Sunday, November 29, 2009

Going, Going...

Gone, goodbye, as immortal Mets broadcaster Ralph Kiner used for his home run call.

The same can apply to Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis this morning.

Stanford drove the nail into Weis' head coaching coffin last night with a 45-38 win. (I missed most of it, as I had the pleasure of seeing Jimmy Scott perform at the Iridium Jazz Club in Manhattan last night. Mr. Scott was in fine voice, despite being confined to a wheelchair. I got to meet him after the show, as my buddy Alex plays piano in his backing band. Jimmy's quite a gentleman, too.)

A season with such promise wound up falling completely apart. This was a team that many felt had a legitimate shot at winning 10 games. Notre Dame wound up losing the last four, two to clearly inferior teams that took it to them and also beat the Irish at home.

There's no sense sugarcoating this. The defense was awful, as last night's fourth quarter showed. Toby Gerhart ran right through them, and it's the main reason why this season fell apart at the seams. Jimmy Clausen had a Heisman-worthy season, and Golden Tate is a surefire first round NFL pick. Both had monster games last night, as Clausen threw 5 TDs, three of which went to Tate, who caught 10 passes. (That sums up ND's season in a nutshell: great offense, zero defense.) And now the question for both of them is whether one or the other will come out and be eligible for the NFL draft. Both have one more year of eligibilty left.

Notre Dame finishes at 6-6, and I would bet they won't accept any bowl bids. For the third straight year, Notre Dame has lost six games, the longest streak in school history. And all six losses have been by seven points or less, which again sums it up. ND can score points, but they can't keep the opposition from doing the same.

Charlie Weis had his chance, and now it's over. His winning percentage is worse than his two predecessors, Bob Davie and Tyrone Willingham. He has six years left on his contract, and ND has no choice but to buy him out and search for another head coach. Weis impresses me as the type of coach who is better suited to an offensive coordinator's role. There are just some guys who are better off doing that than trying to run the whole show.

Time for a massive change, and that is coming very shortly. It just a matter of when AD Jack Swarbrick pulls the plug.

So long Charlie. Hope you enjoy the golden parachute that headed your way.

2 comments:

Rick said...

He is definitely an offense mastermind as Notre Dame in general performed well on the offensive side of the ball during his tenure. Defensively the recruiting and play was just not there. Recruiting rankings always tend to overrate offense - if you get good qbs, rb and wr's you will rate high and that is what we saw at ND.

The talent on defense was never there. It is frustrating because in some ways you feel he is close but he has been given enough time

BklynSoxFan said...

Absolutely right, Rick. This was Weis' make-it-or-break-it season. He was under the gun from the start, and the way the season collapsed, he has to be held responsible. He knows his stuff on offense, but the defense has always been his Achilles heel. Time to move on.

And congrats to your Stanford side. Quite a successful jump for them, and Andrew Luck and Toby Gerhart have been quite impressive.