Monday, December 01, 2008

Charlie Weis must go at Notre Dame

Notre Dame must relieve Charlie Weis from his duties as head football coach of the Fighting Irish...

Speculation around the country is that Weis will survive the ax because it will cost the university a hefty sum of money in order to buyout his remaining years...however, there is also talk the buyout is not as much as many expect...

Weis looked like the savior of the greatest college football program in the land...during his rookie season, he guided the Irish to a 9-3 mark then followed up with a 10-3 record...after his first year, Notre Dame ripped up his contract and gave Weis a new 10-year deal to keep him in charge of the Golden Dome...

Everything seemed like a BCS title game would soon be within the Irish's reach...then quarterback Brady Quinn left...since losing Quinn, Weis has produced a miserable record of 3-9 last year and 6-6 this season...of the six wins, only one came against a team with a winning record - Navy...

Weis has had four years to prove his worth and he has shown that he cannot take the Irish to the next level...during these four years, Notre Dame's biggest rival, Southern Cal, creamed the Irish three of the four years including Saturday's 38-3 beatdown in which the Irish did not get a first down until the end of the third quarter...

Personally, a part of me wanted to see Weis succeed at Notre Dame because the guy was not some former football player who had connections to get into the coaching business...this guy never played college football!!!...he was just like the rest of us average Joes who busted his ass in order to climb the football coaching ladder...and for that, I admire him...

But the fit is not there in South Bend...even though Notre Dame is his alma mater, Weis has not embraced the alumni and university personnel...there is talk about his arrogance and rudeness...

However, that should not be the reason Notre Dame fire Weis...heck, some of the greatest coaches were arrogant jerks, such as Paul Brown and Adolph Rupp...if Weis was winning football games, the alumni would think it was great because "Charlie is his own man and does not kiss people's asses"...

Notre Dame should fire Weis for not advancing the football program to the elite level even though he has had some of the best recruiting classes over the last few years...

For instance, sophomore quarterback Jimmy Clausen has shown very little improvement over the last two years...under Weis' guidance, by now, Clausen should have shown marked improvement...that has not happened...

Right now, Notre Dame is a pathetic football program that is living off its prestige of 20 plus years ago...golden helmets, pep rallies, green jerseys, and Touchdown Jesus can only take a program so far...ultimately, on the field, Notre Dame is an overmatched team when it comes to competing against other teams for a 60 minute contest...

Losing to Syracuse and barely beating San Diego State is not acceptable for the Notre Dame football program...when Weis accepted this job, he also accepted the pressure and scrutiny that comes with the glory and generous salary of being the head football coach at Notre Dame...

And after four seasons, Weis has not lived up to his billing...there are standards at Notre Dame, and those standards are far from being met...he is paid to 1) win football games; 2) compete for the national title on a regular basis; and 3) uphold a reasonable standard for the football program...Weis has not met the first two criteria...

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