OT:Charlie Weis taking some heat in South Bend

Submitted by Goblue49120 on

I know some of you don't care about ND. Found this to be pretty harsh words from the local paper that usually is all sunshine and roses. If press like this continues, can it sway recruits?

http://southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081109/SPORTS1…

Quotes:

Weis is a good, charitable man who was a successful NFL offensive coordinator. But if you do not have grave concerns at this point about his ability to steer a college program you are obstinately refusing to recognize what is right in front of your eyes. If your faith in his ability to motivate isn't shaken to the core, you are electing delusion 

 When the book is closed on Weis' tenure at Notre Dame, there is a good chance that this may be the evening that revealed once and for all an irreversible downward spiral. 

As of this morning, it is difficult to see the extension as anything other than a gross mismanagement of university funds by Notre Dame president John Jenkins and former athletic director Kevin White. 

The extension was a mistake. 

As Saturday night ended, his magic touch with even that aspect of coaching evaporating before our eyes, it was difficult to find any signs of hope left to latch onto. 

MGoBoard

turbo cool

November 9th, 2008 at 7:46 PM ^

This is his 4th season as coach at ND. He did much better in his first 2 years than these last 2 and those were with Willingham's recruits. I'd be surprised if Weis wasn't taking a lot of heat for how things have shaken out. He is getting top recruiting classes every year but only a handful of those recruits are actually showing to be something special. That definitely says something about the coaching.

 

As a Michigan fan I have complete faith in RR and co. I have faith that we can do much more with the talent than Weis can. Let's all hope so too b/c it sucks losing to ND. But, instead of criticizing RR after less than a season we need to wait and see how things pan out. I'm very confident that RR will get us winning again next year and for many years to come. I mean.. just looking at our offense is exciting. We got guys like T-Rob, Gallon, and Touissant coming in to add even more to an explosive offense in addition to QB's specific to our system in Forcier and Beaver. I believe things are looking much better for us than ND...

Joined: 07/10/2008

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West Texas Blue

November 9th, 2008 at 8:30 PM ^

Weis is 1-15 against 0.500 and above teams in the last 3 years; that alone is a damning indictment of his tenure at ND.

The team is still young; they have another cupcake schedule next year, so if they can't hit 9 wins next year, Weis will be done at end of '09 season.

Joined: 06/30/2008

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Glen Masons Hot Wife

November 9th, 2008 at 9:00 PM ^

Anyone recall the exact numbers of Weis' last extension? I remember them being astronomical.

The powers that be at ND absolutely blew their wad immediately after he ALMOST took down USC.

 If ND wants him out, oh lord will it cost them. 

Joined: 07/02/2008

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Brewers Yost

November 9th, 2008 at 9:08 PM ^

Hopefully, their recruiting goes down before they replace him. If they find a coach who can take advantage of the talent they have been recruiting they could have a pretty good team.

Joined: 07/14/2008

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ShockFX

November 9th, 2008 at 9:38 PM ^

"White fled to Duke this past summer. Jenkins is still leading the university. Because of Notre Dame's principles, it is safe to assume that his position is safe. But there are many schools, conscious of finite budgets, where this would not be the case."

 

White didn't flee to Duke, White left for Duke because he was stripped of power at ND.  IIRC, White opposed the extension and was pushed out shortly after.

Joined: 07/16/2008

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NYWolverine

November 9th, 2008 at 11:47 PM ^

Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off--then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.

Joined: 08/16/2008

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Callahan

November 10th, 2008 at 10:29 AM ^

I'm reminded of a story I read in Newsweek about the invasion of Iraq. A US Marine CO(don't remember the rank, but for those of you who enjoyed "Generation Kill" this spring, think "Godfather") was standing talking with his officers as mortar rounds were scattered all over the place. When told that the troops knew where the mortar fire was coming from and asked if they should take it out, he replied something to the effect of: "Yes, but take your time. They might replace him with someone who knows what he's doing."

Joined: 06/30/2008

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Hannibal.

November 10th, 2008 at 1:17 PM ^

Giving this guy a ten year cotract was a huge mistake and I hope that if the same situation ever comes up at Michigan, we'll have the willpower to let the guy walk and the fans will understand. I don't think that you'll see Weis fired next year unless they have a really bad season. It's too expensive for Notre Dame to fire the guy unless he's a disaster. They can't afford to keep blowing their NBC money on guys who don't work for them anymore.

Joined: 09/09/2008

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jmblue

November 10th, 2008 at 5:29 PM ^

Yeah, I don't want Weis to go anywhere. My fear is that he is their Ron Zook (a terrible coach but great recruiter) who is stocking the cupboard for the next coach, who might be a stud.

Joined: 11/07/2008

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mjv

November 12th, 2008 at 2:20 AM ^

There was no mention of the OC family funeral when he made the comment that he was taking more control of the offense. The Whitlock story about Great Weis Whale that Brian linked to in pretty interesting. As I recall, Whitlock also has a pro-michigan streak as he was a writer for the Ann Arbor News prior to leaving for Kansas City. I'm worried that Brian Kelly ends up at ND with all of Weis' recruits. That could be a scary scenario. Here's to Kelly getting the Tennessee job and getting out of the Midwest.

Joined: 06/30/2008

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imafreak1

November 12th, 2008 at 1:59 PM ^

Normally, I would think myself to be the last person to defend Charlie Weis (and I’m not really doing that here.) I am surprised by the ugly turn the pro-ND media has taken regarding Weis. What were they expecting this season—7-5 is big turn around from 3-9. And more than the winning, this team has improved a huge amount. ND was horrible last season. Michigan may end with the same record this year, but they lose in spastic ways. Last season, many of ND’s games were over in the first half. I got the impression most of the ND internet gave Weis a pass last season. How could they possibly expect him to turn that team into +8-4 the following year? Is it the way they lost to BC because I didn’t see the game? Did they not really give him a pass and were just building a resume to knife him? Personally, I think it would be a complete disaster for ND to fire Weis—especially mid-season, as I’ve heard suggested. Weis stepped in and went to BCS bowls his first 2 seasons. Admittedly, those teams weren’t BCS level good but they went and those seasons have to be considered a success on some level. Then the drop off that everyone blamed on Willingham happened (just 2 years late.) The odd thing is, I suspect ND would have been better off keeping Willingham. He knows how to develop players and I doubt he’d have gone 3-9. From a stability stand point, the trigger with Willingham was a year too quick. While O’Leary’s ‘tenure’ is of little importance it adds to the lack of foresight and stability issue. They can’t fire Weis this season. You simply have to have more stability than that even if you have to stick with a guy that you have questions about. Closer to home, will people be calling for RR’s head if Michigan goes 7-5 next season?

Joined: 07/02/2008

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WolvinLA

November 12th, 2008 at 2:20 PM ^

Yeah, there will always be people at a place like Michigan calling for the coach's head. If we go 7-5 next year, there will certainly be some discontent, even with me because I think we should do better than that, but no one with authority will be calling for his head. Also, ND has about as easy of a schedule as you could ask for, and they still have a bad record. That's probably why so many people are upset.

Joined: 06/30/2008

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WolvinLA

November 12th, 2008 at 2:51 PM ^

If our OOC schedule is as easy as I've heard, I think we should win 8. I don't think we should have more than 4 teams on our schedule that we lose to. I think OSU and PSU will be the toughest teams on our schedule again, and we have both of them at home. Even if we lose both, I think we should be favored in the remainder of the games. Say we drop 2 of the rest to teams like Wisco and Illinios (MSU will have a drop off losing Hoyer and Ringer) and we still win 8. I'm not going to be calling for heads if it doesn't play out that way, but I think that's pretty realistic, and I will be bummed if we wont.

Joined: 06/30/2008

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joeyb

November 12th, 2008 at 8:28 PM ^

I agree. Looking at our schedule for next season I think that we should win our first 6 games with ND being the hardest, but we have them at home and I think we should be able to beat them if we keep the turnovers low. The latter half of the season could cause problems and optimistically I see us going 3-3, or more likely 2-4. That would give us 8 or 9 wins on the season.

Joined: 10/12/2008

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imafreak1

November 12th, 2008 at 3:11 PM ^

That 1-15 ND record in the last 3 years against teams ending with a winning record stat is everywhere. But ND beat GA Tech and Penn St. to open the 2006 season. Both ended with winning records. So, that stat is wrong (maybe 2-14?) right?

Joined: 07/02/2008

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WolvinLA

November 12th, 2008 at 3:14 PM ^

He is 1-15 in his last 16 games against teams above .500, that part is often left out. He has played more than 16 teams with above .500 records in his tenure at ND. That's how I heard it at least. I could totally be wrong though. Or maybe it's teams with above .500 records when they played the game. GT was 0-0 when they played them, thus not over .500.

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