I’m sad to report that I have officially given up on Charlie Weis and his staff.
After 4 years of recruiting top-10 classes, with nearly every possible advantage (except JuCo transfers and low academic requirements), there is simply no excuse for the Notre Dame football team, the most succesful and lucrative program in the history of college sports, to lose CONSISTENTLY to second-rate programs like Pitt and Michigan State, or third-rate programs like Boston College.
The Weis era started with a bang, twice reaching the #2 ranking in his first year-plus as well as two berths in the BCS. But that early success hid what I believe to be Weis’ tragic flaw: he can’t relate to or motivate the young college player. Those two first teams, dominated by upper-classmen like Brady Quinn and Jeff Smardjiza, took to his NFL-style coaching like a duck to water, but the freshmen, sophomores, and junors on his current team have simply not progressed to the championship level they should have.
This team has no heart, no spirit, no energy. Some of that definitely falls on the players and the lack of senior-leadership, but most of that has to fall on Weis. The play-calling and defensive schemes have also been attrocious this year. To say they lack imagination or creativity would be a very generous understatement.
I’m not calling for him to be fired because 4 years into his 10-year contract, it isn’t going to happen. Also, I will continue to root for the Irish for this year and next, hoping that I am wrong.
Unfortunately, I don’t think that will be the case.
November 10th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
This is probably the most honest assessment of the state of Notre Dame football that you have written to date. It’s unfortunate that you had to get your digs in. I thought for once you were approaching objectivity.
Subjective assessments like who is “first rate” and who is “second rate” are probably only useful to start bar-room brawls. Your “third rate” comment is so far from reality it is laughable, and serves only to demonstrate your continued bias.
BC football is a program that has 22 current players in the NFL (several with Super Bowl rings), whose former coach is the current Super Bowl champ, that is always one of the top academic programs in college football, that was the top-ranked academic program in last year’s top 25, that finished last season in the top 10, and currently has the nation’s 10th ranked defense.
Your “third rate” team beat your “second rate” Michigan State in their last meeting.
Using your ranking system, if you look at the win and loss column, then your beloved “Fighting Irish” are fourth-rate.
You are right about one thing, and even for someone like me who can’t comprehend why people choose to school in South Bend or why people with no connection to the place go gaga over their sports teams: Notre Dame once was a tremendously successful program.
(They owe four of those championships to Frank Leahey, a coach they stole from Boston College just a few weeks after he signed his renewal in Chestnut Hill. He wormed out of his deal with the Eagles by holding a press conference to lie about having been released from the contract. You have to wonder how the Catholic ethicists of South Bend rationalized that one.)
Notre Dame was once a tremendously successful footbal program. And PanAm was once a tremendously successful airline.
They both tanked in the early 1990s. Arguing that Notre Dame Football is the most successful program in college sports is like arguing that Brittania rules the waves. Most of us live in the first decade of the 21st century. The “Irish” loyalists seem to have missed the past 15 years.
It is astounding to me, that despite all of the current evidence, using a reputation gained in the leather helmet era, they remain able to sucker first-rate high school athletes into playing for a sinking ship.
Just for the record:
Eagles in the NFL
————–
Josh Beekman OG Chicago Bears
Will Blackmon CB Green Bay Packers
Ricky Brown LB Oakland Raiders
Tim Bulman DT Houston Texans
Gosder Cherilus OT Detroit Lions
Vinny Ciurciu LB Minnesota Vikings
Marc Colombo OT Dallas Cowboys
Jo-Lonn Dunbar LB New Orleans Saints
Matt Hasselbeck QB Seattle Seahawks
Chris Hovan DT Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Pete Kendall OG Washington Redskins
Mathias Kiwanuka DE New York Giants
Dan Koppen C New England Patriots
James Marten OT Oakland Raiders
Tom Nalen C Denver Broncos
Pat Ross C Arizona Cardinals
Sean Ryan TE Miami Dolphins
Matt Ryan QB Atlanta Falcons
Jamie Silva FS Indianapolis Colts
Chris Snee OG New York Giants
Brian St. Pierre QB Arizona Cardinals
DeJuan Tribble CB San Diego Chargers
Jeremy Trueblood OT Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Damien Woody C New York Jets
November 11th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Cruiser - If you don’t think they will let Weis go, where does ND go from here? I can’t see the die hard ND fans being satisfied with this (at best) mediocrity.
November 12th, 2008 at 6:34 am
Well David, they aren’t going to let him go. There’s way too much money left on that contract.
I think the ND administration has not yet given up on Weis and will certainly wait until AT LEAST the end of next year before making any long-term decisions. The schedule actually gets easier nest year (if that’s even possible) and the roster should be better.
Anything short of a BCS win in 09 would be a failure in my eyes, but the adminsitration may have a different metric, or no metric at all.
The fact is that ND made a mistake giving him a 10-year contract extension, so we are going to have to live with it and hope he can turn things around in the next 2 years.