ND's Weis denies negative recruiting
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -- Notre Dame football coach Charlie Weis on Thursday denied a player's accusation that the Irish staff criticized Clemson after the incoming freshman verbally committed to the Tigers.
"I find it quite amusing that a student-athlete already enrolled at another university has decided to be the team spokesman on Notre Dame recruiting practices," Weis said. "There is an obvious contradiction between how this was handled and what was stated. We do not use negative recruiting tactics."
Jamie Cumbie, a 6-foot-7, 255-pound tight end who attended Morris (Ill.) High School, is a native of South Carolina who had moved to an area about an hour west of Chicago during high school. He said his final choice of schools was between Clemson and Notre Dame.
He announced last June that he would attend Clemson. But he said Notre Dame continued to recruit him -- the only school to do so.
"I'm not going to lie," Cumbie told The Post and Courier newspaper in Charleston, S.C., in a story Wednesday. "The coaches at Notre Dame sent some bad letters ripping Clemson after I committed here."
He said the Irish coaching staff had a list of advantages and disadvantages. He said among the advantages they listed is that all Notre Dame football games are televised.
"Then they said Clemson has a horrible education," he said.
Weis said all his coaching staff does is "represent what Notre Dame stands for."
"If supporting Notre Dame academics can be misconstrued as speaking down on another school's academics, call us guilty," he said.
