For Weis and Irish, a marriage gone awry
By: James Irwin
Examiner Staff Writer
11/29/09 9:00 PM EST
 |
Notre Dame's 45-38 loss to Stanford on Saturday night likely will go down as the final nail in Charlie Weis' South Bend coffin. The Irish, once 6-2, closed the regular season with four straight losses, running themselves to the brink of bowl eligibility.
Weis' 35-27 overall record won't be enough to save his job. Notre Dame's schedule this season was tailor-made for a 9-3 or 10-2 season and a BCS bowl. But this was a failed experiment from the start and goes much deeper than one end-of-the-season tank job.
Remember, Weis wasn't Notre Dame's top choice -- that honor goes to Urban Meyer, who instead signed with Florida at the end of the 2004 season. And remember, the Irish -- after originally signing Weis to a six-year deal through 2010 -- replaced that with a 10-year contract through 2015 only seven games into Weis' tenure. This despite the fact that Weis' senior-heavy roster was built with players not recruited by him, but by fired predecessor Tyrone Willingham.
The real issue, however, is pedigree. Weis, after all, is a Bill Belichick disciple. Belichick's hallmarks are out-scheming opponents (see: Giants over Bills in Super Bowl XXV and Patriots over Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI) and winning close games (his three titles all were won by a field goal).
But Weis, once lauded for being part of the Belichick coaching tree, has been anti-Belichick at Notre Dame. His Irish are 0-5 against rival USC. They are 13-12 in games decided by a touchdown or less. They lost their last four games this season by a combined 17 points. What began as auspicious ends with mediocrity at Notre Dame, which should be blaming itself as much as it blames Weis.
Sometimes, the marriage just goes bad.
Follow The Examiner
