For the counterpoint, the case for keeping Charlie Weis.

It looks like I’m one of the few on this site that wants to see Weis go, so I’ll add my counterpoint to CW’s post below.  As a disclaimer, I want Weis to be let go and voted for the second option, but obviously I did not want us to get rid of Charlie and bring back Tyrone Willingham.  There were options out there and I wonder how deep we got in the two days there were any doubts over Weis’ future at Notre Dame.  Here are my reasons for firing Weis:

1)  We are a bad football team and have been for the past two seasons.  Last year we were absolutely dreadful and this year we might have erased the “absolutely” part.  Some of you might call that progress.  The trend line is pointing south and we are seeing not only our players regress in some instances, but our coaching staff as well.  I don’t feel the need to support that statement with stats or rankings, we all know that are poor and it will only further my argument.  I feel confident after watching the past two seasons that we are not a well coached team.

2)  Weis was hired for his offense.  And yet I would venture to say that our defense is our strength and Corwin Brown is doing much more with less talent than Charlie and the offensive staff is doing on the other side of the ball.  Why is Weis still employable?  Is it for his offensive prowess?  I hope not.  How about his head coaching ability?  I would hope not.  He would be a fantastic recruiting coordinator.

3) Let’s assume for the moment that Notre Dame hires a few new assistants, something that most fans thinks should be done now that Weis is getting a second chance (and for the record, I do think we’ll see a few coaching changes.  Before the Syracuse game I heard from someone close to the program that there was already a plan in the works on that front).  I absolutely hate when someone uses this fact to justify Weis’ job security.  Let’s say Charlie cans offensive line coach John Latina, which I believe will happen.  Has it really taken four years for Charlie to figure out that Latina is not a good coach and his system is not working?  Most great coaches identify that potential problem when they are assembling their staff.  But even if we give him a pass on that, is it not reasonable to expect Charlie to identify the problem after the first or second year (or how about the third year when the team goes 3-9 and we witness arguably our worst offensive line unit in Notre Dame history)?  I highly doubt these changes will do anything to help the program.  What kind of coach will want to get on this sinking ship?  I find it tough to stomach that Weis is so willing to throw his assistants under the bus when it is he who is the problem.  I wonder if the assistants have buyouts?  Likely not and I don’t think Charlie will care.

4)  It seems that we have different expectations for different coaches.  Others might interpret this as being racist and I highly doubt that is the actual case, but there should be concern over how we treated the previous coach when the current one is doing just as poorly, if not more poorly on the field.  I realize recruiting is a critical part of college football, but if you don’t develop it or turn it into wins, it means nothing.  I would also argue that there have been several recruiting failures in Weis’ tenure.  His first full class is not as great as we once thought and there have been some holes in the recruiting classes.  We will once again be struggling for bodies on the defensive line if we only sign the one DL commit we have so far and are still struggling to find answers at other positions (left tackle, kicker).

5)  A number of Tier 1 and Tier 2 coaches would be much better than Charlie Weis.  Heck, I’d even think about bringing back Bob Davie.

In the end, there are several more arguments we could add (feel free to comment on some more).  I really hope I am wrong with Weis and he wins a National Championship.  I’ll be the first to eat some delicious crow.  I also hope that Jack Swarbrick, Notre Dame’s new athletic director, clearly defined his expectations for Charlie Weis’ fifth season which include a BCS berth in 2009 and/or a top 10 finish.  This is Year 5, my friends, and as Charlie puts it, there are “no excuses”.