Friday, January 25, 2008

Charlie Weis: Smartest Man Alive or Dumb Luck

Is Charlie Weis a Recruiting Guru? Everyone questioned whether he would be able to recruit on the collegiate level. Yet after the most recent collapse ND still has one of the top recruiting classes of 2008, so far. Could Charlie Weis have planned this? Could the dismal 2007 Falterin' Irish could have been a complete ruse, used to decieve the many. Think about it, everyone knew Notre Dame was not going to compete in the 2007 season. Too much talent gone to graduation. Weis was looking at years of being a mid-level school fighting with other schools for top recruits only to be beaten by teams playing in the Bowls. So he struck a genius plan:

Take the most storied program in College Football history and make them a laughing stock. Do everything in your power to have the worst season in franchise history. And then here's the recruiting pitch:

A few years ago Notre Dame was great, most storied and known tradition in the NCAA, the Four Horsemen, the countless pros who played in Touchdown Jesus' shadow, the stockpile of post-season accolades. Hell there are at least 5 movies made in and around Notre Dame football. One of them was even starring a future US President. Then, in a stroke of recruiting mastermind, instead of hide the teams terrible 2007 performance, use it as a pitch.

Imagine this, you've been playing football your whole life. Before you had cable you were watching Notre Dame on Saturdays (due to their NBC Monopoly). You always dreamed of playing at one of the power-houses and Notre Dame's faceman Charlie Weis shows up. He's wearing his Super Bowl rings, dropping names like Brady Quinn and Tom Brady, reminding these recruits of what Notre Dame football is and what he has accomplished. Then, slightly ashamed, mentions the recent slip into a terrible time, but offers these top recruits a once in a lifetime offer. Help make the once great program on hard times, become the greatest of all time.

As a recruit, you know you're getting national exposure. A 6 win season after 2007 and you're in contention for awards. 8 Wins and you're guaranteed a Bowl game, and it's not gonna be the Brut Sun Bowl. Your name will go down in history as one of the greats to play at one of the greatest schools and you helped bring Notre Dame back to glory.

It's a genius move. This is a man who coached under the evil mastermind of Bill Belichick. Remember? What's next sweatshirts?

Of course this is absolutely ridiculous to think that Weis would intentionally damage a program for a recruiting pitch. It is just pure dumb luck that he landed this group of top recruits. Isn't it?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is one of the dumbest things I've ever read. To begin with, good high school players don't want to go to losing schools that are torn apart daily in the media. Why do Florida and USC have the best classes year in and year out? Also, the majority of ND's recruits committed before the season even began. And, a coach can't make his players not block or tackle. He also couldn't tell his team to tank, seniors wouldn't allow it, the media would be told, and he'd be fired. Again, this is a dumb article. And everyone calls Bill Bellicheck an evil genius...what the hell does that mean? So what, he got caught doing what every other coach did. Oh, and he wears a sweatshirt and is short with the media, so therefore he's an evil bastard. I don't like the patriots, and I don't like him, but I don't understand how people think he and his past and present coaching staff (charlie weis) sit around a big table with hairless cats and think of evil ways to take over the football world. Maybe what this came down to was that Charlie Weis and his staff did a great job recruiting. They have a prestigious program that is on national television weekly. They have a history of getting people to the NFL, and have coaches who've been there. They also have a bunch of slow, bad players, so playing time shouldn't be that hard to come by. Wake up man, coaches don't get jobs for new england and notre dame because they're tricking the system, they get them because they're good coaches.

Dom said...

This article is in the vein of humor. I should preface this by saying that I am a HUGE Notre Dame fan, have been my whole life. I've been to (and seen) Notre Dame lose in 3 Fiesta Bowls (Colorado, Oregon State, and Ohio State) and an Insight.com Bowl. Also Notre Dame walked away with one of the top recruiting classes which is what was said in the article. I love the Irish, got accepted there but couldn't afford it and know all the words to the fight song. Rudy still gives me chills. If I have to look at the 2007 through a satirical article, I do. I understand you are angry at the assumptions that ND and Charlie Weis "threw" the 2007 season and I point out that no College athlete would waste a year of their eligibility by doing such. Also there is pride and competitoin at stake. Notre Dame, as I wrote is one of the most storied traditional programs in history, and I watch NBC every Saturday in the fall. Appreciate you reading. And the shot at Belichick was just that, He's a smug egotistical ass, who got busted cheating. Whether or not everyone does it, he got caught.