Jonathan Chait writes a concise but excellent rebuttal to anyone who is still trying to put lipstick on the pig that was Charlie Weis' coaching career in South Bend.Make no mistake -- Chuckles did a horrendous job and every time you think, "Man, that guy should be winning a lot with all the talent he gets," well, you'd be right.
Chait's article even punches some holes in the trendy notion that Weis was some fantastic offensive genius at the NFL level ("his offenses finished on average in the bottom half of the league in total offense ") and thus should be hired immediately for such a position. He probably will be, but he's no guru.
Also, think about this as you enjoy delusional Domers chattering on about how Urban Meyer wishes he could coach at Notre Dame: Aside from his first two years, when he was relying on Willingham recruits, Chuck Weis never even finished a regular season over .500. That's kind of jarring when you think about it.
9 comments:
There was no reason stated why but the Irish refused to go to a bowl game this year. Something tells me Clausen and Tate gave the school the middle finger and called up some agents.
I can feel the desperate (spelled d-e-l-u-s-i-o-n-a-l) hope for Urban Meyer all the way over here in West Lafayette!
It was just announced that Notre Dame turned down a bowl bid less than an hour ago. Rivals predicted this morning that the Irish would go to the GMAC Bowl to face Central Michigan. Perhaps facing this "inferior" opponent in an "inferior" bowl that merely paid $750K was a slap in the face to this (cough-cough) "elite" program. More likely was the realization that the MAC's Chippewas would gash the woeful Irish D for a good 350 yards in a humbling fashion, and they were going to lose money going to this game. Whatever.
I've said before that Weis' most glaring weakness was that he never developed his blue-chip players, because he hadn't the slightest idea of how to do it. in High School you deal with raw talent. In the pros, the players are the cream of the cream, and already have been developed by their college coaches. It's pretty telling that his best years were with Willingham's and Davie's (developed) players, and even then (as the linked article rightfully points out), Notre Dame was damn lucky to boot.
Enjoy counting your millions Charlie. You certainly didn't earn it.
Gregg Z.
The article makes good points, but I have a hard time getting past the first sentence. He misuses the word "rein" instead of using the word "reign". This looks like it's a real newspaper, but is it? I thought real newspapers had editors?
Yeah, what I read was that the Irish would have to wait until even the seven-win teams went through the bowl buffet before they got served, which might leave only the Little Caesars Bowl and the GMAC Bowl ... basically meaning they had about the same priority as a MAC team, ha ha.
I can't say it would be a surprise if Central Michigan went to Mobile ... you'd think by now they'd be tired of playing in Detroit. (Then again, they're better than the Lions, so I'm sure they'd be welcomed again.)
Anyway, I'm surprised that Bobby didn't ask to play ND in his final bowl game. (Too bad the GMAC Bowl isn't played in Florida.) It would have been a fitting match.
Right I heard a rumor-mill story as well that Notre Dame realized they would play Central Michigan in the GMAC and they didn't want to risk of embarrassment to playing them and losing after losing their head coach in the previous month.
Thus Notre Dame does their best to save face...not play. FOR ONCE!
What annoys me is that some writers have taken the "ND's academic standards have kept Weis from recruiting the best players" angle, which is just pure BS. He's had plenty of talent. Plenty. Just hasn't developed it, like Gregg said.
Agreed. When you have 16 four or five star recruits in your defensive 2 deep, I don't want to hear about "unable to attract elite defensive talent due to academic standards".
Their LBs and DBs are all four stars, and their line is chock full, too. It's not the talent they couldn't get... as has become clear, it's the coaching.
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