Charlie Weis = hypocrite?

I'm sure I'll get accused of being a Notre Dame apologist here, but I think Weis is on relatively sound ethical ground here. Do you have to go through some philosophical gymnastics to get there? Sure. But it's really not too inconsistent to accept, ultimately.

If he'd have blasted Urban Meyer or Butch Davis, it would be different. But if you read all of his quotes, he exonerates the coaches from any wrongdoing. Coaches can call his kids. He just doesn't want his kids listening and, if they do, bye-bye.

That's what Ferentz did with the Brian Smith kid at linebacker that Weis stole. As soon as Smith wanted to talk to Notre Dame, Ferentz pulled the scholarship offer.

It will be interesting to see if Weis sticks by his guns the first time a top 10 linebacker that he's desperate to hold onto says, "Coach, I want to commit to Notre Dame, but I still want to take my other four visits. Is that OK with you?" That'll be the test. He has to stick by it, or he loses his credibility on the issue. THEN he'll be a hypocrite.

 

this is why the whole cottage industry of recruiting coverage is utter nonsense. i mean, i get why fans eat this stuff up - we had another thread on it a few days ago - but NO ONE IS COMMITTED UNTIL HE SIGNS A LETTER OF INTENT. ever. an oral committment is meaningless.

coaches are not complete fuckheads. they realize this. if they don't want to deal with the whims of 17-year-old boys, they need to work in the pro game.

 

Where is that Wash Post story where Benn rips him? Today's story is just on Benn choosing UNC.

 

The beautiful thing about the Super Bowl, other aspects of the NFL season and Notre Dame going down in flames in the Sugar Bowl is that this might be the beginning of the end for the Parcells-Belichik-Weis era of paranoid, control-freak, mind-game playing asshole coaches who, in no small aside, are human pieces of filth.

Consider:

Parcells: resigns after spinning his wheels in Dallas.
Belichik: blows AFC championship with several amateur screw-ups (12 guys in huddle, etc.), and now embroiled in messy affair with another man's wife.
Weis: under-achieves at Notre Dame, presides over the last two of a nine-bowl losing streak for Irish.
Coughlin: should have gotten canned at New York; must have naked pictures of various members of the Mara family.

In the meantime, Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy prove you can be a good coach and a good human being and win, all at the same time.

RIP: Parcells and the fruit of his poisonous tree

 

Two words, hondo:

Eric Mangini

 

The rules are, you're a free agent until you sign a letter of intent. Notre Dame poaches as many recruits as anyone.

Fat POS.

 

I have 2 issues with Weis' "crusade"

1) Everything was fine until the Domers started losing recruits. If they hadn't gotten "burned," Weis wouldn't give half a crap about this problem. But because of what happened yesterday, it's all of a sudden a national epidemic that must be addressed.

2) He's putting all of the onus on 18-year-old kids to do the right thing, while it's fine for coaches who should know better to do whatever they have to do to get them to sign. That's crap. I thought Notre Dame was better than that ... at least that's what they say as they play in the cesspool with every other D-I school.

This whole Illinois-Notre Dame thing could get real fun to watch here in the next couple of years. I think Charlie Weis is about the only coach in America who could have people rallying behind Ron Zook.

 

weiss has been ripped on this board for years. i'd be curious to hear specifics about why he's such a miserable wretch - other than treating the media like crap.

 

That's not true. Weis has been for an early signing period for a while. That's not a new crusade.

And I wonder if he realizes it would cost him as many kids as it would get him. But of course guys like Carroll and Urban Meyer who reel in the last-minute big fish aren't going to want one.

But overall it would reduce the craziness of recruiting, it would give coaches some leisure time back with their families instead of having to beg everyone in their recruiting class to stay on ... it would be a good thing for the sport.

 

That's what I don't get -- how would an early signing period do anything like that? All I see is that it would move the craziness up. Coaches would still be poaching, oral commitments would still be made and then changed before [the early] signing day. The only difference is that you would be dealing with even younger kids.

 

You'd be able to assemble your recruiting class in stages, which would mean that coaches wouldn't have to spend time and energy - or waste kids' time and energy - slow playing other kids at positions in the event that someone else decommits. It wouldn't be a flawless system by any means, but I think it would be better, particularly if in conjunction with rules really limiting contact between, say, h.s. sophomores and colleges staffs. That would prevent the craziness for starting earlier, in theory.