Why Charlie Weis' Staying Will Be Good for Notre Dame

It's been a rough couple years for the Domers in South Bend. For the first time in the storied school's history, they've lost 15 games in two years. Their embattled coach looks like he could have eaten Lou Holtz, and he's got a bum knee to show for his sideline work this year.

Auburn had a down season, and fired Tommy Tuberville. Washington has been miserable, and fired Tyrone Willingham. Sylvester Croom resigned at Mississippi State after a tough couple seasons. Other coaches appear to be on the hot seat as well, and when they are, the axe is usually pretty quick to follow.

So why would Notre Dame keep Weis?

Pardon the pun, but they're showing him some grace. That's why.

Let's examine where Charlie Weis came from: the New England Patriots, coaching next to Bill Belichick (in case the hoody didn't give away Weis' pedigree). The hallmark of the past ten years in New England has been the jedi-like movement in and out the door of players considered by many to be average role players.

The Patriots have been built on rental players on mid-level contracts in a system and culture where Owner Bob Kraft and Belichick firmly believe that it's the scheme, not the players, who win championships. If a player wants to go after bigger dollars, they believe, then fine, go ahead. We'll find someone else to play that position, and they'll probably be better than you were.

This turnstyle management philosophy has been perfected by the Patriots to maximize their salary cap space on an annual basis. Not until the past couple seasons, when the likes of Randy Moss and Wes Welker were brought in to improve an "average" offense have the Patriots spent a great deal of money. Once a contract is up, though, the Patriots give players a very small window of opportunity to renegotiate, or they turn their attentions elsewhere for a suitable replacement via free agency.

Why does this have anything to do with Notre Dame? Because, if you examine Weis' recruiting record, you'll notice that in Weis first two seasons, his recruiting mirrored the Patriots philosophy of "don't replace it till it's gone."

And, as the Irish faithful (pun again, sorry) found out in Year Three of the Weis Regime, it doesn't work that way in college football.

In college, especially at a marquee program like they fancy themselves as having still in South Bend, you cannot recruit one or two blue-chip prospects at a position and not worry about replacing them until after those students graduate. In Division I (it will always be that, sorry Miles Brand), you have to recruit at every position at worst every two or three years, if not annually, to compensate for students that transfer, graduate early, leave for the draft or get injured.

In Years One and Two under Weis, he didn't need a quarterback; he had the franchise, Brady Quinn. He also had a stockpile of wide receivers like Jeff Samardzija, and a nice running game with Darius Walker. Weis didn't bring in a new quarterback, especially a top tier one, until after Quinn graduated. He didn't bring in a top level wide out until after Samardzija left for the Chicago Cubs. And he hadn't planned on Walker making the mistake of going pro, so he was without a running game for a year.

Weis thought he could wait until their "contracts expired" and then he could just plug in a new "free agent."

Jimmy Clausen's a nice quarterback. He might become something special. But behind a mediocre offensive line and without a running game, no 19-year old on this planet can go out against teams like Michigan (last year), Michigan State or, heaven forbid, Southern Cal and not be sore until February. Clausen had no weapons or line last year, and it showed.

But as last year progressed, and in his last couple years of recruiting, Weis is slowly rebuilding the talent pool at Notre Dame. If you watch the Irish play on a weekly basis, the Achilles' heel has been the depth of talent on the field as much, if not more, than the coaching has been. When you only have two legit receivers, and they're both forced to play all 50 snaps on offense, it's hard to have enough gas in the tank to perform a quality two-minute drill in the fourth quarter throwing to dead-legged wideouts.

Notre Dame has done the right thing in keeping Weis on through 2009, and I would encourage them to allow Weis to finish his contract. Tyrone Willingham, in an interview with the Chicago Tribune, recently said he agreed with Notre Dame's decision to keep Weis and said it was "the right decision."

For the unemployed former coach of the Irish, he knows all too well the pressures to come into South Bend and win right away, and openly sympathizes with Weis.

The larger issue in college, and the reason that certain schools are successful while others are only good for a year or two once a decade, is consistency. In the 1960s, 70s and 80s, schools had the same football coach for more than one generation of a family. Gone are the days of Bear Bryant and Woody Hayes. We may never again see a university commit to a coach the way Penn State has with Joe Paterno, who has returned the favor tenfold by giving so much of his life, both financially and professionally, to the school.

Coaches used to be institutions within the universities of this country, but now a coach has 24 months to get to a major bowl or they're packing their bags. It's more likely that a major program's coach has renter's insurance than a mortgage these days, and it's costing many programs the consistency their legendary status was built upon.

Perhaps Notre Dame will give Weis the time he needs to build the program back to what it once was, to fill the roster with good players and to win games to that he, too, can become a fixture in South Bend.

I certainly hope so.