coordinator.

      I would like to see what Brian Kelly could do at Notre Dame. The man turned little known Grand Valley State into a D-3 powerhouse, Central Michigan in a MAC champion and Cincinnati into a national title contender. That’s not to say that he’ll have success at Notre Dame too, but give him three years and I’m willing to bet that he’ll make a winner out of the Irish yet again.

      That said, it would also be nice if a coach like Kelly showed a little loyalty to his program. He left CMU in the lurch right before the Motor City Bowl a couple years ago and to coach at Notre Dame, he would have to do the same to Cincinnati. I realize the opportunity to coach at Notre Dame doesn’t come around often for head coaches, but the Bearcats finally have something brewing and Kelly is the reason for that.

      Again, it would be nice to see a college coach stick around for longer than 2-3 years before screwing their program.

      College Football

      Quinn calls possible Weis firing a “horrible decision”

      November 27, 2009 /

      Brady Quinn is standing by his former college coach and says that Notre Dame should too.

      From ESPN.com:

      “Personally I think it would be a horrible decision if they did make that change,” Quinn said. “I think there are a lot of circumstances that play into seasons like this. Hopefully he’ll have an opportunity to have another year with the guys.”
      Quinn said it’s tough to pinpoint why the Fighting Irish have slipped nationally.

      “I know as a player there, one of the things we prided ourselves on was winning games and not worrying about stats or individual accolades, but pulling through tight games and winning games and going in there and fighting every week,” Quinn said.

      “I think if you’ve got enough talent on that team, there’s guys that need to pull together and start finding ways to win.”
      One of the arguments often given for Notre Dame’s struggles is that the school’s high academic standards make it difficult to recruit. Quinn sees it differently.

      “It plays to their advantage, too, that smart players on the team are able to do a lot more from a schematic standpoint and prepare for teams in better fashion than other teams,” he said.

      It’s nice of his former player to stick up for him in the media, but Weis is done. It’s apparent that he can’t get Notre Dame to where it wants to be and he can’t recruit on the defensive side of the ball.

      The real question is whether or not Weis will wind up back in the NFL or if he’ll stay in the college ranks. He’ll find a job somewhere (most likely it won’t be as a head coach), so it’ll be interesting to see where he winds up. My guess is that he’ll take over as an offensive coordinator back in the pros, but who knows at this point.

      College Football

      A sign of things to come? ND nixes Weis’ recruiting trip

      November 25, 2009 /

      Charlie Weis has been informed that his West Coast recruiting trip has been canceled and that he’ll return to South Bend following the Irish’s game with Stanford on Saturday.

      From FOX Sports.com:

      Athletic director Jack Swarbrick said Tuesday during a taping of his radio show for WLS Radio 890 in Chicago, which normally airs on Saturday, that Weis will fly back with the team.

      Weis had said Sunday he planned to stay on the West Coast recruiting, just as he had last year when he and Swarbrick met to discuss his future after the regular-season finale at USC.

      A message seeking comment was left for Swarbrick on his cell phone Tuesday evening by The Associated Press. Swarbrick’s comments became public after Weis’ weekly news conference on Tuesday.

      Weis wasn’t in a reflective mood at what could be the final weekly news conference at his alma mater. Two days after saying he couldn’t argue if Notre Dame officials decided to fire him with a 6-5 record, Weis set the tone with his opening comment: “I have a news flash. We have a football game this Saturday evening against Stanford, so let’s see if we can’t talk about that,” he said.

      The writing is on the wall: Weis is done in South Bend regardless of how the team does this week at Stanford.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      College Football

      Is Notre Dame still an elite coaching job?

      November 23, 2009 /

      Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports thinks so:

      Anyone who thinks Notre Dame isn’t still an elite job doesn’t know anything about how college football works. By beating USC, Florida and Texas for more than his fair share of coveted prospects the last few years, Weis dispelled the theory that top talent no longer want to play at a tradition-rich, academically strong school that’s on national television every week.
      He had enough players to go 10-2 this year. He just couldn’t coach them.

      Weis’ recruiting work is why this is actually a better job today than five years ago.

      I don’t think there’s any question that Notre Dame is still an elite job. The program is always in the national spotlight and a head coach could become one of the kings of college football if he wins in South Bend.

      But the problem is that the job has become a black hole for failure and the microscope that head coaches are constantly under while coaching at Notre Dame can certainly wear on someone. (Although maybe that was only true for Weis given the way Tyrone Willingham was ushered out before him.)

      Wetzel references Cincinnati’s Brian Kelly as the perfect replacement for Weis. Given how Kelly has won everyone he’s gone, that certainly wouldn’t be a bad fit – especially if Jimmy Clausen (who could put up even better numbers in Kelly’s offense) sticks around another season. Plus, considering the way Kelly had no qualms about leaving Central Michigan in the lurch to join Cincinnati, I’m sure he’d have no issues about pulling the ripcord on the Bearcats in order to coach in South Bend.

      College Football

      Notre Dame should cut its losses with Weis and move on

      November 16, 2009 /

      Notre Dame should fire head coach Charlie Weis at the end of the season and I don’t write that only because the Irish lost to Pittsburgh on Saturday night.

      Anyone that has watched a decent amount of Big East football this year knows that PITT has a good team – much better than Notre Dame anyway. The Panthers’ passing attack might not be as potent as ND’s, but they can certainly put points on the board and they play much better defense.

      So it isn’t surprising that the Irish lost last weekend in Pittsburgh. What would be surprising is if Weis kept his job now that one of his teams is once again underachieving.

      At Notre Dame, everything is set up for the Irish to at least make some kind of a run at a BCS Bowl bid – if not a national championship. They play a cupcake schedule (more than other collegiate teams, that is), they play most of their games at home and they play on national television every week so that voters can overrate their performances.

      But despite all of these benefits, the Irish continue to flounder under Weis. It’s not enough for the Irish to lose at home to Navy, but they also lost to a dysfunctional, horrible Michigan team in Ann Arbor and were never really in the game against Pittsburgh even though the final score would indicate otherwise.

      Oh, they did have a chance to tie and possibly beat USC this year. But big freaking deal. The past couple weeks have proven that this is the worst Pete Carroll-led Trojans team ever, so sniffing a win against USC is hardly grounds to keep Weis for another season.

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      College Football

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