I can only think of three plausible reasons for why Charlie Weis isn't cleaning out his office at Notre Dame this morning:1. It's expensive to fire him. Charlie Weis's contract reportedly calls for a ten million dollar buyout if he's canned before it expires.
2. Notre Dame must feel there is no coach that gives them a better chance to advance the program in the immediate future avaialable.
3. It's embarrassing to pink slip the coach that Notre Dame thought was leading them to new heights after back to back BCS berths in his first two years now. The two BCS berths, might I add, were with the once villanized Ty Willingham's players. (And, for the record, you could argue that Notre Dame didn't deserve the second BCS berth, but they'll always get the benefit of the doubt because they're Notre Dame.)
Too bad. Neither of the three reasons is convincing me that Notre Dame should keep him there.
I am not a Notre Dame fan. I never have been. And I think it's safe to say at this point that no one is a fan of Charlie Weis. He's abrasive, arrogant, and represents the opposite of what Notre Dame expects from its employees, let alone the school's most visible one.
He reportedly bans former administrators from team practices. He swears in front of priests. He's just a bad guy, if you ask anyone close South Bend. And he's obsessed with maintaining the status of being the authority figure.
He had never been a head coach before he took over at Notre Dame. He was calling the plays, then he was not calling the plays. Experts say his decision making is poor, and he doesn't know when to take timeouts.
Before I've convinced you to volunteer to personally drive him out of South Bend yourself, (unless you hate Notre Dame and you're enjoying watching them stink), here are some more reasons to fire him:
-Over the past two seasons, Notre Dame has lost fifteen games. That's the most losses for any Irish team in a two year stretch in school history.
-Last year, under ol' Chuckie's watch, the Irish suffered their worst season in school history, finishing the season 3-9, against a generally weak schedule.
-Notre Dame lost to Navy for the first time since 1963 last November, snapping a NCAA record 43 year streak. The last time the Navy beat the Golden Domers, Roger Staubach was the field general for the Midshipmen. Oh yeah, and this year they nearly lost to Navy again.
-Notre Dame lost to Syracuse...Syracuse, on senior day. The same Syracuse Orange that went 3-9 this season, and fired head coach Greg Robinson the week before the game after his tenure had produced the worst four year stretch in school history. (And trust me, I went to school there. Believe me when I tell you they're terrible. Not that you really need convincing of this.)
-Notre Dame didn't even record a first down until late in the third quarter in their most recent 38-3 drubbing by USC this past weekend. Not even one first down until the last play of the third quarter! The Irish had just nine total yards at halftime. Nine!
This is a program that once defined the standard for college football excellence. This is a program that played a difficult schedule, year in and year out, contended for and won national titles. Now, its a program that has no game on its schedule that Domer fans can be extremely confident about winning.
It was Notre Dame's mistake to award Weis with a contract that was rumored to be worth as much as forty million dollars just seven games into his Irish coaching career. At this point, everyone associated with the school knows that. Rookie Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick should have brought the axe with him to his end of the season meeting with Weis, and started fresh with a new coach: one that not only would uphold Irish traditions on the field, but also off of it. It would be one thing if the Irish were so good the school could put up with Weis's attitude and antics. But it's far less tolerable when the Irish has suffered 15 defeats over the past two seasons. And by the way, there would have been at least a few good coaching candidates available if Swarbrick and the alumni had just ponied up the money to send Chuck packing.
Convinced now? I'll get the keys.
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