In a recent interview Kyle Rudolph made some mentions of Chuck and their continuing relationship...
''I definitely miss Coach Weis. He was one of our guys,'' Rudolph said. ''But at the same time ... I was excited when he [Kelly] was named the head coach. Everybody bought into the new system. Coach Kelly is great. All his assistants are great. And we're definitely excited for this fall.''
''I communicate with him and [tight ends coach Bernie] Parmalee and all our old coaches that I had good relationships with,'' he said. ''He's just checking up on me, making sure I'm working hard. He was always tough on me and expected a lot. He just wants to make sure I'm headed on the right track and working hard every day.''
He doesn't spend much time ruing why things didn't work out.
''You have to win football gams here,'' he said.
While Weis has been quiet since leaving (thank the Lord given his penchant for foot in mouth) it's nice to hear that he's keeping in touch with his old players, and that the players still value that relationship (well, some of them).
This is the type of thing that puts Weis in a category very different from guys like Bob and Willingham, especially Willingham.
Weis is an ND guy through and through - he didn't have the tools or the skills, but he loved the school and the program and he worked his butt off. Very Faustian.
I hope that over time folks can look past his horrible lack of PR skills and consider him a guy that did his best - and that set ND up for a ton of future success under BK.
By SDI August 20, 2010 - 11:37 am
Great post Biscuit. Agree 100%. When BK wins a whole bunch of games with CW’s recruits, most of the acrimony from the CW era will be washed away. The vast majority of ND fans are good people who just want to win. And although CW ultimately couldn’t get it done, he did enough (and does enough) good things to be re-embraced eventually.
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By SDI August 20, 2010 - 11:39 am
I also read Coach Cook giving props to CW and staff for leaving the cupboard full. Those kinds of comments reflect well not only on CW, but also on the current staff.
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By Brad August 20, 2010 - 11:47 am
I agree so much. Nobody here in SB really liked the guy. He was rude, and short to people. But he cared about the University, and he really cared about the kids.
He oversaw the drastic improvement of our facilities, started early enrollment, and proved that ND could still go out and recruit the best of the best.
But more than anything, I think I’ll always remember the guy for Pass Right, and taking the team over to the Navy side of the field to sing THEIR alma mater.
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By domer_mq August 20, 2010 - 1:18 pm
Singing Navy’s song was not, actually, a good move by Weis. Far too much deference to an opponent.
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By borromini August 20, 2010 - 1:23 pm
I was okay with the Navy gesture…as long as we won.
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By MichaelSubAlum August 20, 2010 - 1:38 pm
If it were any other opponent I would agree with you Domer but given that it was Navy and our history with the USNA I think it was a great and classy move. When you consider the drastic difference in the futures of students at Notre Dame and any of the academies I believe it showed reverence and respect for men that would one day be defending our nation. Douglas MacArthur, referencing athletics importance at West Point, said: “Upon the fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds, that upon other fields, on other days, will bear the fruits of victory.” I think that about sums up why that move by Weiss was a good one.
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By domer_mq August 20, 2010 - 2:00 pm
It was classy, but I think it helped train ND gplayers to treat Navy on the field with too much deference.
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By Brad August 20, 2010 - 2:18 pm
I thought that was Mendoza.
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By MichaelSubAlum August 20, 2010 - 2:24 pm
I would suggest that if the ND players showed so much deference to Navy during the game rather than just healthy respect than maybe we have the wrong players. One can have a killer instinct and want to destroy their opponent while respecting them and then showing class after the game. I might argue that the Army-Navy game is an example of that.
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By trey August 22, 2010 - 9:39 am
5 years later an people still don’t know how to spell CW’s name. When will THAT kick in is what I want to know?
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By Pat August 20, 2010 - 2:41 pm
Especially in light of how the series has gone lately, I have to agree with you.
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By Pat August 20, 2010 - 12:39 pm
I have no ill will towards Weis, but I did think he had to go when he did.
I never have nor probably never will understand the strange disparagement of Ty Willingham though.
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By borromini August 20, 2010 - 1:29 pm
Not so strange to me. Ty’s lack of desire to recruit the best and tendency to blame the players were indications that he didn’t care that much about being an ND coach because he didn’t feel it was anything unique from his previous job. His recent retirement from coaching was an acknowledgment on his part that it wasn’t his ultimate calling.
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By The Biscuit August 20, 2010 - 1:32 pm
It’s because Ty didn’t even try.
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By The Biscuit August 20, 2010 - 1:33 pm
oh, and yes Chuck certainly HAD to go. no doubt about that.
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By Brad August 20, 2010 - 2:22 pm
Yeah, I’d agree with the sentiment that the reason people hated Ty (and some still do) is because of the feeling that he was lazy. Weis had a terrible last couple years, but you could tell the guy was trying his damndest. Ty was busy golfing, thought players would just come to him, and just generally didn’t seem to act like it mattered.
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By Pat August 20, 2010 - 2:36 pm
I by no means thought he was the answer, but the reaction to Willingham always seems somewhat disproportionate. But I digress.
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By Brad August 20, 2010 - 3:33 pm
I will say that I always thought he was a great guy. Everyone I know who ever met him loved the guy. He just wasn’t a very good football coach, and quite frankly never should have been here in the first place.
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By The Biscuit August 20, 2010 - 4:18 pm
I have huge issues with anyone that makes that much money, who is supposed to be working on ‘our’ behalf, that instead chooses to loaf. That’s why Weis doesn’t get the hate. He got the cash and our faith, and he worked hard to honor that. TW didn’t. That’s why he’s ripped here and everywhere.
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By BurbankSteve August 20, 2010 - 2:54 pm
Pat – I might be inclined to agree with you if he hadn’t proceeded to make a god-awful mess at Washington. Four-of-four losing seasons, the final year he goes 0-12 and he’s still off playing golf? Sorry, the body of work defines the man.
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By OderName August 21, 2010 - 7:53 am
I didn’t really have the animosity to Ty as a person when he left. I thought he was an awful hire, an awful coach, an awful recruiter and an awful voice for the program, but not an awful person. Then he dove headfirst into the race card with John Saunders before the ND-uDub game in ’05, and completed the puzzle, if you know what I mean.
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By borromini August 20, 2010 - 1:20 pm
I’ve never held a grudge against Chuck and hoped he could be the guy that brought us back. Admired his attempt to make it in the college ranks and we do have his recruiting to thank for. After all, he is a grad of ND…always will wish him the best in the NFL and root for him in all future Chiefs games unless they’re playing the Vikes!
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By TLNDMA August 20, 2010 - 2:11 pm
Of all the things Charlie brought to ND, John Tenuta was the thing we could have done without. I swear the man was miserable at ND. His defense sure was.
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By Pat August 20, 2010 - 2:39 pm
Yeah, Tenuta really hurt his reputation, didn’t he? Like Weis though, I guess, his genius and invincibility seemed to wear off once he arrived in South Bend and stayed for a while.
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By borromini August 20, 2010 - 6:01 pm
The final results from that hire surely caught people by surprise as the season wore on. I remember the faint thought of “Why now with a last year’s improvement from Corwin Brown’s unit.”
Turns out that 2008′s defense was significantly better that 2009. What hid that fact was that the Irish offense improved tremendously during that same period.
Looking back now…seems like Brown got wronged by Weis’ hire of Tenuta. He should have either fired Corwin if he lost faith in him or not hired Tenuta thinking that this would help Corwin.
20/20 hindsight of course and probably still would have cost Weis his job considering the woeful conditioning of the team wasn’t contingent upon who the DC was.
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By TLNDMA August 21, 2010 - 9:41 am
Teanuts(mispelled it but, I like it) is now at NCSU correct? Could be the end for O’Brien
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By GB August 21, 2010 - 4:27 pm
CB did improve ND’s D. However, with the talent ND had, they should have been much better. I don’t know what it was with CW. I think a lot of it was chemistry. Everywhere Tenuta went before he came to ND, he coached vwery good D. However, with arguably better talent, the D underperforms. Almost all the assistant coaches underperformed with Weis except maybe the receivers coach. Somehow, it was mostly Weis. If the athletes are not well conditioned, no enthusiasm as a team, losing weight during the season, little physical contact at practices and other things point more to the head coach. If it was just one area like D line, I think you could point to a rtain assistant coach but it was throughout the program and throughout the D. Just look at the horrible job the O line did in 2007. That had nothing to do with the D.
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By fenianfox August 21, 2010 - 12:06 am
The one thing that bothered me about the Weis deal is that Charlie didn’t meet his own standards and yet made the university fire him. I don’t care what arrangements are made in the background, but it sure would be nice to hear a coach admit that he hasn’t done what he was hired to do and resign.
Lastly: Faustian? Bell rings? You guys are making me dumber. I am hoping you didn’t spend a lot of time in O’Shag. Just saying.
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By The Biscuit August 21, 2010 - 11:25 am
What’s wrong with my “Faustian”, fenian? And I guess it would be nice for Weis to walk away, but would you give up all those millions? Especially when you can use it for good stuff like Hannah and Friends? I wouldn’t.
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By Pat August 21, 2010 - 11:26 am
“Especially when you can use it for good stuff like Hannah and Friends.”
That’s funny.
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By The Biscuit August 21, 2010 - 11:27 am
Why?
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By Pat August 22, 2010 - 7:05 am
I think you are indulging a bit there. The charity is nice and all, but there are a millions of reasons (literally) to take the cash.
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By Fenian Fox August 23, 2010 - 6:58 pm
Faustian = selling your soul (or abandoning your principles) to achieve what you want. I think that this is the opposite of the point that you were making about Charlie. There are so many Faustian examples in college football, but I don’t think that Charlie was one of them. He stuck by his principles, but was not able to adapt to the culture of college football (18 year old boys versus professionals).
I love your site, but if you are going to drop culture bombs on the ND crowd, you have to be on point or you may get snide comments from English majors so frustrated with their educational decisions that they take offense at your use of the word Faustian. You know, just like on the USC sites.
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By The Biscuit August 23, 2010 - 7:39 pm
heh, I know what Faustian means. But I figured that in the context of an ND site, and in the context of my post, that folks would understand that I intended it as a descriptor meaning “Like Coach Faust”. I thought it was a fun play on words given the actual meaning.
I’m glad you like the site and I hope you continue to read and comment (given your clear and coherent thoughts), but if you do read a lot you should also know by now that I don’t give two craps whether English majors (or anyone, really) are offended, or not.
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By Fenian Fox August 23, 2010 - 11:04 pm
No offense taken, just busting your balls.
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By The Biscuit August 23, 2010 - 10:22 am
sure there are. but Weis has put a ton of his own money into H&F. it’s not a big stretch to imagine he will continue to do so.
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