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
]]> https://www.scoresreport.com/2009/11/25/a-sign-of-things-to-come-nd-nixes-weis%e2%80%99-recruiting-trip/feed/ 1 https://www.scoresreport.com/2009/11/23/is-notre-dame-still-an-elite-coaching-job/ Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:00:31 +0000 https://www.scoresreport.com/?p=29660 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.

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.

Forget the schedule, all the home games and the national TV spotlight for a second: What has Weis done to improve his team? His offense is good, but the man clearly can’t recruit defensive talent. Anyone who watched that game Saturday night saw an Irish defense that can’t tackle, is slow on all three levels and one that can’t generate much pressure. I could only imagine what Texas, TCU or Boise State would do to that defense.

Weis’ time in South Bend is over. I don’t know what further proof the University needs to make a change at the end of the year, outside of it being chained down by his big contract. (Although money has never been an issue for Notre Dame, so I don’t know why it would be now.)

Notre Dame should cut its losses and move on – especially if Jimmy Clausen decides to turn pro after the season. I’d hate to see what a Clausen-less offense would look like under Weis.

Charlie Weis will return for a fifth year as Notre Dame’s football coach despite posting his second straight disappointing season.

A person familiar with the decision said the university will make the official announcement later Wednesday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had not been authorized for release.

Weis has seven years left on a 10-year contract signed midway through his first season.
Athletic director Jack Swarbrick said following Notre Dame’s 38-3 loss to USC on Saturday that he would evaluate Weis’ performance. Both men were out of town Wednesday.

The decision to keep Weis was first reported by several media outlets Tuesday night.

Weis will have another shot at trying to return Notre Dame to prominence after posting back-to-back seasons of 3-9 and 6-6. The 15 losses are the most by Notre Dame in a two-year span.

I wrote on Tuesday how I thought Weis would return for at least one more season because quarterback Jimmy Clausen would be a junior and thus, he would have two full years of starting experience in Weis’s offense.

But make no mistake – next year is it for Weis. If he can’t turn around Notre Dame’s sinking ship than there won’t be anything to debate – he’ll be shown the door.

Weis’ buyout was once reportedly $10 million, but recent estimates have claimed it to be closer to the $4 or $5 million mark. Either way, that’s an insane, insane amount of money for any college — let alone one with the financial necessities of a private school — to be paying just to be rid of a football coach. There’s a chance some anonymous donor could pony up the cash, but … well, it’s $5 million.

People aren’t exactly lined around the block for the chance to pay Weis $5 million to go away.
Perhaps Notre Dame is stuck with Weis. Maybe Weis’ the size of Weis’ buyout — by the way, who knew old Charlie had such financial foresight? — will keep him safe.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame’s president sent out an email on Monday stressing that faculty, students and staff have to cut costs in light of the stress the sour economy is putting on the university. If this season turns out to be the low point of Weis’ tenure at Note Dame, the coach appears to have timed it well.

Weis has gone 9-15 over the last two seasons, including 6-6 this year. But I think ND will give him at least one more season and the only reason is Jimmy Clausen. (Okay well, not the only reason. Four million might have something to do with it, too.)

Weis’ star recruit will be a junior next year and would have two full seasons as a starter under his belt. If Weis can’t produce a winning record with a third-year starter at quarterback (not to mention a highly recruited third-year starter at quarterback), than he’ll likely be gone next year.

Comment fodder: What’s your prediction – was this Weis’s last year in South Bend?