Irish Eyes on Weis
We think Charlie Weis should be made to coach every game of his 10-year contract, which expires in 2015. Why not? You think someone's going to show up in South Bend - Knute Rockne's ghost? - and transform the Fighting Irish into a perennial top-five powerhouse? Is it really as simple as one man's removal? And are the Pittsburgh Pirates "just a middle reliever away" from the World Series?
We're bored by the impatient carousel of exorbitantly paid college coaches. That's why we've started a counterintutive new club: Let Charlie Get Ten Society. We meet Tuesdays at 9 p.m. in a secret location unknown to all mouth-foaming Irish alumni. We sit on steel chairs and watch old videotapes of Charlie's swaggering speeches, and games with all of Charlie's questionable decisions edited out. It's very pleasant, and the games move very quickly.
Surely we will be working on a new tape this week, as the Fighting Irish lost to Navy at home for the second time in three years, 23-21. Mr. Weis' critics are again in high dudgeon and demanding the coach's removal for just the 547th time in his career.
Yes, Mr. Weis deserves some criticism. But the gloom in South Bend is also the fault of the Notre Dame administration, which rashly rewarded Mr. Weis with that decade-long deal just seven games into his Irish career. That decision now looks as prudent as marrying a Gabor sister at the Vatican.
