To preface this, I have no inclination either way whether Charlie Weis will be coach of the Irish next season.  In perhaps the most telling sign of how bad these last two seasons have been, I'm sort of numb to the whole decision, simply wanting it to be over with no matter what the result is.  I believe there are pretty solid arguments to be made in both directions, even after the pathetic offensive effort in the Coliseum and a six-win season that many thought would at least tick up to seven, if not eight or nine.

There's a sour taste in everyone's mouth after last night, but here are the abridged versions of both sides of the argument.

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The Case For Keeping Charlie: Weis is an alum who gets Notre Dame and who has become considerably less prickly (despite random Chicago Trib columns stating otherwise) after the humbling experience of 3-9, a tireless recruiter who is about to bring in another top five or ten class to South Bend, barring .500 record-induced defections.  This is his first head coaching job and it is clear there are plenty of things he needs to learn, as not all coaches "get it" right away, but he showed in 2005 and 2006 that he is far from a complete incompetent on the sidelines.  The team bottomed out from a talent standpoint in 2007 and is utilizing a lot of young, inexperienced players who are learning on the job, just like their head coach.  If given another season, a junior and senior-led class with a reserve of five star goodness behind them on the depth chart will click and begin to dominate like Irish fans hope they would.  If the Irish keep Weis on, he's going to bring in another solid group of recruits and return a talented team to a winnable schedule in 2009.  If there is not marked improvement next year, then Weis should either step down or be let go.

The Case For Firing Charlie: He's gone 9- 15 the last two seasons with questionable decisions along the way, including the retention of certain coaches and some quirky in-game strategy.  The team plays sans any sort of fire or passion most of the time, and while halfway through 2008 it looked like a step in the right direction, Saturday's season finale blowout at Southern Cal looked more like the impotent offense of 2007 than the Brady Quinn-led juggernauts of 2005 and 2006.  From the start of the season, Jimmy Clausen has gotten worse, the offensive line is less capable and the play-calling has become more vanilla.  The team is without identity, and bringing in a new coach to mold and hone the troves of talent up and down the two-deep will result in championship contender over the next few years.  It doesn't matter if you recruit five-star players if they play like walk-ons, and therefore his value as a recruiter is negated unless the coaching improves.

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Those are the arguments in a nutshell, abbreviated for the sake of brevity and the fact every Irish fan has heard both sides over and over and over again.  Coming into the Southern Cal game, I was still strongly in support of Weis coming back, as were many of my friends.  Part of this was due to the natural urge to go against the wailing hordes on the messageboards, the other part because this is a young team with an inexperienced staff all trying to learn together under one of the brightest lights in sports.  But as I watched the game with family and friends, they would point out something from this Irish season - a loss, a decision, a specific play in the game - and I would have an excuse available for them immediately.  Part of the reason is because I've seen every play Notre Dame has ran this season (up until the last few minutes of the Southern Cal game) and therefore have a little more insight than they do, but on the other hand, these are people that watch a lot of football, Irish and otherwise year-in and year-out, looking at this team with fresh eyes.  At some point, shouldn't we just stop making excuses?

Last week I was reading a great post on FreeDarko about the evolution of the Knicks from competitive and fun to watch into full 2010 free agent pursuit mode.  In a basketball post, on a basketball blog, this random line was dropped:

It allows Mike D'Antoni to be completely free of accountability. Screw up this year, and it's , "What did you expect? We're rebuilding." That type of Charlie Weis good-ole-boy-ing will lead to nothing but complacency and lowered expectations.

Is that why I'm so onboard with whatever decision Swarbrick makes and just wants it to be made?  Notre Dame will never reach the levels of the halcyon past like so many across the messageboards think it will, and I totally understand that, but Jesus, shouldn't we at least look like a real football team week-in and week-out?

As I worked my way through this post, it appears I've talked myself into letting Weis go, but in my heart of hearts, I really don't want to do that.  I want to see him succeed, and giving him another year to both learn and teach will only improve things.  Probably.  Or maybe all this team of highly talented players needs is a new voice to guide them to infinite glory.

I just want to get something up here to start the discussion.  I'm not sold either way and would love a clear-cut case to be made to me in one direction or the other, just so I can get off this extremely uncomfortable fence.  If you've got that ironclad plan for fixing the program, please put it out there for me.