Time to Start Anew/Farewell Charlie
The Biscuit - 3:55 pm
We all knew it was coming, but Saturday’s loss put the final note on it. This upcoming game and its result just isn’t all that important anymore. I will watch, and I hope we can win it for the Seniors and Charlie, but it’s now all about finding the next guy, getting him up and going, keeping the current recruiting class together, and transitioning the program.
More than any other sentiment, I’d first say Thank You to Charlie. Thank you Charlie, for busting your ass for Notre Dame football. I know you worked harder than any other coach out there. You fought, scratched, and worked hard.
Thank you for taking over a program with a huge hole in it. Not a lot of guys would want that situation. But Charlie beared the burden for us. No, he didn’t do everything perfectly and he’s made plenty of mistakes, but fighting through ‘07 wasn’t something a lot of guys would sign up for. Thanks for signing up.
Thank you also for putting us back into recruits’ living rooms, and for working with the administration to get early enrollment and some other standards altered. After Ty, a lot of recruits had forgotten about ND. Charlie reminded kids across the country that we’re a viable option for top athletes, especially if they care at all about academics.
And thank you for being a high character guy. I know Charlie put his feet in his mouth time and again, but thank you for Pass Right and Hannah & Friends. For caring about opposing team players and your own. For keeping the program clean and scandal-free. For graduating 96% of your kids, tops of all of CFB.
Finally, thank you for caring. Charlie cared as much about this team’s success as any one of us, and we know he’ll remain an ND fan and supporter. He shouldn’t be ostracized (though he probably will be, by many). He shouldn’t be revered obviously, but he shouldn’t be one of those guys that ND fans push out. He was one of us once – just a student/fan sitting in the stadium, cheering on the Irish. He got to live the dream we all share, and he came up (maybe predictably) short. But that doesn’t mean we should hate the guy. He’s still one of us.
I hate the results of the last 3 seasons, but I don’t hate Charlie Weis. He did his best, and his best just wasn’t good enough. His philosophy and style just didn’t work. But he worked his ass off, he recruited good kids that graduated, he ran a clean program, he had 2 solid seasons, and he never gave up.
But now it’s time to move on, to find the guy that can really DO this. With a new AD, I’m at least hopeful. Kevin White clearly had no clue. We’ll find out in the coming weeks if Swarbrick does.
For what it’s worth, my money is on Brian Kelly as the most likely guy. Irish, Catholic, and a proven builder. Experienced HC. I’d be happy with Kelly or Stoops. Everyone else mentioned seems to have a bunch of questions marks to me, and of course there’s no such thing as a sure thing. We all know that. All too well.
Farewell Charlie.
And on to the next chapter of Notre Dame Football history.
Jamie Fellrath
Well said. It’s hard to hate the man, he’s a Domer and he loves this team as much as (if not more than) anyone. It’s a shame when things just don’t work out – but he did a lot to bring us back into national prominence and remove some of the stigmas we’d gotten after the Davie/Willingham years. The next few weeks will be very interesting.
November 23, 2009 at 3:59 pmTrey
Thanks for this, biscuit and right on. Personally, im hOlding out hole for stoops, but thats probably not happening. At least with him lomely playing a mid-dec bowl like us, we’ll have a lot if time to talk before everyine else finishes their seasons. I think of the guys we’re most likely to get, tho, i like the idea of Gary Patterson more than Kelly.
November 23, 2009 at 4:02 pmGeorgiaDomer (formerly Shoutboxx, LLC)
You nailed it. I’d like Stoops as well if possible, then personally I’d go for Kelly.
November 23, 2009 at 4:14 pmMike Godfrey
Great article. Notre Dame football is in a much better position than it was five years ago when Charlie was hired and he is responsible for the improvement. If Charlie is removed as the head coach, thanks for all you have done and good luck in the future.
November 23, 2009 at 4:19 pmSDI
I would go after both Stoops and Kelly at the same time and see what happens. If they’re both interested then you have a decision to make. But there is no reason you can’t start the process with both and see what happens. Stoops is a proven winner, Kelly could be great but a little more risky.
November 23, 2009 at 4:20 pmLaura
Agreed. I really, really wish it had worked out for Charlie here. I will always have a soft spot in my heart for him, and I hope he succeeds wherever he goes.
November 23, 2009 at 4:28 pmMark
So the question is, what’s the best timing for all of this?
I say fire Charlie next Monday. Send out the planes and start talking to Kelly. After Cincy is jobbed by the BCS, he can speak to himself and his family and realize one thing: The Bearcats are not the Irish. On Monday he calls Swarbrick in the morning and tells him he’ll take the offer. He follows the same path as Urban at Utah and coaches an undefeated BCS team that he is leaving at the end. If he really wants to be the best, and I believe he does, it is a perfect fit. No matter how much he wins now, he’ll never lead that team to a national championship. However, he would have an easier time with a 11-1 Notre Dame team trying to get in.
He steps in next year and has a perfect quarterback in Crist.
November 23, 2009 at 4:51 pmSDI
Mark–I asked Biscuit the same question earlier, but do you really think Kelly will pull himself away from BCS bowl preparations, the biggest game of his career, to interview with ND? Biscuit says yes. I think he might ask them to wait, which is treacherous for ND if it doesn’t work out with him.
November 23, 2009 at 4:56 pmtjak
I am with all those who are grateful for the effort and dedication that Charlie gave this program. I was in favour of him coming back this last year; but things have not worked out. I will be sorry to see him go, I wanted so much for him to succeed. Not just because I wanted W’s for the Irish , but I believe he really cared about this team and this university. He was genuine.
November 23, 2009 at 5:30 pmSka
Thank goodness, Urban Liar said today he is not interested in the ND coaching job. No thuggery/AK-47s in the northern Indiana area.
November 23, 2009 at 7:08 pmDagerOne
I’m not sure Kelly’s a good idea. Between his “racially insensitive” comments, and rumblings that perhaps he didn’t run a squeaky clean program at GVSU, I wonder if that would be enough to take him out of the running.
November 23, 2009 at 7:15 pmSDI
One of the northern Indiana ND beat writers suggested today in a column that Kelly’s vetting could drag him down.
November 23, 2009 at 8:08 pmMatt Pfeifle
Thank you, awesome article. I have no ill will for Charlie, I will cheer for him whatever his next job will be. He’s a good guy with high character. I wish him the best.
November 23, 2009 at 8:34 pmThe Biscuit
I don’t know of any serious issues in Kelly’s past. Some questionable quotes yes, but that’s all I’m aware of. Almost any coach will have a few blemishes here or there on the ole background check – so long as it’s nothing major like making up things (O’Leary) or lording over a team of rogue delinquents (Meyer), he should be fine. But nobody knows what can come up…I’m hopeful that Kelly would pass the test.
November 23, 2009 at 8:37 pmACross
Son, you are deviating from the party line. NDNation’s groupthink is “advising” you not to tout Kelly.
November 24, 2009 at 4:13 amMark
I think Kelly is going to interview with ND for the same reason Urban stepped away from Utah. If he were preparing for a national championship he doesn’t even consider it. However, I think it is going to motivate him when he realizes his team will never be able to play for a national championship.
BTW, I was at CJ’s on Saturday after the game. Unfortunately I left before Jimmy et al arrived. I wish I could have seen that guy punch him, I would have fucked his life up.
November 24, 2009 at 10:16 amMark
The whole “racially insensitive comments” subject really needs to be brought into the open. Kelly said nothing wrong, it was totally and completely spun by the media to be a racially charged comment, when in reality it had NOTHING to do with race. If anything it was more of a class issue.
November 24, 2009 at 10:20 amAlso, running a D-II or D-III program is ten times harder (NCAA regulations wise) than running a D-1 program. There are about 10,000 more rules for lower divisions for everything from scholarships to practice time to academic requirements. If you look at any good lower level program there is always pushing the NCAA boundries. If it were up to the presidents of D-II and D-III schools, football would be a one hour practice every day in season only and games on Saturday. No scholarships would be awarded and everyone would get straight A’s.
Llno Eewis
HIRE THE CHIMP!
November 24, 2009 at 10:39 amThe Biscuit
Mark, I agree. That rumor is a joke. Kelly said nothing wrong. And it was in like week 3 of his tenure as HC there anyway.
November 24, 2009 at 1:38 pmCraig
Cincinnati’s prospective BCS game is only the biggest of Kelly’s career if it’s the championship game. Otherwise, I don’t see that it’s any bigger than the VPI game last year.
November 24, 2009 at 4:03 pmInTheBleachers
I think the writing is on the wall for Charlie. Personally I’ve never been a fan; the lack of respect when discussing the college game turned me off. I do respect the good that he has done and I won’t deny he’s worked some magic with that offense.
November 24, 2009 at 7:10 pmFor me I’ll be interested to see what sort of climate and stigma surrounds the ND job. It will be interesting to see what some of the prospective targets think about the position.
FYI, anyone complaining about Meyer’s track record ought to check out Stoops’ as well. He’s had his own share of problems.
Mark Makers
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when Gerry Faust left. Now coach Faust is a poster boy for ND fandom. Faust took a program that was running well and broke it down. Charlie took a program that was in shambles and at least raised the talent level. I look forward to the day when Charlie can again be happy being a part of the ND family.
November 25, 2009 at 8:38 amCletus
But I thought Charlie was a genius who was going to lead you back to glory? No? What happened?
November 29, 2009 at 6:10 pmThe Biscuit
Offensive genius. And if you look at our offense’s numbers, it supports that case (btw, he never called himself a genius, nor did we – a reporter did, and it stuck). Defensive? Not so much. That’s what happened.
November 30, 2009 at 11:53 am