Answers

by Joe , Saturday, February 14, 2009, 15:30 (6086 days ago) @ Jay

1. Did you want to fire Charlie Weis at any point during or after last season?

No -- but I didn't have the same expectations others did going into last season, either. I had figured on us being an 8-5 team last year, and this year being the year where Charlie got to show us whether or not he's capable of getting the job done. However, after the Syracuse game, I will admit that my confidence in this year slipped a bit.

2. Were you content with the decision to retain him?

Yes, partly because I think the doctrine of "what must be done eventually should be done now" is destructive when it comes to running a football program - aside from the fact that I'm not sure you can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that Charlie being fired must happen eventually. If we had had Meyer or Saban calling us and saying, "offer me the job, and I'll accept", then I would have been OK with it, but I don't think we were doing our program harm by keeping him another year.

3. What % chance do you give him to turn in a good season this year?

Defining good as 10+ wins, I would say 50%.

4. What % chance do you give him to win a national championship?

Next year, maybe 5%. If he gets through next year with a 10+ win season, I would say closer to 20% for his tenure.

5. Do you think the offseason changes are a positive development, and will they matter?

Yes, and I hope so. I'll leave the position coach critiques to those more knowledgeable than I, but the guys we've brought in seem to be a good mix of the high-energy good recruiters (Alford) and the old-school, gritty type coaches (Verducci and the new DL coach whose name escapes me).

I like bringing in Bryant Young, as it shows an appreciation of the history of our program. Moving Tenuta to DC is good, as I think Corwin is gone after this year if we're successful, and we're poised to keep Tenuta for a while if that happens.

Will they matter? I sincerely hope so. After struggling through Davie and Willingham, we have a coach who gets what Notre Dame is about, works tirelessly to improve the program, is a relentless recruiter, and does good work in the community. For all the talk of his arrogance, he has also seemed quite willing to take criticism and make changes when it was clear that changes needed to be made.

Of course, all this is secondary if the team doesn't win -- and we'll see whether or not Charlie is the guy based upon his teams play this year. If he doesn't win, he should not be retained. I would like to think he'd agree with me on that.