Wojo Rising

Gene Wojciechowski and the ESPN crew are at it again. I know that these people are just trying to bring hits to their website and money to the bank, but some of the fantastic journalism surrounding the Notre Dame coaching situation is bordering on the inaccurate. Here's some commentary on the worldwide's most recent attempt to exploit a program that is no longer nationally relevant (by the way, how much press has the impeding coaching change at Michigan been getting lately?).

For starters, the obligatory jab at Weis while comparing him to Ty:

"Unlike Tyrone Willingham before him, Weis got a full five years to build his program with his own recruits, his own system and his own assistant coaches."

What disappoints me about this comment is that any Notre Dame fan can refute this claim with a stock rebuttal so commonly used that I'm not even going to waste space writing it. ESPN needs to recognize that the factors that kept Weis around for five years are so different than Ty (and really even Davie) that they don't merit being discussed.

Now another personal jab that merits a longer response:

"As an NFL coordinator, your constituency is your owner, your head coach and your players. At Notre Dame, that constituency stretches like a pair of Sansabelts, from school president, to athletic director, to administrators, to players, alumni, NBC, media and subway alums. I'm not sure Weis totally embraced that role. One of his final acts at Notre Dame -- cancel all media access to his players this past week -- was more fitting of Belichick than of a college coach. And then to slink out a back door …"

While Weis may have entered Notre Dame with these personality issues, most ND fans will probably disagree with the statement. The national media has chosen to keep the easy caricature of Charlie as the arrogant coach, but the truth is that by his third season, Weis began to make considerable efforts to become accessible to his fan base. From augmenting his busy travel schedule to include visits to many alumni associations, to holding autograph sessions for the student body, to creating a Twitter account, to changing his tone with the media, I feel that Weis has made a considerable effort to appease all of his constituencies. And as for sneaking away at the end of the Stanford game, can anyone really blame him? Hasn't this guy been dragged through the ugliest of media mud the last few weeks that he should be allowed to exit holding onto some dignity?

And to end the article:

"Swarbrick told me months ago he'll use a two-page checklist to assess the state of a Notre Dame program, but Weis knows better. His dismissal comes down to two letters, not two pages: W and L."

It's a nice conclusion; in fact, its a way better conclusion than the abrupt "Go Irish" that I usually end posts with. However, this is another gross over-exaggeration that underscores what Weis has done for the program. Dear ESPN, its pretty easy to write why Weis should (and probably will) be fired this week, but for feature article after the Stanford game, I find it irresponsible to only include Weis' shortcomings. Yes, Weis didn't win enough football games over the last three years, but throw the guy a bone for the talent he has been able to bring to South Bend, the improvements he's made to the offense, and the countless hours that he has given to the program.