:: Notre Dame Football ::
Charlie Weis's job description
Leprechaun Express: Notre Dame Football Intel Update, Nov. 13, 2009
"You know what it takes to win. Just look at my fist. When I make a fist, it's strong and you can't tear it apart. As long as there's unity, there's strength. We must become so close with the bonds of loyalty and sacrifice, so deep with the conviction of the sole purpose, that no one, no group, no thing, can ever tear us apart." — Ara Parseghian, first team meeting as Notre Dame Head Football Coach, Golden Dome auditorium, 1964
Charlie Weis was not hired simply to run Notre Dame Football — he was hired to rebuild it. Rebuild it he has, across four full class years and counting, with respect to talent-level, training and development, conditioning and building of size where relevant, and with the overall development of student athletes.
At the same time, Weis has raised expectations, so that from roughly this point forward, he will be compared with, for example, Lou Holtz, since due to Weis's efforts Notre Dame Football now has foundations similar to those Holtz had to work with when Holtz went 5-6, then 8-4, then 12-0 with a string of major bowls.
Unlike his predecessor Tyrone Willingham, Weis has held up his end of the bargain with regard to rebuilding. The program is rebuilt across at least four full class years, for the first time in nearly a decade-and-a-half. It is rebuilt with respect to talent, and the players in place have appeared to be very well-conditioned, well-schooled in technique, and much of the time to play very hard and try to make plays.
After inheriting a program arguably with its weakest foundations in more than a century, anybody who was honest knew it would take five or six years to restore the program's foundations, regardless of early success cobbling together the skeleton crew already there.
This is why it is so unrealistic to compare records between Weis, Lou Holtz, Bob Davie, and Tyrone Willingham.
Lou Holtz inherited a program in much better shape than what Weis had to work with. Only five years earlier, under Dan Devine, Notre Dame had a close Sugar Bowl game against that year's national champions, and Notre Dame itself had won the national championship only eight years earlier. Gerry Faust had Notre Dame in and out of the rankings, and won a bowl game over a Boston College team led by Doug Flutier. Faust was also an outstanding recruiter, who left the cupboard fairly full for Holtz. Holtz had restore and rebuild aspects of the program, but he had a lot more than Weis.
Davie, in turn, inherited a program from Holtz that arguably won multiple national titles and went to a major bowl nearly every season. Davie had no rebuilding to do at all. He took a team that had a close Sugar Bowl two years earlier, and missed another major bowl the previous year by a missed extra point and overtime loss at Southern Cal, and immediately Davie had the program struggling to stay above .500 and losing the Independence Bowl, losing a rematch to the one good team they had managed to beat in the regular season.
Willingham, at two major programs that had competed national titles, implicitly agreed to be a Lou Holtz-type figure and rebuild them, only to struggle to sustain the status quo. At Notre Dame, Willingham was hired to rebuild the program and run it, and with respect to personnel alone, the program was on the verge of collapse. While there was talk of Weis winning with Willingham players, the natural response would be, where? Where were they? Willingham had roughly one-half of a good recruiting class, some of whom Weis turned into NFL prospects.
After multiple blowout losses, including a blowout loss to a team with a losing record, when Willingham was finally fired while struggling to stay at .500, he had something like ten or so recruits in place heading into December, for that year's high school seniors. Perhaps one or two were blue chips.
Weis took the program to three bowls in four seasons, two BCS bowls in four seasons, winning a minor bowl. He has rebuilt the program, for the first time since the Holtz years, with top talent across four full class years. The players appear to be well-schooled and well-conditioned.
Holtz never had to do what Weis has done.
At the same time, in the process, Weis has rebuilt a basis for renewed expectations, and now will be judged by whether he can do what Holtz did. The program is on a par with what it was like the first year or two under Holtz. After the long, up-and-down rebuilding curve, including the Davie-Willingham balloon payment in the third year, Weis is getting better results than Holtz did during Holtz's first season, and is similar to where Holtz was at in Holtz's second season. (Although, of course, Weis matched some of Holtz's seasons, and then some, cobbling together Weis's first two seasons)
Of course, in Holtz's third season, Notre Dame went 12-0 and won the last consummate national championship in college football, beating essentially the entire top-6.
So where now for Weis and Notre Dame? One thing is certain, an upset loss to a 7-3 team is not the litmus test.
The Fighting Irish have one of the nation's best offenses, multiple Heisman candidates, multiple NFL draft picks, some All-Americans, and a hard-playing talented defense that will not quit.
What comes next?
Keywords: Notre Dame Football, Charlie Weis, Lou Holtz, Tyrone Willingham, Bob Davie, Gerry Faust
Leprechaun Express Site Map Main Divisions
Home | Newswire | Game Day | Depth Chart | Schedule | Irish Lore | Recruiting |
© 2007-2011 All Rights Reserved
While founded and directed by a Notre Dame alumnus, this site itself has no official affiliation with, or licensure from, the University of Notre Dame du Lac. It does recommend you also visit the official Notre Dame Athletics site at www.und.com. Go Irish!
Steven C. Welsh, Editor and Contributor
Steven C. Welsh, Web Design and Graphic Design
