The Notre Dame Coach Who Should Be On The Hot Seat

A while back, Notre Dame hired a coach with a very impressive background. Irish fans were very excited when he arrived in South Bend. There was just a feeling among the fans and alumni that he would turn things around. The Irish faithful were more than willing to give this coach a fair chance to implement his system and develop his recruits.

This coach has had that opportunity and has definitely brought in some really good players. These players have had time to develop and still don't play consistently or smart. His players will look really good at times and then commit a really bad penalty. They also have a reputation of not getting the job done when the game is on the line.

His whole unit just looks like they just aren't very well-coached. My patience with him is really wearing thin. Let me guess, you must think I am talking about Charlie Weis. Well, I am not. I am actually referring to defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta.

On Saturday, I was literally ready to throw my TV through the window. I was watching Michigan State driving in the last minute of the game with Notre Dame leading. Suddenly, I got flashes of all last season when the defense could never hold a lead, not even against lowly Syracuse.

I was thinking to the week before at Michigan, when this defense allowed a freshman quarterback to drive right down the field and score with 11 seconds remaining. I was also thinking about how irritated I became throughout the whole week when I heard all the Weis haters calling for his job.

All week I fought for Weis. The reason is because he is the head coach and also the offensive coordinator. Therefore, he really doesn't work with the defense. Through two games, the offense had been outstanding.

Back to the Michigan State game. It was looking like it would be more of the same. Once again, the offense clicked on all cylinders and the defense was about to blow another one. I had just a sick feeling.

Weis has really done an excellent job with the offense, and he was about to go to 1-2 in spite of it. The Weis haters would be out like never before.

Then Kyle McCarthy gets the interception. My thoughts immediately went to "Thank God!" Weis deserved that.

I know there are plenty of readers thinking, "well, Weis is the head coach, so it falls on him."

Let me ask those people this: Did you give Weis credit for the shutout in week one? Neither did I. Credit was given to Tenuta, and it was deserved.

A few years ago, USC had one of the best college offenses ever. It was led by Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush. It was Norm Chow and not Pete Carroll who had gotten most of the credit. Now if that unit had been a total failure? Would Chow have gotten the blame, or would it have been Carroll?

I think we all know the answer to that. This is a clear double standard to give the coordinator credit but not hold him accountable. The point is, it's easy to blame the head coach but that is sometimes short-sighted.

I still support Tenuta at this point, but I am quickly losing my patience. Although the defense did ultimately hold on Saturday against the Spartans, it was poor tackling and bad penalties that made it close in the first place. I mean no disrespect to Michigan State, but Notre Dame should have just shut them right down. They are much more experienced.

The sad part about this is if the trend continues with the defense blowing and/or nearly blowing leads, the Irish will have another season that is below Notre Dame standards. Weis will lose his job no matter how great the offense does. It will really make me sick if he gets fired and Tenuta becomes the head coach.