I always like to give any major decisions like this a couple of days of thought before forming my opinion. I never like any new album I buy the first time I listen to it; it always takes a couple trips through it before I start tapping my toe along. I always give it a second listen, and it always gets better the second or third time through. I think that’s probably because any good musician’s work evolves along with his or her life. That’s what makes the music good.
So with that, the more I think about this hire, homer glasses removed, the more I like it, and the more I am convinced that Dr. Zenger knocked this one out of the park. There are some potential negatives to the hire, as there would be with any new coach. If Weis was not successful at Notre Dame, how will be successful here? Is his health and mobility going to be a concern? Recruiting is such a huge part of college football, and something that he can’t build on from his time in the pros.
The positives outweigh the negatives by a long shot, though.
From what I have read and listened to from people that know Charlie Weis, and have spoken to him since the hire, I am very excited - for a few reasons. The number one being that from all accounts, Weis loves a challenge, and he has a great one in front of him. Just like he did when he signed on with Bill Belichick and the Patriots. The super power Patriots that we all know have not always been. They were a lousy franchise for most of their existence, until just over ten years ago, when Bill Parcells came on as head coach. Parcells then left in controversy. The next two seasons, leading up to Belichick taking over with Weis as offensive coordinator, the Pats finished a humble fourth in the AFC East. Then the new regime finished fifth, dead last, in its first season. The next year, the Patriots made it to the Super Bowl against the previously perceived unbeatable ‘Greatest Show on Turf’, of the St. Louis Rams. The Patriots shocked the world in that Super Bowl, and the rest, as they say, is history.
A lot of what has gone into the rebirth of the Patriots has minor transference to the college game, but Weis had a major role in turning the fantastically average Patriots into the one of the most dominant professional franchises of my generation.
When asked what he knew about Kansas football before talking to Dr. Zenger, Weis said ‘I knew that they were 2-10, and that Kansas State was 10-2.’ Weis loves a challenge, and he has a great one in front of him.
Some argue that if Weis couldn’t win at Notre Dame, with the best facilities, boosters and alumni support in the country, how can he win at Kansas? First we have to define what ‘not winning at Notre Dame’ means to most people. In the case of Weis, it was three bowl games in five years, two of them BCS bowls, and one losing season. To most schools, that would be a great five-year stretch. To Kansas, it would be the best five-year stretch in school history by a wide, wide margin. But it was clearly not good enough for Notre Dame. Understandable. So let us look at how the challenge at Kansas is night and day different than at our good Lady.
The head football coach at Notre Dame is the implied face of the university, much like the head men’s basketball coach at Kansas. Of course all universities are institutions of learning, but to a lot of people, the face of Notre Dame is the head football coach. The position is more akin to a CEO than a coach. It is a person that has to put all the pieces of the machine in place for it to function like it should, then be able to site back and watch it work, and look good doing it. He goes to fundraisers, glad hands with big time donors, kisses babies, goes on television, makes public appearances, all the things that a guy like Weis is not exactly at home doing. Bill Bellichick didn’t even let his assistants talk to the media, so to go from the isolationist calculating masterplanner to the public face of the most historic program in college football was a paradigm shifting mess.
There are coaches out there who are very good at those things. The first few that come to mind are names like Mack Brown, Roy Williams, Bobby Bowden, Mike Krzyzewski, Bob Stoops, and most importantly, Bill Self. From all reports, Coach Weis was not comfortable in that roll at Notre Dame, and its one that he wont have to play here, because we already have one of the best in the business in Bill Self.
The other paramount difference in the schools is the type of player that he will be able to recruit to Kansas, and how he assembles a staff to coach that player.
This is the part where we are going to have to wait and see what happens, but that I am eager to see develop. It is clear to see what was not working at Notre Dame when looking with an objective eye. Weis put together a staff that brought in record breaking recruiting classes year after year, but had marginal success on the field. Coaching at the college and professional levels are worlds apart. Weis came from the pro game, where every warm body on the team is a world-class athlete. A thoroughbred. Much like the recruits he brought in to Notre Dame. The difference is that in the pros, every player already has a highly developed fundamental base that was cultivated at the college level. Football fundamentals are not taught at the pro level, where the decided advantage comes from the schemes designed by the coaches. This is perhaps the biggest reason for Weis’ limited success at Notre Dame. He had a coaching staff that brought in top-notch talent, and put together brilliant schemes, but without a concentrated dose of fundamental development of the Jimmies and Joes, the x’s and o’s don’t mean much. I can’t believe I just wrote that. Weis is an intelligent man, and I think this is an area of his masterplan for Notre Dame that will be amended for his time at Kansas.
If the rumors of talks with Tim Grunhard are true, it is a clear indication of Weis’ intent to put together a staff that can not only recruit, but also develop young talent.
No positions are more important to develop fundamentally than the offensive and defensive lines. Any lineman that is large enough and strong enough to be recruited by BCS schools is playing against inferior opponents for 90% of his high school career. All he has to do is come off the ball hard and he will be successful a majority of the time. He won’t have to use proper technique, good pad level, quick feet and most importantly effective hand placement. He can just use his arms as violent bludgeoning billyclubs to out mollywhop anybody that lines up across from him. That's all over when he gets to college. If he tries that against Frank Alexander, Ndamukong Suh, or even James McClinton, he will receive the very essence of a rude awakening. This is one of the criticisms of Weis’ time at Notre Dame - that he had a staff focused more on recruiting and scheming than on player development. This is where coaches like Tim Grunhard have the potential to shine.
Grunny said on the radio Friday that he had not yet been contacted by Weis, but that he would absolutely be interested in coaching the offensive line if he is. The Internet was abuzz today with rumors of talks between the two. They know each other through Notre Dame, and Weis has offered the former Chief jobs in the past. Grunhard said that he wanted to accept the jobs, but that the time was just not right for his family. Now could be that serendipitous situation.
Grunhard is currently the head coach at Bishop Miege High School in Kansas City. In his first season as head coach, Miege, finished 3-6. They were district champs the next year and won state two years later. He played his college ball at Notre Dame, where he worked his way from mid level recruit to starting role, and ended his career starting every game as a senior for an undefeated National Championship season in 1988, among the best Notre Dame football teams in school history. He was then drafted by the Chiefs in the second round, and learned from long time veteran and nine time pro-bowler Mike Webster before assuming the starting role, and becoming an anchor of the Chiefs franchise throughout the 90’s. In short, Grunhard knows a little bit about what it takes to develop young talent. If he is Coach Weis’ first new hire, things should be looking good for Kansas football fans.
| Tim Grunhard, in perhaps the best pose in football card history |
There are a many more factors that make Weis a great coach – a tireless work ethic, a no-nonsense attitude, and a commitment to academics among the most important, but a lot of coaches share those traits. This has gotten a little bit long winded, so the last thing I want to comment on, specific to Charlie Weis, is the potential for KU to have an exceptional quarterback in the future. Todd Reesing showed us how important a great quarterback is, not only in terms of winning and losing, but also fan support and media exposure. Both of which are increasingly more important with the possibility of another round of conference realignment always looming.
The question is not what quarterback can Weis bring in, its what quarterback would not want to play for Charlie Weis? There is nothing I can say about it that hasn’t been proven by his record. He turned Tom Brady from a fourth string back-up quarterback, almost unheard of in the NFL, to multiple Superbowl champion, and to one of the most recognizable names in sports. Brady Quinn’s first two years at Notre Dame were fine, but his numbers his junior and seniorseasons under Weis were almost remarkably better. Perhaps the most impressive is Matt Cassel’s Pro Bowl season under Weis, contrasted with the years before and after their time together. Any quarterback that wouldn’t give the opportunity to play for Weis serious consideration would be foolish. Maybe that is one thing left for Weis to accomplish. In a game where every quarterback he has touched has turned to gold, he is still hungry to turn one to bronze.
We can dream, can't we?
This post ran a little bit long, but I am confident in everything that I have written. Sheahon Zenger made a fantastic hire in Charlie Weis. Nobody knows what the future holds; we very well may have another losing season next year. Player attrition and new additions will play a major role, but I know that we will not be embarrassed, and that Weis will put together a team that Kansas fans can be proud of.
I cannot wait to see how Charlie Weis approaches this challenge in the next step of Kansas football. I’ll be giving it another listen, and I suggest you do, too.
