So I was on one of the different websites and message boards that I visit, and the question came up as to whether or not Charlie Weis might be a candidate for the newly opened Miami Dolphins head coaching gig, since Charlie's mentor Bill Parcells is in charge of the search.....below, I show you my answer and//or rant on the subject.
You football fans....enjoy. Non-football fans....what for next post.
Now, the first comment, from "Dewar" is where I'm asked for my thoughts...everything else until I mention it would be my thoughts:
Originally posted by Dewar:
For the record, I don't get why Weis gets a pass for winning with Ty's players when everyone was all over Ty for "Winning with Bob Davie's players". I'm not sure how it works one way, but not the other way....
Fair question that I'll try and answer. lst of all, I never said that Ty won with Bob Davie's recruits---the hacks on ESPN (well, except Mark May and all the other Willingham apologists that is) did.
I'll give you my perception of recent Notre Dame history 101.
Bob Davie.....good recruiter, not a really good coach. Very good defensive assistant, but ask yourself why his name has NEVER come up for any head coaching jobs over the last 5 years. Hmmm.
Oh, and the Texas A&M job this year does not count, because Davie himself created the rumor that there was an interest in him coming out of College Station. However, all that being said, the biggest problem that the folks at ND had with Bob, even more than the fact that his teams kept making the SAME mistakes over and over and over....was that Bob not only did not embrace the history of Notre Dame, he thought it was sort of not really that big a deal. Now, before you scoff and tell me that Notre Dame is not a big deal--whatever, that's your opinion. But the problem is, no matter WHERE you coach....let's say just for arguement West Virginia--I chose them totally at random because they were on last night---the people that are at WV and their fans think they have a tradition and expect the coach of their team to not only KNOW the history, but to understand and appreciate it--whether they think its a big deal or not. The problem is that Bob really thought Texas A&M was a great and bigtime school (absolutely nothing wrong with that) and thought his mentor RC Slocum was the greatest head coach in college history.Which is fine if you are the head coach at A&M. But, if you become the head coach at West Virginia, you'd better develop an appreciation for Don Nehlen, ya know what I mean?? And you better understand and appreciate a history that includes guys like Jerry West in basketball and Jeff Hostetler and Major Harris in football.
Now, onto my man Ty Willingham. He parlayed one really good year at Stanford, after 3 lousy ones and one "decent" one.....and, oh yeah, the year that he took Stanford to the Rose Bowl was generally considered the worst year in Pac 10 history by the way. Anyway, he gets the job at Notre Dame and his nickname amongst the media covering the team is "the molder of men"---because Ty keeps hitting on the fact that he is trying to do just---which is terrific at a school where just GETTING to a minor bowl is a pretty big deal, but at a school like Notre Dame...and truthfully a school like UW, where's he's at now, the administration is going to start expecting things beside developing solid citizens....they're going to start looking eventually at the old win//loss record.
Now, some have pointed out that Ty and Charlie essentially have almost identical records after 3 years. True. Well, except for a couple of things. Its absolutely true that Ty's first team at ND started off at 8-0...the fact that Ty was an OFFENSIVE assistant in the NFL and our team that year was winning without scoring touchdowns (look it up) was a tad troubling, but the fact that we were, ya know, WINNING made us overlook that key detail. After that 8-0 start, during which we got to the Gator Bowl (ahem, non-BCS by the way) because we pretty much crapped the bed after the great start...the rest of his career at ND, Ty was a less than sterling 13-15. I got news for you...that will get you canned at Notre Dame, Texas A&M, West Virginia or Eastern Northern Montana.
But wait! Jeff...how can you say that? What about that fact that Charlie went 3-9 last year while poor, struggling, victim of the system Ty had to get a job at the Univ of Washington???
Excuse me.
Sorry, I had to go vomit. Now, as I was saying, yes Charlie was 3-9 last season...uh, by the way, unlike one poster said...NOT the worst season in Notre Dame history....definitely ONE of the worst, but not THE worst...but I quibble over semantics....anyway, yes, Charlie and the Irish were horrible last season with a very young team.
Trust me, Irish fans expected the team to be "down" this past year, but none of us DREAMED we were going to be 3-9. Why? Uh, oh yeah, maybe its because the previous two years our team went to a BCS game. Two years....in a row.
Now, if you think we didn't deserve it...uh, guess what? Who cares? The fact is...they went to a BCS game during the first two years that Charlie Weis coached there. Excuse, me....lemme check to see how many BCS games that Ty Willingham coached Notre Dame in....hmmm...NONE.
So, ya know, maybe Charlie has earned a little bit of credit with those BCS games. Yes, we went and got beat....but we WENT. So this year, even with the worst season in 43 years....Charlie's got a one year pass.
Now, trust me...next year...Charlie goes 3-9?
All bets are off and the job is open for anyone that is interested.
Finally, back to Ty for one last second and why he got the axe. Ty was a HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE recruiter...don't ask me. its what the guy's like Tom Lemming and Rivals.com and Scout.com say.
He went two entire recruiting classes and recruited TWO offensive linemen. TWO.
And those guys Charlie was coaching last year?
Sorry, not all "Charlie" guys. All the seniors, the few 5th year guys and at least 2/3 of the juniors were guys recruited by Tyrone Willingham.
Ty Willingham, to his credit, had one really good recruiting class. The Brady Quinn class. The other classes that he recruited....uh, not so good.
And finally, if you think that Charlie Weis "totally played" Notre Dame in getting himself a pay raise midway through his first season...check out the way that Ty Willingham "totally played" the guys at ESPN.
Before he was fired by Notre Dame....let me repeat that....BEFORE HE WAS FIRED...he made contact with the Univ of Washington and inquired about the head coaching job. So when he got fired by ND, and then sat back and watched ESPN go on a witchhunt and accuse Notre Dame of being a racist institution (thank you John Saunders), was unforgiveable. This guy was crying the blues knowing that he had already tried to get out of the job and then sat there and said NOTHING.
I guess he forgot that Notre Dame wasn't that racist when they hired him. Nice double standard.
Sorry for the vent.
Jeff
Anyway, if you ever wanted proof that I know how to ramble on about various subjects, there's your answer....anyway, the questions continued.
Originally posted by RonChampMiller:
good post, jeff..great blog, btw
i'm not a big notredame fan...i call em, notrelame and ask why there are on NBC TV everyweek...
they WERE a great team, in the past...the time has come to move on
i'm not a big weis fan either...
3-9 is ok for another program, not ND
jeff, how do you think they will finish next yr?
Thanks for the compliment about the blog.
Next year, I think that ND and Weis will probably go around 7-5. Couple of reasons why...first of all, their schedule is perceived as being a lot easier...at least the beginning. Now, that's the way I THINK they'll go...personally, I've heard everything from 6 wins to 8. I think if he goes 6-6, Weis is in trouble. 7-5, 8-4 and a "minor" bowl...I think he buys himself some time.
One thing that I forgot to mention in my rant is that while Willingham was perceived (correctly or incorrectly) as a poor recruiter, Weis is seen as someone who is doing a much better job. His first class (the kids that were juniors) were 2/3 Willingham's leftovers that decided to stay on and the kids he recruited after being with the Patriots in their Super Bowl win. Since then, his last two classes have been regarded as "top 10 in the nation" (whatever that means) and this year's prospective class is viewed by most experts as being either lst or 2nd in the nation.
That sort of news buys you time. Personally, I think its what got Bob Davie five years. He kept pulling in big name recruits.
Thanks again,
Jeff
PS...no problem with you not being a fan of the Irish. I can understand that they are a very polarizing team--you either usually hate them or love them.
Now, as you can see....people....they love me. I mean, is it any wonder I've been married three times? (rhetorical question--thank you very much) But still...the questions continue:
Originally posted by Curt Injurker:
Jeff -
You seem like a big Irish fan, so let me ask you this question:
Does the lack of progress the Irish football team made (or didn't make) this past year bother you?
Everyone knows Weiss can recruit (his Super Bowl rings virtually guarantee that) and everyone knows the guy can put together a gameplan.
The teaching aspect of college football seems to be the one big question mark pro coaches have when they hit the college ranks. Some coaches (Carrol) have staffs that can "coach 'em up" and some coaches (Groh, Wannstadt) don't.
In my opinion, the Notre Dame players were making the same mistakes against Duke that they were making against Georgia Tech.
The offensive line play was abysmal, both schematically and execution-wise. The tackling was poor, the coverage in the backend of the defense horrendous, and the backs seemd to pick the wrong hole (or miss the hole completely) as often as they hit the right hole.
Does the lack of progress bother you? Do you think Weiss and his staff can develop talent or will they be a victim of being only as good as the sheer amount of talent they can accumulate (like Groh at Virginia)?
Hell yes it bothers me...and it bothers a lot of other people too. One thing that came out towards the end of the season...(hmm, suspiciously around the time that they lost to Navy) is that in the preseason drills.....the team did ZERO hitting. He essentially ran the camp like an NFL camp...which is great, if your running (hello!!) and NFL team. Of course, when you have a team of 19 and 20 yr olds, um, perhaps a little freakin HITTING might be in order???? So anyway, Charlie has assured all concerned that the spring session will be filled with lots o' hitting. Personally I think that quite a bit of the problems that we had offensively, and I'm only referring to our "lack of physicality", can be directly attributed to going through a training camp and not hitting. I mean, its one thing to be concerned about the depth you may or may not have at certain positions, but I really can't fathom having a training camp and not having any hitting. Boggles the mind. Even more amazing that no one one the coaching staff has either the stones or, and this could be a factor here, the stroke to go to Charlie and tell him what a huge mistake he was making. I know that Weis has an ego, but I find it hard to believe that someone like DB coach Bill Lewis, a former college head coach (Ga Tech & E. Carolina) and a longtime NFL assistant that I know that Weis really respects, can't go to him and tell him this isn't a good idea. By the way, I really didn't mean to hijack this thread with Notre Dame talk.....I apologize for that. Back to the top of the thread, lots of talk in the local (south Florida) papers about potential candidates....sounds like one of the Dallas guys will get the job though.
Well there has to be some end to this questioning...and here's what it happens:
Originally posted by Curt Injurker:
Jeff-
A couple of ND fans I know think that Weiss' ego could be the one thing that keeps the team from reaching the promise they seemed to have in the first couple years of his tenure. He can't/won't adapt his system and style to his talent, and will instead try to force what ever players he gets into his scheme. If he gets the right kids, they they win big. If they don't...
I think that's a fair criticism. One of the chief complaints on the Notre Dame websites is exactly that......the feeling is that Charlie is sort of laying down a "my way or the highway" sort of policy....which is great while your winning, but when you start to lose, you look like an unbending a-hole. We'll see how much Charlie is willing to adapt this year.....I think if he doesn't, it might cost him his job this time next year.
Jeff
Anyway....for you football fans, that's everything you wanted to know about Notre Dame's crappy season...and how it might play out next season. Hoped you enjoyed it to some extent...if not, why are you still reading this?
Later,
Jeff
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment