Brian Kelly is off to a great public relations start to his coaching tenure at Notre Dame - already a local celebrity of sorts. Notre Dame fans are more tempered this time around, after getting overly excited at the start of the Charlie Weis and Ty Willingham eras. Coach Weis's opening press conference was exactly what the tired Notre Dame fanbase needed - energy through a display of bravado and arrogance. The Irish fans ate up that Charlie Weis opening monologue, spawning the typical "Return to Glory" and "Wake up the echoes" catch phrases. Brian Kelly's opening press conference was more like a politician's first words as an elected representative - grateful, careful, and inspiring. No matter how smooth or energetic Kelly looks, ND fans know better than to get overly excited before the first games are played. And even then, given that Weis and Willingham had arguably their best seasons in year 1, Irish fans should really wait until season 2 and 3.
Plenty of offseason remains to talk about Kelly and changes in the Irish football program - new coaches, recruiting, etc. In this post, I am closing the book on the Charlie Weis era - a final lookback that, at least from Vatican Smoke's perspective, will serve as an obituary for one of my favorite Notre Dame figures ever. After this post, the blog will focus on the Brian Kelly era, without looking back much to the past.
What went wrong? Two straight BCS bowls, elite recruiting, explosive offense, and optimism were the prevailing headlines of the first two years of the Charlie Weis era. How could such a talented offensive mind not win at Notre Dame - his alma matre? Here are some reasons why Charlie failed - as well as a few qualities of Charlie Weis that most Notre Dame fans should remember.
- Charlie Weis never got a defense - neither thru recruiting or a defensive coordinator. When the Irish hired Jon Tenuta before the 2008 season, I was ecstatic. A hyper aggressive, plenty experienced DC that had manhandled the Irish in two games in 2006-07 - Tenuta appeared to bring an edge the Irish defense needed. Alas, the stubbornness and inability to adapt to the personnel at ND doomed Tenuta. Recruiting never produced consistently solid defensive lineman in enough numbers to disrupt running games or bring pressure on the quarterback.
- Coach Weis's teams never improved as the season went on. Charlie Weis's record from November 1st thru the end of the season during his 5 years was 11-13. In 2007-2009 (the last 3 seasons), his record was just 4-10 from November 1st on. Good teams get better and finish the season strong, peaking when it matters. Outside of the wins against Stanford ('07) and Hawaii ('08), the Irish lost the final game Weis's other 3 seasons.
- Charlie never beat the elite teams - or many ranked teams for that matter. Notre Dame was just 1-8 versus top 10 ranked teams (ranked at the time of the game - the lone win being Charlie's second career game in 2005 at Michigan, a team finished 7-5); even worse really, the Irish were a terrible 4-12 against ranked teams. Charlie was 0-5 against USC, 2-3 against Michigan, and 1-2 against Boston College. I have nothing to add here.
- Charlie's initial arrogance created a schism with some alumni that was never repaired. Charlie's initial arrogance and unwillingness to appear at the traditional alumni events during his first two years came back to haunt him during the the 3-9 campaign of 2007, as his character description changed from "colorful and confident" to "arrogant and a$$hole". Numerous people never forgave Charlie for his early transgressions - too many people that mattered. These people pushed hard during 2007 - 2009 to get Charlie out, and eventually succeeded.
- Coach Weis's physical limitations eventually were harmful to the program. College football players need inspiration and energy to play one of the more emotional sports around. Weis's appearance quite simply drained energy from the program. Constantly hobbling around, on crutches, or the butt of fat jokes, the program was never able to shake the image that Weis portrayed physically. The Jersey accent and hooded sweatshirts didn't impress anyone either. While not as important as the above reasons, there is no way around it - appearance matters for those who wish to lead. Do presidents and CEOs look sloppy, wearing sweatshirts, with serious weight issues? Do leaders drive around in a golf cart, always in need of physical assistance? There are certainly leaders with physical disabilities. However, a) there aren't that many and b) even fewer of them are great football coaches.
- Charlie Weis proved that Notre Dame can recruit elite talent once again. Charlie's 5 recruiting classes at Notre Dame finished ranked 30th, 8th, 8th, 2nd, and 21st. The first class was 98% Willingham in 2005, so we will remove that, since Weis was winning a Super Bowl with the Patriots. The current commits for the next year's 2010 class are 98% Weis, so we will add the current ranking of 12th. Weis's average national ranking/finish in his 5 recruiting efforts was 10.2. Not bad. Given all the restrictions at ND, an average class ranked #10 is about as good as we can reasonably ask for. Texas's average class rank during those same 5 years was 9.8, while Florida was 6.2; yet USC was tops over those 5 years with an average class rank of 3.2. Many thought ND could never recruit elite talent again - whether because of the location, academics, or lack of recent championships. Weis debunked that myth.
- Charlie Weis ran a clean program - one that we are all proud of off the field. In 2009 Notre Dame football actually shared the top spot in graduation rates for Division 1-A - which is nothing short of amazing. Off the field, the worst things that happened under Weis were a few minor alcohol issues, and some on campus stuff that happens with college kids. All in all, Weis performed as expected in the off the field arena: maintaining the high standards of Notre Dame off the field, while graduating players on time.
- Charlie Weis is a good person. Many people assume Charlie's confidence/arrogance is an indicator of the type of person he outside of football. In reality, Charlie's Jersey / Bill Parcell's type attitude was just the football Charlie. Outside of work, Charlie gives all his time to his family - quite often to the charity his wife Maura and he founded in honor of his autistic daughter (Hannah & Friends). Go to CharlieWeis.com - and see where you end up. Other coaches sell tshirts and calendars on their website. Not Charlie.
Bottom line: Charlie is an innovative football mind that was not able to adjust quickly enough to the head coaching of college football. He was excruciatingly close in so many areas (recruiting, offense), but came up short in many others (defense, media relations, close losses). A majority of the issues with Coach Weis boil down to a lack of college football head coaching experience - clearly the #1 criteria in finding our new football coach. What Charlie Weis lacked, Brian Kelly certainly has. Will BK be successful? If the initial excitement and deflation of the Charlie Weis and Ty Willingham eras taught us anything, its that we have to temper expectations and not resort to naming a new coach savior after beating Purdue.
We'll miss you Charlie - and we'll always remember the great times (Michigan '05, USC '05, Michigan St '06, Michigan '08). And most people, including myself, are sorry it didn't work out. We know that you love Notre Dame with all your heart, and tried your damndest to get the program back on track. You left the Notre Dame football program better off than it was when you arrived, and you'll be a ton better NFL Offensive Coordinator now because of this experience. Best of luck. The BK era begins . . . coaching staff should be announced within a week, and recruiting is super busy right now. Sounds like BK should be able to get a top 15 class, very possibly top 10. And a good staff as well. Stay tuned.
