OT- Notre Dame announces Rob Ianello
...as the interim head coach. Notre Dame sent out an e-mail ten minutes ago to its students announcing that "Weis will not be retained as Notre Dame football coach." Ianello will be the one leading Notre Dame in the PizzaPizza Hawaii FreeCreditReport.com Bowl if ND decides to accept a bid.
You can read his bio here
The text of the e-mail is as follows if anyone is interested:
"University of Notre Dame head football coach Charlie Weis will not be retained, University director of athletics Jack Swarbrick announced today (Nov. 30).
“We have great expectations for our football program, and we have not been able to meet those expectations,” Swarbrick said. “As an alumnus, Charlie understands those goals and expectations better than most, and he’s as disappointed as anyone that we have not achieved the desired results.”
Swarbrick recommended the dismissal Sunday night to Notre Dame’s president, Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.
“We have established an evaluation process for all of our athletic programs that, in the end, results in a recommendation from Jack to me,” Father Jenkins said. “I accepted Jack’s decision and look forward to working with him on selecting a new head football coach who is the very best choice possible for the University and especially for our student-athletes.
“I am most appreciative to Coach Weis for his service to Notre Dame and our community. He and his family have my prayers and best wishes.”
Weis spent five seasons as Irish head coach from 2005-09, with his teams achieving consecutive records of 9-3 (Fiesta Bowl appearance) in ’05, 10-3 (Sugar Bowl appearance), 3-9, 7-6 (Hawai’i Bowl victory) and 6-6 in ’09 – for an overall 35-27 mark.
Swarbrick announced that Rob Ianello, the Irish assistant head coach/offense, wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator, will assume responsibility for football operations until a new coach is hired. Ianello has spent the past five seasons on the Notre Dame staff and previously was part of football staffs at Wisconsin (1990-93, 2003-04), Arizona (1994-2002) and Alabama (1987-89).
November 30th, 2009 at 3:11 PM ^
...I guess that makes it official.
November 30th, 2009 at 3:12 PM ^
Apparently this meeting did not go well...
http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/charlie_weis_called_before
November 30th, 2009 at 3:14 PM ^
With the talent on that roster, they better get it right this time. Who wouldn't want to inherit that team? I think someone like Bryan Kelly would be able to quickly have success similar to that of Urban taking the Florida job.
November 30th, 2009 at 3:16 PM ^
I'm not scared - get real.
ND will fuck this up, whether its by their own accord (they let a guy called Urban slip down to Florida a few years back) or by the media ("Brian Kelly is their man" reminds me a lot of the Les Miles fiasco).
In fact, I think Herbie is reporting on ESPN right now that they've hired Brian Kelly....
November 30th, 2009 at 3:23 PM ^
Who's up for creating the "Buy Jack Swarbrick a boat" fund?
November 30th, 2009 at 3:39 PM ^
I assume yes.
November 30th, 2009 at 3:28 PM ^
"Be scared Michigan faithful"
Change the record.
November 30th, 2009 at 3:24 PM ^
they've had some good recruiting over the past few years, no doubt about it. however, they will likely lose clausen and tate and their defense was as bad as ours. floyd is a stud but they'll have a brand new qb starting.
November 30th, 2009 at 3:39 PM ^
So Dayne Crist will be their starter. I feel so much better now.
November 30th, 2009 at 3:47 PM ^
Presuming Clausen leaves for the draft, they might not actually have any quarterbacks for spring practice other than walkons or position converts. Sharpley has already graduated and Crist isn't expected to be able to play in the spring from what I understand. Unless a recruit is an early enrollee, they have two QBs on their roster right now available for the spring, and I think both are walk-ons.
If they have an early-enrollee QB, they may need to go schoolyard "All-Time QB" with him for the Blue-Gold game.
November 30th, 2009 at 4:13 PM ^
Any chance Michigan can play them in the Spring instead of the fall?
November 30th, 2009 at 3:16 PM ^
I hope they pull a WVU and win the bowl game big and keep the interm coach on.
**fingers crossed for best case scenario**
November 30th, 2009 at 3:28 PM ^
It is sorta nice watching the entire sports world dump on someone else's coach for a change.
November 30th, 2009 at 3:31 PM ^
Schadenfreudey Distraction FTW
November 30th, 2009 at 4:02 PM ^
I actually feel a pang of sorrow for Weis. Here's a guy who loves ND and loves ND football. This was obviously a dream job for him. I understand that he was compensated very well for his troubles and this comes with the coaching territory. However, on a human level, I keep coming back to feeling bad for the guy.
November 30th, 2009 at 4:27 PM ^
he wasn't such a douche. I don't feel bad for d-bags. Just like I hope Lane Kiffin fails just for being such an arrogant douche also. It really annoys me the way these guys talk themselves up without having any prior success at the same level.