The case for Weis and why you are wrong.

Oh you are exactly right in thinking that this blog is going to involve me taking the gloves off and talking straight. But I want to start out and say that I don't say what I say because I am some sort of apologist for the guy. Charlie Weis does wrong for sure. He is no where near the top of my list of guys I want to have over for dinner. This blog is about is getting what you ask for and also getting what you deserve.

I was one of many people the last few years that has jumped on Charlie Weis's case over things that I took exception to.

• Saying he would never defer on the coin toss
• Changing his coaching style from season to season
• Relying too much on negative reinforcement, causing his team to play more tentative than nasty.
• etc

But I don't feel much more of a need to qualify myself.

Let's go back into the time machine and take a look at what we the Notre Dame fans have asked for from our head coach after the disaster that was [name redacted].

We wanted a big name coach that could recruit and would draw the top talent after our last only a sparse amount of goodies in the cupboard.

Check. For a guy that never recruited Charlie has come in and done an above average job of restocking the arsenal. Which is probably the biggest reason that he is still here.

We wanted a coach that "got" Notre Dame
Charlie Weis is an alum.

after Charlie lands......

Charlie doesn't hit enough in practice. This is college this isn't the NFL

Practices are now much more physical and he changes his regiment to allow the players to have their own fingerprint on what they do. Have you ever heard the pregame music? I never thought I would have wish for Bon Jovi to come back.

Weis needs to pay more attention to the defense. Our players are thinking too much and not hitting enough.
Weis parts ways with Rick Minter who's overcomplicated schemes were a bad fit for the college game and focuses more on defense even giving over his offensive coordinator duties so he could act more as a head coach.


We are too predictable. Weis needs to be the offensive coordinator our offense is killing us

Weis returns to his play calling role, what he is best at, and in doing so Mike Haywood is out the door.


Yes, the guy has learned on the job. He was never a head coach before and he never coached on the college level before. Is it really shocking that there was a learning curve? But the guy is adjusting and he has become in year five a very good coach who is responsive to Notre Dame fans.

His recruiting has gotten much better. Take a look at the talent that you have now on offense. And they are all mostly a year away. Jimmy Clausen, Armando Allen, Golden Tate, Michael Floyd, Kyle Rudolph, most of your offensive line all still have a year+ of eligibility remaining.

Sure in the end it comes down to Ws and Ls. Charlie has yet to get a signature win at ND, I get that, but Charlie is also in many ways still the best fit at ND. The guy puts everything he as into try to build a college football powerhouse.

He does get ND. See Rashon Powers-Neal, see Will Yeatman. He hold kids up to the high standards that the University sets. Charlie graduates his players.

The other thing that everyone seems to see other than Notre Dame fans is that a lot of top flight coaches don't want to come here if their goal is to win a national championship. Do you think Urban Meyer would rather coach at Florida where he can get 25 kids every year with marginal grades or coach at Notre Dame where he can get maybe 3 or 4 average to low ability students admitted?

Yes Notre Dame has the NBC deal built in which makes recruiting easier but if you are a coach you also have to consider the fan base. Notre Dame fans aren't exactly the easiest group to please, see Lou Holtz being run out after losing three games.

You have to have realistic expectations or you get what you deserve instead of what you ask for.