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Keeping Charlie Weis at Notre Dame
He's Lame and That's Just Fine With Me
Yet another loss for Notre Dame against USC.
Commentary by PubClub Columnist "The Bartender"
Charlie Weis is the absolute perfect person to be coaching Notre Dame's football team.
He lands top recruits, projects an aura of invincibility and has managed to wake up the echos (even if it's just to scream or throw snowballs).
He also can't coach a lick. Can get players but can't develop them into performers. Can't figure out that the college game is built on emotion and momentum. Can't realize he's in over his head.
And while that may not be great for Notre Dame fans it's perfect for all of us who dislike the Golden Domers.
Seeing the Irish win just three games in 2007 and struggle in 2008 – including a near-loss to pathetic San Diego State and a defeat to one of the worst teams in the NCAA, Syracuse – was pure pleasure. The 2009 season has proven to be not much better for the Irish.
Watching Weis squirm when the pressure builds up is entertainment to the max. That's why keeping him as Notre Dame's head football coach is absolutely the perfect move. And don't be fooled by this year's preseason predictions. In 2009 Notre Dame will fumble and stumble it's way through this year, winning seven, perhaps eight games, and only that many because of a Mountain West type of schedule. (November update: See, TOLD you so!)
Because of that ridiculous contract – offered after the Irish actually lost a game, which has to be a first in college football history – it would be foolish to make a coaching change. What makes Weis so ideal for us anti-Domers is that he talks a good game and signs top recruiting classes, duping many Irish faithful into believing success is just around the corner.
It isn't, of course, because Weis can't coach. Notre Dame is unique when it comes to coaches because us anti-Domers want someone who offers just enough promise to keep the job but does not win enough to be a thorn in the side of teams who actually deserve the elite rankings. This is why Weis is the ideal man to be Notre Dame's coach.
Weis came to the school with a "holier than thou" attitude, saying Notre Dame would win because the players would have a "decided schematic advantage" over their opponents. Why? Because in his uneducated mind – reinforced by opinions from some elementary minds in the media – those who coach in the NFL are far superior to their colleagues in college.
That's a tempting fumble to pounce on right now but I'll save it for another column. At least Charlie did one thing positive – he proved them all wrong, that pro coaches are NOT better than college coaches.
Charlie is so perfect that his arrogance has actually created the perfect storm of sorts for us anti-Domers – we've got Notre Dame to root against because, well, it's Notre Dame and it has a coach who is not the least bit likeable. We would enjoy seeing him fail at North Dakota State. Akron. Idaho. Anywhere. And especially at Notre Dame.
He gets undeserved credit for his "accomplishments" his first two years. Yeah, with players Tyrone Wilingham brought in and developed. Weis' first year the Irish beat #2 Michigan. But that Michigan team was an early-season sheep in Wolverines' clothing – it finished 7-5. There was the close call against USC which got Notre Dame into this 10-year mess in which there is no good escape, and two consecutive BCS bowls.
But let's closely examine the facts: The wins those seasons came against Pitt, Army, Navy, Syracuse (at least the Irish could beat them then), Purdue, etc. The BCS bowls? Blown out in both – 34-20 to Ohio State and 41-14 to LSU. In each, Notre Dame was not the least bit competitive and did not deserve to be there in the first place. The 47-21 loss to Michigan and 44-24 blowout against USC in Weis' second year proved the team was far from as good as its 10-3 record indicated.
Now, Notre Dame is even struggling to win the close games, putting to test the "cockroach theory" on which the school has thrived for years. That is to say that no matter how far down Notre Dame may seem to be in a game, a team cannot let up because through divine intervention, another team's monumental screwups (just ask anyone from Michigan State) or some bad official's call, the Irish come back and win.
Just like a cockroach, Notre Dame will come back to life when you think it is dead. So you've got to smash it and smash it and smash it until the game is finished.
But in 2008, it was the Irish who were squashed late, most famously by Syracuse (though a "divine intervention" Hail Mary nearly pulled a leprechaun out of the hat).
But hey, Notre Dame. You got suckered into this mess and you might as well suffer to the bitter end. And not just for this and even next year, but for the entire six years of the Fat Man's fat contract.
The Bartender spent many fall Saturdays of his youth selling sodas
in Neyland Stadium and attended the University of Alabama, so he's been
around college football his entire life. He is anti-Notre Dame becuase the Irish have taken four national titles away from the Crimson Tide, including two as a result of biased poll voting. He can be reached at bartender@pubclub.com
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