(07-13-2013 01:23 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote: (07-11-2013 10:05 AM)BewareThePhog Wrote: Weis stumbled after a decent start at ND, and he needs to start showing improvement at KU, but I think that there's a bit of the reporter resentment of a prickly coach at play as well. Hell hath no fury like a reporter scorned.
I agree. Weiss actually is pretty decent as a coach IMO. He went to two BCS bowls (and yes, they deserved them both). I thought his problem at ND was with recruiting, not with coaching. We'll see how he does at KU though, because their cupboard was bare to start with.
Charlie Weis was an improvement, marginally, over Ty Willingham. That was because Willingham was a figurehead, a non-coach, a "stoic figure" on the sidelines who mainly flipped his microphone up and down and held his single digit up in the air after infrequent Notre Dame touchdowns. (That, and running to take a crap in the locker room during a game against Michigan State on national TV).
Willingham made few actual in game decisions and much, much preferred spending a great deal of his time playing golf at Warren Golf Course on the Notre Dame campus over going out and actually trying to recruit future college football players.
Weis never really concentrated on recruiting or coaching/developing defensive star players.
His focus was on offense, particularly offensive skill players. He coddled and spent the majority of his time and attention with/on offensive stars like Brady Quinn, Jimmy Clausen, Jeff Samardzija, Michael Floyd, Kyle Rudolph and Golden Tate, among others.
The defense and the non-high profile offensive guys didn't like that and cliques and factions developed.
He didn't know how to create team unity on a college football team.
Weis was able to prove that Notre Dame could still recruit blue chip star offensive players after the Willingham years' multiple recruiting fiascos. He does get credit for that.
However, Charlie Weis had never been a college football head coach. He made a lot of "rookie" mistakes based upon inexperience, arrogance and his misconception that the "New England Patriots Way" could be imported into the college game.
He put together his first coaching staff by telephone without meeting with or having a prior working relationship with them.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/co...over_x.htm
The defense languished from both recruiting and coaching deficiencies.
He mostly delegated defensive coaching and hired DC's like Rick Minter, Jon Tenuta and Corwin Brown, whom he cycled through often and subjected the defense to continual coaching and system changes.
Weis concentrated on his self appointed offensive coordinator duties. He concerned himself mainly with developing offensive schemes and calling plays, to the detriment of his duties as the head coach of the entire football team.
Finally, Weis was a pro coach, not a college one. He tried to use pro coaching styles/techniques on college players, to poor effect.
He lacked the charisma, inclination and experience with the college game to motivate his players. He thought they would/should just go do their jobs, like guys in pro football did.
He had no prior college head coaching experience. Notre Dame is not the best place for OJT. Ask Gerry Faust and Bob Davie.
Ara Parseghian and Lou Holtz often said that they needed to draw upon every minute of college head coaching experience they had to handle the multiple demands of the Notre Dame job.
Give me a head coach with lots of prior college experience like Brian Kelly over a non-college experienced "guru" like Charlie Weis.
I believe that Jack Swarbrick and the rest of the Notre Dame administration have finally learned that lesson. I doubt that you will see inexperienced guys like Weis, Davie or Faust roaming the ND sideline any time soon.