So now the terms of the buyout are slowly coming out. And lo and behold it's nowhere near the figures that folks with absolutely no knowledge of it have been writing. The fact is, the extension wasn't really to give CW a giant windfall, it was solely to help him in recruiting. It shut down the false rumors being spread by rival coaches about Charlie leaving ND to return to the pros. Hey here's one of my favorite quotes from an "unnamed source" So let me get this straight, he works his ass off recruiting. He has the incredible time demands of coaching one of the highest profile college programs. Then he has a foundation for developmentally challenged kids that he spends as much time as he can raising funds for. I've been to one of those dinners and he doesn't speak about ND football he talks about the kids he's trying to help. Then of course he has to spend whatever free time he has with his family. And the source apparently is bothered that he doesn't spend time kissing his and other asses at the school. Just whose ego are we really talking about?
First off Charlie isn't going anywhere. Secondly, after hearing Coach Kelly's comments after his game Sat about ND losing is all I need to cross him off. I guess you guys want to go back to step one again.....The incoming recruits coming in like Wood and Evans will be gone too.
ND/Weis <t>NDfan77,<br/> <br/> I agree with you on losing Wood and Evans if Weis is fired after this season but what were the comments you referred to that Kelly made?</t>
I'm the Jersey guy here... I'm the one supposed to be defending Weis. But I can't. Re: recruiting ramifications. You can have the fastest race car around but if your driver and pit crew don't know how to make it run you are not going to win many races. Re: experience. We discount some of these coaches as being inexperienced but let's not forget Weis had no HC experiecnce when he was hired. Re: a "Notre Dame" man. That is very subjective in nature. I also think it is a learned quality. Yes, Weis was a Notre Dame grad. So was Gipper and Sid. Do they now qualify as HC material? I think if you get the right coach in here, he'll be filled with the spirit quick enough. I'm more interested in a guy who can motivate, who will not accept "decent" as a goal after four years at the helm.
Re: Krebs assesment: That's why we got this guy! The hardest part of all was remembering the good. Sitting in his usual spot at Memorial Stadium last year, watching Nebraska stumble through another embarrassing loss, Al Domina was surrounded by signs of decline. A trampled defense. Listless players. Alienated fans. And a coach, Bill Callahan, who refused to acknowledge the traditions that had defined Nebraska's legendary program for generations. "They were imposters, foreigners," said Domina, president of Nebraska's Touchdown Club, about Callahan and his staff. "The culture changed." Well, welcome home Big Red fans. The Cornhuskers have risen from the sod thanks to Bo Pelini, a fiery 40-year-old coach who's determined to make it like it was. An old-school defensive specialist, Pelini has guided the Cornhuskers to four victories in their past five games and a 7-4 record going into Friday's regular-season finale against Colorado (1:30 p.m., KMGH-Channel 7) in Lincoln. A win against the Buffaloes likely would earn the Cornhuskers a trip to a New Year's Day Bowl and a chance to finish the season in the Top 25. "The better bowl game you go to, obviously, it's better for us (and) better for the kids, but part of it is out of our control," Pelini said Monday during the Big 12 teleconference. "All you can do is worry about Colorado, and that's all we're focused on right now." Reconnecting Pelini's achievements hardly end on the field. During the past year, he has barnstormed the state with athletic director Tom Osborne - who knows a bit about championship teams and connecting with Nebraskans - speaking to groups large and small. He has re-established the importance of the walk-on program that Callahan virtually disbanded, welcomed back former players whom Callahan spurned and helped ease the tension that hung over the athletic department for several years. He drops by Cornhuskers basketball, volleyball and softball games, dines regularly with his family at local restaurants, jogs most days in Lincoln, where he seems as charmingly ordinary as his trademark gray sweat shirt. "You just think of him as a Nebraskan. He's very, very genuine. What you see is what you get," Domina said. In fact, Pelini grew up in Ohio, but no one had to tell him Nebraska football is a public trust - and that the coach is its steward. "I try not to separate myself," he said. "They want to see you out there, they want to see you as part of the community. They want to get to know you. So I try to do that as much as I possibly can." There have been some big bumps on Nebraska's road back to respectability. Missouri scored the first four times it had the ball Oct. 5, beating Nebraska 52-17 for its first road win against the Cornhuskers in 30 years. The 35-point defeat was the Cornhuskers' worst in Lincoln in 53 years. But Nebraska pushed then-unbeaten Texas Tech into overtime the next week before losing, then followed with back-to-back wins. On Nov. 1, Oklahoma routed Nebraska 62-28 in a game that so incensed Pelini, TV cameras repeatedly caught him screaming obscenities into his headset, yelling at sideline officials and grabbing the face mask of one of his players who had just been ejected - actions he apologized for afterward. But with the season in the balance, the Cornhuskers responded with a 45-35 home win against Kansas, then beat Kansas State 56-28 in Manhattan on Nov. 15. Building trust "I think he really won the team over, the way he handled adverse situations," said Nebraska offensive coordinator Shawn Watson, a former CU assistant under Gary Barnett. "It gave him instant credibility. "We have a real chemistry. There is a high level of trust between players and coaches. Bo has done a tremendous job of appreciating the past and, at the same time, developing a character and personality inside our team." Added CU coach Dan Hawkins: "They're a very good football team. They're playing really hard and doing really well and, obviously, gained some momentum. That showed, certainly, in the Kansas game." Success was in short supply a year ago. In 2003, athletic director Steve Pederson hired Callahan, making him the first outsider to coach the Cornhuskers in more than 40 years. Callahan, who took the Oakland Raiders to the Super Bowl in 2002, said he would bring an NFL-style passing offense to a program that was famous for an overpowering running game. The changes hardly ended there. Callahan fired seven assistants from the previous staff, including Pelini, who led the Cornhuskers to victory in the 2003 Alamo Bowl as interim coach. Even more disturbing to Nebraska fans, Callahan ignored the sacred walk-on program. "The football team has always belonged to the state. It's the one unifying source, the focal point of the state," Domina said. "Everyone from Falls City to Alliance feels part of the team. All the towns take pride in their kids, even if they don't get to play. 'Hey, we've got one of our own down there.' "But Callahan couldn't be bothered with those guys who weren't going to play. Everything was NFL, NFL, NFL - the NFL mentality. He had to have the four-star and five-star recruits." Under Callahan, the coaches' offices became known as Fort Knox because it was so difficult for visitors and even former players to gain access. "You felt like you had to get fingerprinted to get into the north-stadium complex," Domina said. "When Tom (Osborne) took over, he said he had the feeling that it was like going into a prison. You practically had to be searched." After a 5-6 record in his first season, Callahan led the Cornhuskers to bowl games in 2005 and 2006 before things fell apart. In last year's defensive meltdown, Nebraska gave up at least 40 points in six games, including 76 to Kansas and 65 to Colorado, setting in motion so many changes. Renewed optimism In October, Osborne replaced Pederson on an interim basis; a year ago this week, he fired Callahan after a 5-7 season and, eight days later, announced the hiring of Pelini, a move that most Nebraskans immediately embraced. In fact, before Pelini was named coach, a Scottsbluff truck driver had a check in the mail for a vanity license plate: GO BO. Before he coached his first game, an Omaha musician penned the Bo Pelini Polka. "I don't dance, so that was an interesting thing for me to do," Pelini said. The Cornhuskers' first spring game under Pelini drew a school- record crowd of 80,149 - the second-largest crowd for a spring game in college football history. Fans lined outside the stadium gates three hours before kickoff, many hoping to see the first signs of a defensive revival. In 2003, Pelini's only year as the program's defensive coordinator, Nebraska finished second in NCAA Division I-A (now Football Bowl Subdivision) in scoring defense and 11th in total defense. But only the most optimistic fans at the spring game could have envisioned packing their bags for a New Year's Day bowl - a scenario that probably will unfold if the Cornhuskers beat CU. "It feels so good to be optimistic and enthusiastic again," Domina said. Nebraska coaching chronology Nebraska's coaches since Bob Devaney began the Cornhuskers' resurgence in 1962. Coach Years Record Pct. Comment Bob Devaney 1962-72 101-20-2 .829 National champions 1970, 1971, eight Big Eight crowns. Tom Osborne 1973-97 255-49-3 .836 Three national titles, 13 league titles, 25 bowl bids. Frank Solich* 1998-2003 58-19 .753 Big 12 champions in 1999. Bo Pelini** 2003 1-0 1.000 Victory in Alamo Bowl. Bill Callahan 2004-07 27-22 .551 Won Big 12 North in 2006. Bo Pelini 2008 7-4 .636 Will play in bowl game.
:wink: Anybody see Jeff S on espn this am sd it would be stupid to get rid of Charlie.... sd he has faith in him.... maybe we should to
Weis better beat USC ... or else http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/story/8850052/Weis-better-beat-USC-...-or-else Read on another site that Jason Whitlock claimed (on the Jim Rome shsow) that a deal is already in the works to replace Weis with a "very prominent coach" ....... FWIW.
Vegas wasn't built on stupid wagers. The Irish are a 32 point dog. I don't think Charlie can be helf accountable for a loss here. Beating these guys would be one of the greatest upsets in sports history. Gauge this game by everybody getting back on the plane that got off originally......and in the vertical position 8)
Right now I sort of feel sorry for Charlie. I don't doubt that he's worked hard, poured his heart and soul into the job. I don't doubt that he loves the University (starting to sound like Faust isn't he). He proved that you can recruit to ND with the best of them. I don't know where the train went off the track so badly for him. Even with the loss to LSU in the Sugar Bowl, the 2006 year ended pretty well in Feb 2007 when he brought in a class that was headlined by Jimmy Clausen. Unfortuneately for him Clausen was damaged goods and he really shouldn't have played in 2007. But he also didn't have a QB other than a baseball player and a WR/Safety type who thought he would be a NFL QB. In 2005 and 2006 he didn't have good OL's but it got worse for him in 2007. I keep wondering what could he have done differently to have avoided the disasterous season. What if he hadn't bet the early season that Jones could be a poormans Pat White and run a spread offense? What if instead he'd told Jones he wasn't a QB and convinced the QB who transfered to UConn that he would be the starter and went ahead and worked on his base offense with a healthy QB. Not wasted valuable time with that stupid spread. Would 2007 been different, not 9 win different but maybe 6-6 different, maybe not so much that we were good but that we weren't so bad. Maybe that would have impacted this year in a positive way, maybe we'd be 8-4. Maybe nobody would be fitting him for cement shoes. If he could go back and do it all over again, maybe he wouldn't have chosen Rick Minter as his DCoord. He said he always had an up to date list of assistants, I don't think he did. I think Lou, who hired Minter 2x, was behind that hire. Many complain a lot about his assistants. If he'd been able to take over in Dec right after Willingham was fired and done a better job of building a staff would we be where we are right now? The other thing, he had such good offenses in 2005 and 2006, and he didn't have a great running game or great OL's. But he seemed to be a good play caller and we seemed to have good game plans. Where did that all go? The media is dancing on his grave, all those guys who blame him for Willingham, relish the chances to do so no doubt. I don't think there is a good way to go out. Franchione entered College Station on Kings Chair carried by all the happy Ags, when it all went bad, he needed security to leave the campus safely. I feel bad for Charlie that it's come essentially to that same point. What's he going to do with that big house he built, it's a worse white elephant than the one Davie built. Nobody in South Bend will be able to buy it. I guess the next Coach of the Cleveland Browns will have the opportunity to reunite Brady and Charlie. I'll bet that's where he ends up.
Another look from the LA Times... Charlie Weis isn't the right guy for Notre Dame coaching job By BILL PLASCHKE He has lost the athletic department, alumni, students and fans with his perceived arrogance and team's poor performance. He is now in probable line for one of the costliest buyouts in sports. After Saturday's football game, in keeping with tradition, the Notre Dame marching band played the "1812 Overture" as a tribute to its head coach. For most of the last four years during that song, devoutly loyal students have further honored Charlie Weis by forming a "W" with their hands. On Saturday, for the first time, it felt like an honor for a goner. Some of those hands formed into fists. Some cupped around mouths that booed. Some formed around snowballs and flung them. Only a handful of those hands formed a "W," with most students instead trying to figure out how to shape an "F." That's the only letter that suits their coach these days. "When he came here our freshman year, with all of our blissful Notre Dame pride, we loved Charlie Weis," said Joey Brown, Notre Dame senior class president. "But now I'd say he's lost us." Thus, when the Super-Bowl-ring-bearing, sarcastic-scowl-wearing boss of college football's most mystical program leads Notre Dame into the Coliseum on Saturday against USC, he will be dead Irish walking. If Weis doesn't coach a competitive game against USC -- and he won't; his team has already quit on him in ways Rudy never would -- expect Notre Dame boosters to shake a few couch cushions and dig up the $15 million or so that it would take to buy him out. It could be among the most expensive breakups in the history of sports. But for those who believe Notre Dame can still be a special football place, it could be worth every penny. Weis' perceived arrogance has lost the athletic department and alumni. His weekly performances have lost the students and fans. In his first two seasons, he was brilliant with former coach Tyrone Willingham's players. But in the last two seasons, he has been clearly unable to coach his own. Maybe it's because of an aloof NFL attitude caused by years of breathing in the harmful second-hand arrogance of New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick. Maybe it's because he's just too darn smart to reach his college kids, or too darn impatient to keep trying. More likely, it's because he's a square pro coach trying to fit into a round college game. It wouldn't be the first time an NFL coach has failed at the NCAA level. It wouldn't even be the 100th time. Whatever the reason, a place that fashions itself as a college football nirvana deserves a college football guy, and Weis isn't it. "It's really hard for a Notre Dame student to ever say anything negative about the football team, it's such a beloved part of our school," Brown said. "But many of us agree, Charlie is just not the guy." After two double-digit win seasons, he went 3-9 last year, the worst record in Notre Dame history. This season, he is 6-5, but the team has grown increasingly disinterested and even dysfunctional. In the last four games, which include three losses, the Irish have been outscored 42-10 in the fourth quarter. There was the blown lead in the last three minutes in an overtime loss to Pittsburgh. There was a collection of highly recruited offensive players being shut out by Boston College. There was the blown lead that nearly led to a loss to Navy. Then came Saturday, when the Irish blew a 13-point lead and fell to an eight-loss team -- Syracuse -- for the first time in school history. Worse than even that loss, though, were the quotes that followed it. Did you hear receiver Golden Tate? "I didn't feel any emotion on the sideline," he told the Chicago Tribune. "Even I was kind of, 'Eh.' " Eh? Eh? Having attended several Notre Dame football functions, I have seen many different emotional expressions on the faces of those moved by the pomp and tradition. Not one of those expressions has ever been "Eh." Syracuse football is "Eh." Notre Dame basketball, most years, may be "Eh." Given its budget and reputation, even during its worst years, Notre Dame football should be nothing less than "Wow." Did you hear tackle Sam Young? "Bottom line, to be kind of blunt, they wanted it more," Young told the Tribune. The last time I felt this apathy from Notre Dame football was at the Coliseum in 2004. Walking the sidelines behind the Irish team in its 41-10 loss to USC, I was struck by looks of resignation under the face masks. The players seemed lost. They appeared bored. Soon thereafter, with a three-season winning percentage of .583, then-coach Willingham was fired. The move caused a national commotion, as Willingham was the school's first black head coach, and it was the first time in 40 years that Notre Dame didn't give a coach five full years to prove himself. If Weis loses Saturday, he will have a four-season winning percentage of .571. So, given more time than Willingham, he has been worse than Willingham, yet he gets to stay? You ready for another commotion? Given those numbers, the question is not about how Notre Dame can fire him. It is, how can it keep him? "I think the team has a chance to be pretty darn good next year," Weis said this week. "I can't worry about my job status. I'm the head football coach. And that's what I intend to be." Well, yeah, on Saturday, Charlie Weis will be the head football coach against a talented and motivated USC team that will show little mercy as it begins its final push for national Bowl Championship Series attention. On the bright side, no snowballs.
The media, especially those with connections to ESPN are really politicing hard for ND to drop Charlie. They want a stronger ND so that NBC can draw ratings away from their ABC and ESPN broadcasts. One minute they claim ND is "irrelevant" and the next minute they fill the airways with stories about snowballs. I'm sorry,but this team is a competent O line away from being 10-1 right now. They're actually close to being a top 20 team. I guess that's why so many are trying to get CW fired.
:wink: did any one see Jeff S. interview on espn...... said it would be a great mistake to get rid of Charlie.... seem his players old and new have faith in him........