Don't be so quick with 'Fire Weis' calls
Posted: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 4:59 PM
Notre Dame fans have finally noticed that Charlie Weis may not be the second coming of Knute Rockne – or even of Bob Davie. After the Irish were embarrassed by Boston College, 17-0 to drop Notre Dame’s record to 5-4, there are even calls for his head.
Our John Walters has an excellent piece on some of problems with Weis’ response to another mediocre season. The man knows things aren’t going well, but can’t seem to figure out why. This is not a trait you want in your football coach.
But let’s not be so fast with the “Fire Weis” chants, folks. I understand your pain. It should be common knowledge that I’m a Domer myself, and I’ve been so embarrassed by the team I’ve stopped watching them. It’s easier on the digestion that way.
On the other hand, Notre Dame coaches had always had five years to succeed or fail. That was a rule that the school broke when it fired Ty Willingham before his contract ended. I didn’t think Willingham was going to get the job done, and his subsequent failures have demonstrated that to be true. But I also thought he deserved the same five years everyone else got. It’s a matter of principle – something Notre Dame professes to believe in.
Give him one more year to beat somebody good, one more year to show he’s capable of learning how to coach college athletes. He deserves it.
I know Weis has a ten-year deal, thrown at him by giddy fools halfway through his first season in 2005. As much as I respect contracts, though, I’m not suggesting he stay in South Bend six more years, not if he can’t get a team to perform any better than his last two.
But as bad as this year has been, it’s better than last season’s 3-9 embarrassment. A record of 5-4 is progress. And if he can beat Navy – no longer as simple a task as it used to be – he’ll get a bowl bid. It won’t be much of a bowl, nor should it be. But it would be something. It would be progress.
The team still has glaring deficiencies. As Walters pointed out, Navy can take undersized kids who aren’t NFL prospects and turn them into a highly disciplined and determined team that runs up 300 yards rushing a game. Weis gets prime beef for his offense and can’t rush for a first down. That’s a failure of the coaches, not of the players.
I’m not an apologist for Weis. I stopped drinking the Charlie Weis Kool-Aid three years ago. Back then, it made me rather unpopular among my fellow Domers, who thought the 10-2 record he put up during the 2006 regular season was a sign of greatness.
I had good reasons for doubting his coaching prowess even then. While the Irish did finish the season in the Top 20, they were badly outclassed by elite teams and got their butts whipped in the Sugar Bowl by LSU – Notre Dame’s ninth bowl loss in a row. There were problems with discipline and fundamentals that did not speak well to his ability to teach young kids how to play the game.
Even last year, I kept hearing from friends who told me that I had to cut Weis a break. Yes, he finished 3-9, but it was a young and inexperienced team. Give him time, they told me.
I was encouraged after last season when he admitted he had to learn how to coach college players. He’s an intelligent man and he does have a way with quarterbacks. I figured that if he was willing to go back to school, he might be able to turn things around.
Before this season started, one of my old classmates sent a lengthy and detailed dissertation on why the Irish would go 8-3 this year. I wrote back that 6-5 was more like it. I take no joy in being right – or maybe even too optimistic.
Weis is an intelligent man who has a way with quarterbacks. He learned a little last year. He has a lot more to learn. He’s had superior recruiting classes and has some outstanding athletes. If he can learn how to teach them how to play the game, there’s still hope.
So give him one more year – the same five everybody but Willingham got. If he wins eight games and beats a couple of good teams, let him stay another year. It’s been 20 years since Notre Dame last won a championship, and that’s a streak that’s not ending next year, no matter who the coach is. So give him that year. And if he still doesn’t have a clue, buy him out and send him packing.
