Charlie Weis
Chicago Bears Retain Head Coach Lovie Smith, Fire Offensive Coordinator Ron Turner
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 | Chicago Bears, General, Indianapolis Colts, NFL, Notre Dame, Sports, USC Trojans | No Comments
The Chicago Bears announced that Lovie Smith will return for his 7th year as Bears head coach in 2010, but that offensive coordinator Ron Turner would be relieved of his duties. Smith has 2 years left on his contract with the Bears and would have been owed $11 million if the Bears decided to part ways with Smith in order to go with a more high-profile coach like a Bill Cowher, Mike Shanahan, Jon Gruden or Brian Billick.
Lovie Smith took the Bears to the Super Bowl in 2006 against the Indianapolis Colts, a game which they lost. But since then, things have been downright brutal on the lakefront of Chicago – 7-9, 9-7 and 7-9 – and 3 straight years without making the playoffs. Smith assumed the defensive play-calling role in 2009, but the Bears front took that play-calling role away from him after the season. In 2010, Smith will be the head coach, and the Bears will have a new offensive coordinator and a new defensive coordinator.
Bears President Ted Phillips had this to say about the state of affairs with the Bears: “This has been a frustrating season to say the least. We’ve had inconsistent play on both sides of the ball. Personally, it’s been the most frustrating year since I’ve been here… The last three years, it’s been clear nobody did a good enough job in the organization. Nobody did… If we didn’t believe as an organization that Lovie and Jerry [Angelo - Bears' General Manager] could turn this around and get us back to our winning ways, then there would have been other changes made… We all know what we need to do. We’re not happy. We’re not happy with the season we had. We’re not happy with the last three years, and the expectation is to turn it around in 2010. At the end of 2010, we’ll go through another evaluation process and see where we’re at.”
Pretty candid.
Former Notre Dame Head Coach Charlie Weis, former St. Louis Rams Head Coach Mike Martz and current USC Trojans offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates have thrown their names into the ring for the Bears offensive coordinator position.
On the defensive side, former Detroits Lions Head Coach and current defensive line coach Rod Marinelli could be considered for the defensive coordinator position. But the Bears could also go outside the organization.
Also on the firing line were quarterbacks coach Pep Hamilton, tight ends coach Rob Boras, offensive line coach Harry Hiestand, and assistant coaches Luke Butkus and Charles London.
We’ll keep you posted as soon as we hear anything from the Bears about the hiring of their new offensive and defensive coordinators.
Brian Kelly (Cincinnati) New Head Coach of Notre Dame
Thursday, December 10th, 2009 | College Football, Notre Dame, Sports | No Comments
The University of Notre Dame has found their new head coach – Brian Kelly. Kelly coached the Cincinnati Bearcats to a perfect 13-0 record during the 2009 College Football season, good for a #3 ranking in the BCS Poll (#4 Associated Press Poll). Cincinnati is slated to play BCS #5 Florida in the Allstate Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day. It is unclear whether or not Kelly will coach the Bearcats in the bowl game, but it is unlikely that Notre Dame would have hired Kelly and allow him to coach the game. Notre Dame hired Kelly within 9 days of firing former Head Coach Charlie Weis (35-27 in 5 years as the Irish Head Coach; 1-2 in Bowl Games) and ND brass will likely want Kelly to get moving on recruiting for the 2010 season. It also makes sense given the University’s decision not to accept a bowl game bid this year. Bringing in a new coach, implementing a new system and dealing with the departures of starting quarterback Jimmy Clausen and starting wide receiver Golden Tate to the 2010 NFL Draft – it didn’t make sense for the Irish to practice for a “meaningless” bowl game.
Cincinnati has its annual football banquet tonight and the school has uninvited media to the event. Although neither the Kelly camp or the University of Notre Dame have confirmed the Kelly hiring, sources close to the story are stating that the deal will be announced at some point on Friday. Terms of the deal have nor been disclosed…
Notre Dame Fires Head Coach Charlie Weis – It’s About Time…
Monday, November 30th, 2009 | College Football, Notre Dame, Oklahoma Sooners, Sports | 1 Comment
The University of Notre Dame finally fired Head Coach Charlie Weis on Monday afternoon. The writing was on the wall – Notre Dame had lost 3 straight games heading into Notre Dame’s final game of the season at Stanford this past Saturday and Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick asked Weis to return to South Bend after the game instead of staying out in California to recruit like he has done the last 4 seasons. Weis should have taken the time to listen to good resources like former Head Coach Lou Holtz (shown above) instead of being the jerk that he was (see below). Maybe then he would have figured out how to be a good head coach both on and off the field to his players and his university. Weis’ performance clearly shows that he is not head coach material.
Weis just finished his 5th season as Notre Dame’s Head Coach (6-6 in 2009). His 35-27 record (.565 winning percentage) was worst then each of Notre Dame’s previous head coaches – Bob Davie and Tyrone Willingham. Weis had 6 years left on his contract, and it is believed that the University will have to pay Weis a contractual buyout somewhere in the $15-18 million range.
While Weis was a great recruiter – see Jimmy Clausem, Golden Tate, Michael Floyd, Robert Hughes, Armando Allen, just to name a few – he never seemed to be able to develop his highly touted recruits. On the defensive side of the ball, Weis’ teams were even worse. Notre Dame never lost a game by more than 7 points this year, but you never got the sense that the team knew how to close out games. Except for blowouts against Nevada and Washington State, Notre Dame’s other 4 wins came by 3, 3, 7 and 4 points. Not a big endorsement about a team on the rise. These were all of Weis’ guys, and it was clear that Weis does not have what it takes to mold and nurture collegiate athletes as they grow at this stage of their football careers.
If Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate return in 2010 (both have been rumored to want to leave early for the NFL), the incoming coach will have a great bed of talent with which to work. There are plenty of great coaches out there – ND needs to reach out to Urban Meyer (Florida) and Bob Stoops (Oklahoma), even if both have publicly acknowledged that they have no interest in the Notre Dame job. Come on, what else are they going to say. But who knows, maybe you can woo one of them away – each have accomplished their goals at their schools now with national championships, so maybe it’s time they give it a whirl at a new school with lots of talent like Notre Dame.
While I place a lot of the blame for the Head Coaching debacle on Weis, the athletic department is also at fault. Weis is not a nice guy, plain and simple. Weis is arrogant and hates to admit when he is wrong. Weis hates making adjustments to counteract the team is playing against on that given Saturday. With all that in mind, why did the athletic department find it so necessary to give him an extension so early in his head coaching career at Notre Dame. Hadn’t the school gotten into a jam like that with each of Davie and Willingham? Now the school is on the hook to pay Weis a HUGE sum of money because of that contract extension. Someone needs to be held accountable for that decision.
A quick look to the future – assuming Meyer and Stoops both say no – who is next on the horizon? Cincinnati Head Coach Brian Kelly seems to be a nice fit. Stanford’s Jim Harbaugh and TCU’s Gary Patterson have also been mentioned. On the pro level – what about a John Gruden or Bill Cowher? Only time will tell – to avoid previous mistakes and public embarassments, Swarbrick on the Notre Dame brass need to get this done quickly and quietly to put a team in place right away so as not to lose out on the 2010 recruiting frenzy that is about to start right now. Let’s hope they can avoid the mistakes of the past and bring in someone that wants to, and will, stay in South Bend for years and years to come…
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