MySportsSanctuary

When you have alumni erecting billboards around your town calling your ‘job’ an ‘internship,’ post a season with the most losses in the program’s storied history and haven’t won a big game in your tenure, chances are things are not quite right.

Charlie Weis, the coach for Notre Dame, is one of the highest paid and controversial coaches in recent memory. Many believe Weis to be a very knowledgeable and charismatic coach who routinely gets a top tier recruiting class each year. However, those blue-chip athletes haven’t translated their high praise into high wins. Other than his splash in 2005 with a 9-2 record after the dismal season and even detrimental firing of Ty Willingham the year before, Weis hasn’t lived up to expectations. Ironic that after his first seven games (5-2) he was given a ten-year contract worth over $30 million when Willingham started out 8-0 during his inaugural season but was fired two seasons later. Critics blamed race as Willingham, who is black, didn’t have a chance to develop his players while Weis was seen as a breath of fresh air. Notre Dame would take the hit from the controversy and stood by Weis’s side, and the pressure to win was mounting. The critics of Weis would say that his 20-6 record in his first two seasons was won with his predecessors recruits which included Brady Quinn and Jeff Samardzija. Since then: 11-16 record including their dramatic collapse against Michigan a week ago, a loss to Navy for the first time in 43 years and their first ever loss to an 8-loss team in Syracuse in 2008.

So in his fifth year, after a great bowl victory over Hawaii and the fact that these are his players, the pressure is on his back like no other time during his brief tenure. He has to win and win now. I think he is a good coach but what Notre Dame did to Willingham all but made this situation a stressful one. They believed in Weis and bet the farm on him, and so far the return on their investment has been slim to none, and slim is packing up to leave.