When Notre Dame University graduate Charlie Weis was hired as its football coach, it seemed like a perfect fit, but his unsuccessful attempts at bringing the Fighting Irish back to national prominence may cost him his job.
Weis accepted the position with an unmistakable confidence bordering on arrogance. Everyone remembers reports of him telling his players that they will have a “decided schematic advantage” in every game they play. At a press conference announcing his first recruiting class, he exuded confidence in his ability to out-coach his peers.
“They’ve had their advantage, because I came into recruiting late,” Weis said during one of his initial press conferences. “But now it’s X’s and O’s time. Let’s see who has the advantage now.”
In Weis’ first game as coach, he led his unranked Irish against the No. 25 Pittsburgh Panthers. The Notre Dame offense put on a show, torching the Panthers defense for 42 points in their 42-21 victories.
It was an important victory, but perhaps the biggest moment in Weis’ coaching tenure came on Oct. 15, 2005. On that Saturday, Pete Carroll led his top ranked USC Trojans into Notre Dame Stadium for a game with No. 9 Notre Dame. The game had as much hype as any in recent memory, as ESPNews even televised the Friday night pep rally. The Trojans won by three, thanks to the “Bush Push,” in which star tailback Reggie Bush pushed quarterback Matt Leinart into the end zone for the winning touchdown.
Shortly after the game, Notre Dame pushed all their chips into the middle of the table. Using only a sample size of seven games, Charlie Weis signed a new 10-year deal. As ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported, the deal made him the highest paid coach in college football at the time and is under contract through the 2015 season. Irish brass felt this move was needed, fearful that Weis’ early success could cause him to be coveted by the NFL.
Fast-forward to 2009 and the honeymoon is over between Weis and Notre Dame fans. The stats have been repeated endlessly. His record stands at 35-25, the same record former coach Bob Davie had when he was fired. His .583 winning percentage is the same as Willingham’s when he was canned.
Last season, ND lost a November home game to a 2-8 Syracuse Orange team after leading by 10 at the start of the fourth quarter. This year, they lost to Navy for the second consecutive time in South Bend. Prior to those two recent losses, Golden Domers had been able to pencil the Midshipmen in as an annual win as they had beaten them 43 consecutive times.
Weis has a 1-8 record against top 10 teams and a 4-12 record against teams ranked in the top 25. Against USC, the toughest team on Notre Dame’s schedule every year, he has three losses and two moral victories.
When he took the job, Weis’ perceived strength was his coaching and many felt he would need to learn how to recruit. In fact, the opposite has been true during these last few years.
Despite posting a 3-9 record in 2007, the worst in school history, Weis was able to land the No. 2 recruiting class according to Rivals.com. After a 7-6 season last year, the recruiting class came in at No. 21.
Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick will be faced with a tough decision when the season ends. Will he buyout the remainder of Weis’ contract in favor of a new head coach? Matt Hayes of the Sporting News reported that the buyout is worth $18 million. This means that it could cost between $25 million and $30 million to bring in a whole new coaching staff.
If any program can afford do this, it’s Notre Dame. They are the only school that has its home games broadcast nationally on network television. They clearly have the resources to orchestrate a buyout in hopes of returning the program to the top 10. When asked about the issue, Swarbrick has said that the amount of money is “not a factor.”
This past Saturday, the Fighting Irish traveled to Heinz Field as Weis’ coaching career came full-circle when the Irish yet again faced the Panthers. His coaching performance was exceptional in that 2005 opener against Pittsburgh, leading ESPN’s Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit to praise his offensive game plan. Just like in 2005, this year’s game was broadcast nationally by ABC and featured a ranked Pittsburgh team against the unranked Irish.
It was much different this time though, as Notre Dame fell 27-22. The media descended on Pittsburgh this time to report the downfall — not the debut — of a coach. There are two games left for the Irish: a home game against the Connecticut Huskies this Saturday, followed by a road trip to Palo Alto, Calif., to take on the suddenly surging Stanford Cardinals on Nov. 28.
In a press conference on Nov. 17, Weis commented on his job status.
“Oh no, I don’t think that any decision’s been made because I probably would know, and I don’t know,” Weis said.
Swarbrick should have a decision in mind by now. Weis has coached 60 games, so a decision should not be based on how he performs in the final two. At the start of December, we will see if Weis will get one more year to return the Irish to glory.
You can reach this writer at sports@theeagleonline.com.
