Credit Matt Hayes of The Sporting News for getting to Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick. Hayes was able to get a rare comment out of the man sharing the spotlight under the Golden Dome with besieged head coach Charlie Weis.
When Hayes asked Swarbrick if economics would play a factor into the decision to retain or fire Weis, Swarbrick responded with a firm, “No.”
Hayes also put the much speculated buyout of Weis’ contract at $18 million for the six years remaining. He also said the university is on the hook for another $1 million for contract guarantees to Weis’ assistant coaches.
Swarbrick also addressed Weis’ status, and said that any decision won’t be made until after the season.
“I evaluate programs at the end of the season,” Swarbrick said. “I don’t evaluate coaches, I evaluate programs.”
That’s a very interesting comment from Swarbrick. If you had to make a distinction, I’d say that Weis the coach is having a worse season than Weis the head of Notre Dame’s football program, and it makes me feel better that Swarbrick will be evaluating everything — the change in recruiting, the transition to a new scheme, the timing of the decision — before deciding on Charlie Weis’ fate.
Either way, as expected, Weis’ contract won’t have anything to do with the school’s decision on the head coach. What also won’t play a factor are past coaching decisions — the choice to fire Bob Davie after five seasons and Tyrone Willingham after three. What’s happened in the past has nothing to do with the current decision to fire or retain Weis. For those who enjoy making tidy comparisons to records or winning percentages, the decision is hardly as cut and dry as Ws and Ls. Swarbrick wasn’t at the helm for either of those decisions and I hope he doesn’t let the past dictate what should happen in the future.
-
- bob morris - Nov 17, 2009 at 4:00 PM
-
There are alot of things you can say about a coach or a team but the true show of character of a team is its players. If the players on this team didn’t love and respect their coaches you wouldn’t see them game after game fighting until the end. Hey, it’s frustrating for me to watch the defense continually put the offense in a bad situation, but all the negative voices around the country are putting our future in a bad situation. Y’all are betting on the possibility that someone else could do a better job. Well it takes time to build champions. Are you willing to bring in someone else who will have the excuse that they need time to prove themselves with their players or will you give Charlie another year to prove to everyone that all the good things he’s brought to the university are worth while. Seriously, I liked Ty, but he took us out of the conversation. Charlie has brought us back into the conversation. Bottom line, win the last 2 games and keep your job.
-
- Phil - Nov 17, 2009 at 4:29 PM
-
I think that the way Notre Dame plays is inspiring. What they really need is for Charlie to wear that gray sweatsuit again on the sidelines…very classy. I think they should give him a lifetime contract. That way I won’t have to worry about seeing them in another major bowl game.
-
- DOMJ - Nov 17, 2009 at 4:46 PM
-
Ha! What was Oklahoma before stoops got there? Answer they were horrible year in and year out. Nebraska would treat OU like a prostitute every year! Great coaches can rebuild programs period. What were Alabama and LSU before Saban? Nothing! A great coach at Notre Dame can win national championships period. Trust me Notre Dame will be back The last three coaches at Notre Dame have been not bad but HORRIBLE. Davies has never coached a game since he got fired, Willingham ran the UW program into the ground he will never coach again and after ND fires Weis he will be hired in ten minutes in the NFL as a coordinator but will never be a head coach. Believe me once ND hires a great coach he will get this program back on track and Notre Dame will compete for national championships year in and year out. Period!
-
- mrrandolph - Nov 17, 2009 at 4:47 PM
-
You are right on the money. They do fight and ND is in the conversation and they are competitive. Are they over the hump? Not by a long shot. But, atleast they are in the games or they find a way to get back into the games. There is still alot of fight in the Irish.
Under Ty, I felt they lost their fight. I remember in one game (I believe it was BYU in Provo) they did so bad that I had to go out and cut the Fighting off of the bumper sticker on my car.
-
- RussellBid - Nov 17, 2009 at 4:51 PM
-
Lifelong ND fan. I think the problem is we do not get enough out of what we have. Look at some of these small schools that blow up these other school. you have to be fundamentally sound all the way around. I say we search for a coach that is proven, someone that gets more out of their players. If we get someone like this we will turn the corner. It becomes a windfall effect, better recruits start coming. Plus add the education they will recieve and it becomes a no brainer. All it takes is a spark. Do not worry about Urban, Stoops or any of the named coaches. We just need a good coach….
-
- Fan for Life - Nov 17, 2009 at 5:59 PM
-
I think Charlie’s time is up. He has done some good things in his time here, but something is missing as evidenced by his overall record – especially against top opponents. I think Charlie fails to inspire his players. He is all x’s and o’s with not much heart. He also fails to inspire top conditioning. I have read a lot of suggestions here about who to replace him with, but have seldom heard mention of Ken Niumatalolo. I can picture him on the sidelines better than anyone else.
-
- frank b. - Nov 17, 2009 at 7:51 PM
-
congratulations, finally someone with a lucid explanation
-
- StephenOfTroy - Nov 17, 2009 at 10:05 PM
-
mrrandolph: did you really cut that bumper sticker? Bold move. I trust you replaced the “fighting” part when Weis came aboard and used Ty’s players to go 9-3 and then 10-3.
DOMJ: Interesting observation about Weis being a coordinator again. I think he could be a collegiate recruiting coordinator, or a pro QB coach. I don’t know who would hire him as a pro coordinator again though. Not saying it wouldn’t happen; just that I cannot picture who’d do it. I think that job depends in large part on two things: pre-existing relationships and humility. I don’t know that Weis has either of those things.
-
- robertg - Nov 17, 2009 at 10:15 PM
-
1. charlie took the notre dame job because he knows and loves notre dame. if charlie and his staff were to get disguted by all of this media garbage, neither charlie not his staff would take any buyout money from notre dame, no matter what any contracts may state.
2. while we do not have any decision making power in notre dame, we know who currently does.
3. each one is a notre dame graduate who excelled as a student athlete playing football at notre dame,in the nfl, and in their personal and business lives.
4. each one is much too sophisticated to buy into this media con operation that currently shows notre dame as having lost 4 games this season, each of which notre dame won, only to be roobed by dishonest officiating.
5. each one knows how to break down game films to expose crooked officiating.
6. each one also knows that, until the current corrupt officiating, rules enforcement, and rankings systems are replaced with honest high tech systems fully transparent to and accountable to the public and, anyone who coaches at notre dame, an independent in football, will continue to get screwed by dishonest conference officials.
7. the immense pressures directed at notre dame by the media and even by some uninformed notre dame alumni and fans are really nothing more than an attempt to force notre dame to get into the sewers with the football factories, betray notre dame’s obligation to every notre dame student athlete who also plays football, and become a member of crookled college sports enterprises.
8. notre dame will never cave in to these pressures or notre dame would cease being notre dame.
9. if anyone with decision making power over football matters at notre dame were even considering firing charlie or his staff, that decision would have been announced a long time ago.
10. obviously, if charlie and his staff were to be fired, jimmy clausen and others would leave for the nfl and the recruiting network which charlie and his staff brought back from the dead would be dead forever.
11. anyone who does not like these facts had beter find another school to root for, if they really are notre dame fans or alumni, since notre same is not going to fire charlie or his staff.
12. on the other hand, crooked college sports enterprises and every person and entity asociated with those con operations, including pete carroll, will not be back next season.
13. we are taking care of those matters in the civil courts right now and we never stop attacking until we have won the entire wars.
14. the court records of the enron and mci worldcom civil rico litigations are a matter of public record.
GO IRISH!!!
-
- Joe - Nov 18, 2009 at 1:33 AM
-
Charlie needs to stay. Let’s allow a coach to build a team in more than 5 years unlike Tyrone. They are 6-4 this season. It’s not like they are 0-10. Yeah their record should be better, but good things take time. The one thing with the program that needs to change is the defense. Tenuta’s blitz package obviously doesn’t work with ND’s personnel. In the 4 irish losses, the offense has scored 32,27,21, and 22 points respectively. Those are scores that should give a team a victory. 32 was a definite against a terrible Michigan Wolverine team. 27 should beat USC this season. 21 against Navy should always do the trick, and 22 against Pittsburgh should be about enough. USC and Pittsburgh should have been games where the defense stepped up because of the excitement of the game at least. They fail time and time again to make the stops when they need to. Simple fact is that it is Tenuta, not Weis, that needs to be run out of South Bend. Notre Dame should look for a defensive coordinator from the NFL that knows how Charlie operates and can maybe communicate better with him. A defensive coordinator that stands on the sideline and can talk to his players and help them adjust. Corwin Brown could get the boot as well. ND’s pass defense is equally as bad as the front 7. Actually get a coach rather than a former player. ND’s offense is BCS ready while defense is below mediocre. A restructured defense is just the medicine Charlie needs to issue.
-
- StephenOfTroy - Nov 18, 2009 at 1:51 AM
-
This just in: Sarah Palin has hired robertg to prove that you actually CAN see Russia from Alaska.
robertg, acting on Palin’s behalf, will not rest until there are high-tech transparent systems in place to expose the crooked process by which people are allowed to vote for the candidate of their choice, instead of voting for Sarah Palin.
robertg, using his vast array of legal techniques and immense Rolodex of well-placed sources, will show that Sarah Palin actually received more votes than John McCain OR Barack Obama, once you correct the crooked voting process. The electoral college is obviously rigged in favor of black people and/or old white men, and once this fact is proven in court, Sarah Palin is the only candidate left.
robertg, being a top-notch legal mind who is well aware of his ethical obligations, would NEVER tip his hand as to what he intends to do. Thus it falls to me, a lowly know-nothing fan of an alleged “football factory,” to bring you this exclusive scoop. No word, as yet, on whether Pete Carroll was involved in the dastardly plot to rob Sarah Palin, who appears to be of quasi-Irish descent (or at least she looks good in green), of her God-given position at the nation’s helm.
You heard it here first.
-
- robertg - Nov 18, 2009 at 2:51 AM
-
stephen of troy(aka mr. total desperation),
1. we know about the desperation that has set in at pete carroll’s crooked usc full time football program.
2. almost every person who follows college football has noticed the on the field meltdowns of usc’s full time football players.
3. anyone who thinks that those meltdowns do not also reflect off the field meltdowns of petey and usc’s attempted coverup operations is very mistaken.
4. the big disclosure case that we won forcing the ncaa, for the 1st time in history and after spending millions in legal fees only to lose at trial and on appeal, to disclose to the public every document relating to the ncaa investigation of academic cheating at florida state, forces the ncaa to disclose every document relating to the ongoing investigation of petey and usc and forces those responsible at the ncaa to testify under oath at public deposition about why, despite the overwhelming evidence, the ncaa has taken no action against petey and usc.
5. we already know the answers- certain people at the ncaa have a payoff system available for people like petey and the usc football program. we know how the cash flows also.
6. the meltdowns which we have all seen of usc’s full time football players on the playing fields are a reflection of the sense of doom that has hit your troy lately since those involved at the ncaa are not going to take the fall for petey and usc.
7. if you look at pete carroll’s ancestry, you will find significant irish dna. will that do petey any good with us? no way.
8. although i once did see sarah palin play basketball while she was in high school, i have had no contact with her since then. sarah does have irish ancestry, before her family moved to alaska, they attended cathlic churches.
9. my associates and i are fully occupied with exposing and destroying crooked college sports enterprises and have zero time or interest in anything else until we have completed that project.
10. i did a write in ballot for the last election, voting for tiger woods as president and eddie murphy as vice president(due to eddie’s excellent performance in the movie” a distinguised gentleman” which, for obvious reasons, no one connected with politics ever wants to hear about, just as you and your trojan friends do not want to read or hear anything from us.
11. it will not be long, despite the large amounts of money that people associated with the usc football pay to media shills, before this garbage about charlie weis disappears and the full focus comes down on petey and his crooked usc football program.
12. there is simply nothing that anyone can do to stop us now.
GO IRISH!!!
-
- mrrandolph - Nov 18, 2009 at 8:10 AM
-
I really did cut off the “Fighting” and left the leprechaun. And, I do appreciate Ty leaving enough talent to go to Two BCS bowls
the first two years of CW.
With that being said, we need to remember that the 2007 and 2008 teams were filled with the players Ty left also. The 2007 team were the Juniors and Seniors that Ty recruited and since Charlie was hired late most of his first class were committments that Ty secured.
-
- Russell - Nov 18, 2009 at 9:43 AM
-
Charlie Weis needs to be allowed to stay through the term of his contract at ND. The school needs to get over it, well the tradition is strong, and will be again, Weis is doing all the right things, and while Elite programs such as SC, Alabama, tOSU etc. will remain strong in most years the rise of Florida is a short term thing that will again fade.
ND has gone through a fe tough years, but Weis is the right guy in the right place. Pete Carol he isn’t and expecting instant results was wrong, but all the pieces are in place in a year or two to rise again to it’s place as the 3rd most successful program in CFB (SC & Alabama being the only betters that ND has).
-
- Jan Janssen - Nov 18, 2009 at 11:08 AM
-
I want Weis back for 1 more year – he deserves that – this team deserves that.
Bringing Weis back for one more year keeps Clausen, Tate, and Floyd together for one more season and allows other offensive weapons (Kyle Rudolph, Armando Allen, Shaquelle Evans, Robby Parris, Duval Kamara) who have started to emerge this season a chance at AMAZING THINGS next year!
Otherwise, we repeat the same old cycle of past firings and ensuing first year coaching success. Davie fired – Willingham has a great first season with Davie’s boys. Willingham fired – Weis has a great first season with Willingham’s boys. If Weis would be fired, who will inherit Weis’ boys? I don’t want history to repeat itself.
Keep Weis. 1 More Year.
-
- Jan Janssen - Nov 18, 2009 at 11:11 AM
-
I want Weis back for 1 more year – he deserves that – this team deserves that.
Bringing Weis back for one more year keeps Clausen, Tate, and Floyd together for one more season and allows other offensive weapons (Kyle Rudolph, Armando Allen, Shaquelle Evans, Robby Parris, Duval Kamara) who have started to emerge this season a chance at AMAZING THINGS next year!
Otherwise, we repeat the same old cycle of past firings and ensuing first year coaching success. Davie fired – Willingham has a great first season with Davie’s boys. Willingham fired – Weis has a great first season with Willingham’s boys. If Weis would be fired, who will inherit Weis’ boys? I don’t want history to repeat itself.
Keep Weis. 1 More Year.
-
- mrrandolph - Nov 18, 2009 at 12:04 PM
-
Just one thing and I hear it repeated all the time on ESPN and others: Davie was not fired; his contract was not renewed. Faust was not fired; his contract was not renewed.
-
- StephenOfTroy - Nov 18, 2009 at 2:13 PM
-
robertg:
1) You puzzlingly referenced desperation with respect to myself and Pete Carroll. The only thing we are desperate for is a chance to play ND again so we can pad the stats. Desperate? Pete’s win-loss record is the envy of every active coach. He was just asked to speak to the commanders of our nation’s Special Forces. He’s not desperate. And as for me, well, my life is, for lack of a better term, GOLDEN these days. Speak for yourself, mister everything-bad-that-happens-to-ND-is-part-of-the-grand-conspiracy. And what’s with all the my-big-brother-is-coming-tomorrow-just-you-wait nonsense? Officials will still officiate next year. Your Irish’s losses will still be recorded as losses. You’ll still be a whack job who pretends to be an attorney who pretends to be involved with some save-the-planet litigation that will turn college football on its head.
2) You referenced “on-field meltdowns” by USC players. Name one. Do not name anything involving Jimmy Clausen’s hissy fits, temper tantrums, or bad sportsmanship following a loss. He is not a USC player.
3) The NCAA has “taken no action against petey and USC” because there’s no evidence, overwhelming or otherwise, that they need to do so. Occam’s Razor. Did they teach you about that at the make-believe online correspondence law school you studied at with Orly Taitz?
4) What’s this about a cash payoff system for USC and other schools? What, don’t they take Irish cash? We all know that ND has boatloads of money and is willing to throw it at Charlie “spying on the defensive signals helped me get my next job” Weis. Are you crying about not knowing who to bribe? At least invent plausible excuses, robert!
5) There’s no such word as “cathlic.” Shame on you. Where’s the evidence that you have ANY education, much less an education from a Catholic university?
6) If you and your associates are “fully occupied with exposing and destroying crooked college sports,” how do you explain your bizarre and time-squandering decision to write multi-numbered paragraphs of conspiratorial gibberish on this fan website? Is that anything like my plan to solve the energy crisis by throwing a tennis ball against the wall a thousand times a day? And don’t your associates resent you screwing around for what must be hours a day instead of helping them with their gargantuan task? Besides that, everything you write here will be admissible in evidence by the crooked NCAA, et al. If nothing else, they’re not going to pay you to settle with them when they KNOW that you’re a crackpot (who can’t even spell “Catholic” for crying out loud). Hello, public humiliation at trial! (if, that is, there actually was going to be a trial anywhere except in the vast recesses of the empty space between your ears, robert…)
7) Watching Palin play basketball in high school does not constitute “contact with her” so your sentence is nonsense. Nor do I believe you watched Palin play basketball. Unless you just HAPPENED to be in the Mat-Su valley for no apparent reason and decided to watch a random girls’ basketball game instead of shooting an elk or doing some crystal meth. You’re literally and figuratively all over the map, robert!
Nothing’s going to stop you now, except your own delusions of grandeur. At what point will the nurses cut off your medication and force you to focus on writing the producers of M*A*S*H* about your class action suit forcing them to bring that show back?
-
- mike - Nov 18, 2009 at 3:28 PM
-
For all of you that think Brian Kelly is going to be ND next HC. Top 5 teams Graduation Rate. This what we call Prop 48/16 players.
FL – 72%
Bama – 49%
Texas – 42%
Cin – 67%
TCU – 69%
ND – 93%
-
- JOJO - Nov 18, 2009 at 4:51 PM
-
GoIrish20,
Finally a dude that gets it. We need to keep on fighting. No compromise on standards and admissions. You actually get it. Im sure there is a way to tweak some things and win the right way. The Irish way, the Fighting Irish Way! Ugetwhatuask4 does not get this.
-
- ugetwutuask4 - Nov 19, 2009 at 5:56 PM
-
Actually your wrong beacause I’ve never said Charlie doen’t recruit the perfect student atheletes for ND, for 1. Two, I did mention however that we do need someone who will coach up our players or rather instill that fire and passion in players to in a way go all out and defensively play with an intensity and agrression where they can get off the field on 3rd and 4th and longs and force a few turnovers here and there. Third, after watching the IRISH captains in there press conferences and having the time to let of steem. I’ve realized that CHARLIE needs to stay and that he deserves 1 more year after so many close games this year. “IF” he can COACH the team UP to win out in the last 3 games especially if he can sock it DA U! Main reason I feel is because he has so many HATERS out there and he is the UNDERDOG and I LOVE UND UNDerdogs!
-
- Touchdown Jesus - Nov 19, 2009 at 10:14 PM
-
What a bunch of losers, all you notre lame fans remind me of the hollywood back patters who just suck up to one another, cause you have nothing else going for you.
-
- Fred Shaheen - Nov 20, 2009 at 10:44 AM
-
Is this blog the best that MSNBC has to offer Irish fans? I find it hard to believe that there hasn’t been any type of news out of South Bend since Monday. Tell us something that we do not already know.
-
- tommyb - Nov 20, 2009 at 2:42 PM
-
Stick w/ CW….don’t eat 18 million. These other coaches can get palm trees into their schools and use them as throwaways. Give him a couple of more years,
-
- tommyb - Nov 20, 2009 at 2:43 PM
-
Stick w/ CW….don’t eat 18 million. These other coaches can get palm trees into their schools and use them as throwaways. Give him a couple of more years,
