Over The Pylon

6-5 was indeed "not good enough"

We’ll hold what Kenny Powers would say, since it isn’t “official” in the “official” sense of the word, but the New York Daily News, the New York Times, and ESPN’s Joe Schad are saying that Charlie is indeed the proud recipient of the most recent pink slip in the Coaching Carousel of 2009.

For anyone following college football recently, this will come as no tremendous surprise. Normally, when your supervisor cancels a work trip you had planned for months amidst scuttlebutt and rumors that you were on thin ice, that is what is pretty much the definition of “warning sign”. According to the folks in the know, those smoke signals did indeed signal a fire, or firing, as the case may be.

The initial reaction across the country will be a loud and proud majority of people who despise ND and Weis, and who now feel vindicated that Charlie was unceremoniously shown the exit. While Weis certainly had issues, I find it challenging to fall in line with the hatred and contempt that he seems to generate. The argument of wins and losses is certainly a valid one, but for me, the talking points about his attitude, demeanor, and niceties are virtually a moot point and belong nowhere near the discussion as to whether or not Charlie is a good coach or deserving of the ND head job.

Was Weis a bit full of himself? Did he carry an attitude? Did he believe that he was indeed God’s gift to Notre Dame football? I can’t say, because I’ve never met him. However, what I can say with absolute certainty is that with enough wins on his resume in South Bend, no one would have cared. Mark Mangino is just the most recent example of the impunity carpet being pulled out from underneath the meanie when the wins don’t pile up. Bobby Knight is certainly the historical gold standard of behavior being irrelevant when wins were accumulating, and unfortunately for Charlie, there simple weren’t enough W’s on the opposite side of the scales of employment.

So now the 2009 season, which I dare say has been a bit boring, is about to go plaid. Notre Dame is one of those situations where a coaching search is a borderline 3-ring circus of “interest”, “non-interest”, denials, flight tracking, people lauding ND as a special place, people denying ND is anything out of the ordinary, etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum. For the Weis haters, he’ll get his OTP come-uppance Kenny Powers style once the school or Charlie issues some sort of official statement. Until then, we’re left to wonder what could have been, what should have been, and try and wrap our heads around the unbelievably massive amount of dollars it’s going to take to get Charlie and his staff out, and a new coach and his assistants in. And while we’re at it, I certainly hope everyone has had their fill of Golden Tate and Jimmy Clausen since it is a virtual certainty they won’t be back either. It is not a good day to be a Notre Dame fan, or in this case… their coach.

UPDATE: Notre Dame makes it official and announes it themselves that the AD and the President/Priest at ND have not retained Sir Charles. Kenny?

Charlie? You're fucking out!

Filed under: Coaches, ND |