For the counterpoint, the case for firing Charlie Weis.

Although the messageboards will tell you that Notre Dame Stadium will be empty next year as fans revolt against a university trying to murder its football team, the majority of my friends are okay with this decision.  Sample size?  Relatively small, obviously, but this is an informed part of the Irish electorate and the general consensus is that while Weis might not be a great coach - probably won't be, even - this is the right decision to make.  A few completely unscientific polls - here, at The Observer, a few other places - had voters right around 50/50 on whether they wanted Weis to stay or not.  A lot of people were really oscillating on the issue, although it seems Swarbrick has made the decision relatively promptly (although Notre Dame failing to confirm it certainly makes things a little more interesting).

But isn't this embracing mediocrity?  Or worse, racist?  Not quite, and let's work through this one point at a time.

First, I don't think anyone was in love with Weis as a coach anymore, or would spend a great deal of time trying to defend him.  There were too many maddening decisions and too little progress from the beginning of this season to the end.  There is a laundry list of fireable offenses that anyone could point to and say "Yes, this is why we need to get rid of this guy."  The offensive line play, play-calling against Southern Cal, the misuse of timeouts, the decisions to go for field goals instead of first downs and vice-versa; none of these reflect particularly well on the head coach.  So why are we keeping him?

Maybe simply because nobody better was available.  I don't think many Irish fans would have stood behind Weis if Urban Meyer or Nick Saban were standing on the steps of the main building, bags in hand.  That vision, however, was not a particularly realistic fantasy at this juncture, even though Meyer continues to drop these tantalizing hints that get Irish fans all excited.  (He only steals our recruits because he secretly has a crush on us!  It's like elementary school, only instead of our crayons he's taking defensive linemen!)  Critics of the decision will say keeping Weis is an acceptance of mediocrity, but that implies firing him immediately wins us a national championship.  Who was Notre Dame going to bring into replace him?  Brian Kelly?  Kelly has a really nice track record at Grand Valley State, Central Michigan and Cincinnati, but if he is in love with the Notre Dame job, why not give him another year to audition with the Bearcats, keeping up on both his coaching and recruiting?  If Weis is horrible this coming year, then you axe him, bring in Kelly, and the only downside was that Notre Dame has another subpar season while making sure the guy they wanted was right for the job retaining an excellent class of recruits to help contribute to yet another rebuilding effort.

There are no excuses for Weis this time around, and if he's not in a BCS bowl and in the area of the top ten with the talent he brought on board, I don't think anyone will testify that his stay should be longer than five years.  But there is something to be said for continuity, and the potential that once the leaders on the team are also the elder statesmen on the team and everyone has been immersed in the system for a few years that things will just click. Do you remember how good this team looked in the second half against Purdue, or the first half against North Carolina?  This is still the same team, although it's also the same squad that was completely and totally owned by Boston College and who lost to Syracuse.  If Weis can channel the capable Irish team next year, he stays on, and this was a good decision.  If he doesn't, he's gone, and no one will aid him in anyway save for holding the door while he boxes up the office.

In regards to the statement that Notre Dame is somehow racist for keeping Weis two years longer than Ty - a ridiculous accusation even Rob threw down last night - I can't do anything but shake my head and laugh.  Ty Willingham was an extraordinarily bad coach, as the poor people in Seattle found out over the last four years.  He was asleep at the wheel and had just brought in a truly awful recruiting class (Class of '08 pride!)  prior to his final season.  Keeping Ty on would have only deepened the hole that Weis, or his potential successor, was trying to dig the team out of.  Remember 2007?  Weis coached that team, but the struggle to fill the two-deep was in direct correlation to the improvement of Ty's short game (but my, you ought to see what he can do with a lob wedge).  What will another year of Weis do the program?  At worst, he could lose every game in 2009 and the cupboard would still be stocked, in a better place than when he left it.  Ty didn't even know where the cupboard was by the time he left.

So the Cliff Notes version of everything I said above: I don't know whether Charlie Weis will ever be a good football coach, but unless a sure-fire, top-notch target was going to replace him, I'll take another year of continuity in the program rather than rolling the dice on someone new.  One more less-than-stellar year and I will assist in delivering the pink slip to Weis.  If only for next season, better the devil you know than the devil you don't.