Notre Dame Football Needs New Recipe to Hire Coach, Regain Glory

Everyone is coming down on Charlie Weis, fans and media especially.  Has the board of trustees issued a statement avowing he's still in good standing?  You know the answer to that one!

Weis has one foot out the door, and he may be all the way out after Notre Dame plays Pittsburgh Saturday night.  A loss would be devastating to his chances of remaining the Irish's coach.  A win would help him retain his job.

Since Lou Holtz left in 1996, the Irish have suffered through, what seems like futility, with Bob Davie, George O'Leary, Tyronne Willingham, and now Charlie Weis.

They've proved hiring a solid coach, someone who'll be around in ten years and win a national championship, is not an exact science.

If the board sees fit to oust Charlie Weis, either before or after the season ends, they'll be in the hunt for a replacement, and their record on hiring head coaches is no better or worse than most big-time football schools.

Alabama seems to have hired the right man to lead their football program, Nick Saban.  It took six failed attempts before this football power got the right man.

Gene Stallings was their last coach to win a national championship and after he retired, Alabama suffered through the eras of Mike DuBose (24-23), Dennis Franchione (17-8), Joe Kines (0-1) and Mike Shula (26-23).

Alabama also made a failed hiring attempt, similar to Notre Dame's hire of O'Leaery, when in 2003, Mike Price was their coach for a couple of days. 

Most schools go through the same frustrations in hiring head football coaches. 

Oklahoma failed three times, from the time Barry Switzer left and Bob Stoops took over.

Nebraska is still looking for the next Tom Osbourne and Michigan is looking for another Bo Schembechler.  In both cases, the jury is still out on whether or not they've got the "right" man.

The list goes on and on!

Do you remember the names Tollner, Smith and Hackett?  They're the coaches USC hired after John Robinson left, and before Pete Carroll took over.

There are always exceptions to the rule, and Miami is the exception.  They won five national championships with four successive coaches from 1983-2001.

So what's the remedy?  How did Alabama finally get it right? 

In Alabama's case they were very clear about who they wanted.  They wanted a man who proved he could win at the big-time college level.  Nick Saban won a national championship at LSU in 2003.

Saban, born in 1951, still had some good coaching years left when they hired him in 2007.

They identified the man who could resurrect their program, and although some folks worried about hiring the ex-coach of such a huge rival, they made it clear he was their guy.

One small problem—Saban was the head coach of the NFL's Miami Dolphins.  It didn't stop Alabama.  They held secret, and not so secret, talks with him, right under the nose of Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga.

It wasn't hard to twist Saban's arm.  They offered him a lot of money, and it helped that Saban was not happy coaching in the professional ranks.

Part 1 of the recipe: Choose a proven winner, someone who's won a national championship preferably. 

Part 2: Go out and get that someone even if you have to be ruthless, and even if some will call your actions "unethical."

What's the third and final step in the recipe for winning?  The school has to be willing to work with the coach.

That means that the school has to allow the coach to recruit and matriculate athletes whose academic and moral standards are, in many cases, questionable.

Why has Florida won two national championships in the last three years and are on their way to their third in 2009? 

Of course they have incredibly talented football players and Urban Meyer has proved he's a great coach—he won a BCS game with an undefeated Utah team in 2004.

That's only part of it.  The university works with him.  Florida has the largest discrepancy of any BCS school when it comes to SAT scores between average students and football players.

Does the school mind that 24 football players have been arrested under Meyer's watch?  It doesn't seem like they do; they work with him.

Does the school have a problem when Meyer suspends Brandon Spikes for eye gouging an opponent, they only give him a half-game suspension?  No, they work with him.

Why has Alabama and Oklahoma been on suspension more than any two schools in the country?  Do you think it has something to do with wanting to win football games? 

So that's the recipe.  Get a proven winner, even if you have to be ruthless.  Find every loop hole in the NCAA rule book to get athletes into school.  Sometimes don't even bother to follow the rules.

Can this work for Notre Dame?  It doesn't seem likely.

Notre Dame, although they were put under probation for actions that took place under the Holtz era, is a school that prides itself in having so many of their football players graduate.

Notre Dame is an honorable school.  They respect morality and teach their student-athletes the real meaning of sportsmanship. 

Can they win without lowering standards?  That's a tough question.

If Weis is fired, or asked to resign as coach, Notre Dame will embark on another search, for what will hopefully be the next coach to take them to a national championship.

The odds on them choosing the right coach, and restoring the glory, on their next attempt—not great!