QUOTE: “What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” – Pericles, Greek politician, general and statesman, 495 B.C.-429 B.C.
Since his firing from Notre Dame, Charlie Weis has been a hot topic around NFL circles about where he might coach next season. During his time in the league, Weis had success as a play caller and an offensive coordinator, running the offenses in New York for the Jets and then in New England. Even as the head coach at Notre Dame, in spite of his inability to be successful, his offense was always productive and his quarterbacks played well. Coaching quarterbacks and running an offense are unique jobs, and few are able to do both well. This skill set is why Weis will be in demand at the end of the season.
Before we examine where Weis might coach in the NFL next year, let’s first examine why he failed at Notre Dame. I’m often asked why so many Bill Belichick disciples fail to find success when they become head coaches. Often, the reasons are twofold. The first failure lies in the fact that some coaches try to imitate Belichick in every sense. Herman Melville once said, “It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.” Trying to copy Belichick down to his Patriots sweatshirt won’t work, and this has been proven. But the most fundamental mistake that Belichick disciples make is not in imitation but in evaluation. And this is where Weis lost his job at Notre Dame. He failed to understand that someone saying a player is a five-star recruit is meaningless, and unless he can judge the player accurately himself, those ratings are meaningless. Having the best recruiting class according to Tom Lemming or some other service is all perception, something Belichick never buys into, but clearly Weis did. He kept relying on the recruiting ratings instead of his own ratings, which proved to be a fatal mistake.
This was very clear to me when I went to the Notre Dame-Pittsburgh game and watched the pregame warm-ups. (I love pregame warm-ups, not for the fanfare but to determine if the opposing team has a grading system for player procurement. When a team had a random selection of body types at the same position, this told me it did not have a grading system and just randomly picked players.) At the Pitt game, there was a very clear distinction between the two teams: Pitt looked big, physical and very athletic, while Notre Dame looked smallish, slower and not very impressive, despite of all the five-star players they supposedly had on the team. The reliance on a scouting service is what hurts most college and professional teams, and no matter what grade Tom Lemming may give a school after the recruiting process is over, unless the players can play to that level, the grade is insignificant.
Weis’ inability to identify the right players for his team and be a “team architect” was his downfall. His personality was abrasive and he become bigger than life in his own mind, but those are traits that can be tolerated if a coach is winning. They become intolerable when you can’t beat the Naval Academy or can barely beat San Diego State.
Now, with Weis gone, Notre Dame can move along. And the next coach it hires would be best advised not to care about Lemming ratings but be more concerned with his own evaluation.
As for Weis, he’ll be in demand, but not until the landscape of NFL coaching turnovers has been cleared. With his agent, Bob LaMonte, Weis will be in play at many places, and the fact Notre Dame is on the hook for the whole contract makes him very attractive. His deal at Notre Dame, in fact, might go down as the all-time worst contract in the history of coaching contracts. Kudos to LaMonte for negotiating a contract without offset language, thus allowing Weiss to double dip — which is never the case with NFL assistant coaches’ contracts. Weis is free to make a decision not based solely on money, allowing other factors to be considered.
For a team that has interest in Weis, the fact he was not successful at Notre Dame will not make him a head coaching candidate any time soon in any league, and he might just like being a coordinator in the NFL. Ambition often makes some head coaches reluctant to hire the best man for the job since they worry the coach might want to parlay the job into a better position. But Weis’ ambition, along with his quest for financial freedom, has been tone down based on his time at Notre Dame.
He’ll have ample opportunities based on some of the bad offenses in the NFL, but to accurately predict today where he will end up is difficult — but he’ll end up somewhere.
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Mike...its very clear why the belliheck deciples fail......same reason Bellicheck has failed in the past....NO TOM BRADY!!!! Is it a coincidence that all these guys look great while coaching Brady..but without him...they are average at best ??? Even Bellicheck himself without Brady couldnt make theplayoffs.....
Tom Lemming is a football recruiting guru with a reputation for overvaluing ND recruits. Not to be confused with Amur Lemming, a small furry animal that burrows and jumps off cliffs.
John,
Tom Lemming is watches piles of tape on highschool kids and rates them like Rivals 1 to 5 stars. What I think Micheal is saying is there is a perception gap between what the rating services say a player is like [they are a business not strictly objective] and how a kid really preforms or is projected to develop.
Chris Johnson went to E a s t C a r o l i n a. His Rivals page has him a two star prospect. Why didn't Florida, Alabama or any of the other big boys snap him up?
Given the thousands of kids playing ball its understandable that some are going to slip through the cracks, but it seems like often in an effort ease the work load coaches rely on the star ratings to do some of their work for them.
I can't agree that it was mostly the recruiting; after all, I am sure that ND had better talent than Navy, Air Force, Connecticut and Stanford.
But I agree that being a coordinator requires a special skill set that Mr. Weis has.
There's also a feedback loop with high school player ratings. Players who get interest from big-time schools tend to get more stars, leading to more interest from big-time schools, leading to more pressure to bump up star ratings, etc.
I think the general point is one of Lombardi's favorites: There are a handful of players who are just great. For everyone else you need to know what kind of a team you are trying to build, and then pick guys who will be good for you. Players who are very good in one situation but lousy in another, and there's no shame in that. The key is knowing who you are as a team and not waste your time trying to jam a square peg in a round holes just because other people said it was a 5-star peg.
Clearly, going 11-5 and missing the playoffs by one game is a failure. You're definitely right, yahoodave, Belichick is a giant failure without Brady.
One time i saw brady picking his nose....it was funny
Weis is an excellent coordinator but not a head coach. Mike Nolan fits that mold and my Broncos are glad to have him! Norv Turner is really not a head coach either and the Bolts will fail because he's masquerading as the head honcho. Thanks again Lombardi. It is always nice seeing Notre Dame fail.
Ironic that Belichick is the most hated coach in the NFL and yahoodave is most hated commenter on NFP.
Is it not accurate that without tom brady bellicheck didnt make the playoffs? Can we not all agree that bellicheck and his staff may have benifited from having one of the best QB's ever? and may be a tad overrated?
Actually...has bellcheck won a big game since the league stopped him from taping other teams signals?
yahoodave, the answer to your big games question is yes as long as you don't count the playoff wins over Jacksonville and San Diego as "big games".
@yahoodave
11-5 didn't make the playoffs last year. How many years does that happen? Bill won 11 games with Matt Cassell, dude. Nice point you made there. 11-5 with Cassell is the best coaching job he's ever done, playoffs or no.
Also, Bill was let go by Cleveland in a decision you don't think every CLE fan regrets? He went 11-5 and won a playoff game with Testeverde's 70 QB rating.
Consider: Noll didn't win without Bradshaw, Walsh without Montana, Shanahan without Elway, Cowher/Tomlin without Ben, Dungy without Manning, Shula without Unitas, Griese. Are you noticing a trend? Parcells must be a lousy coach. He couldn't win with Beldsoe, Testeverde or Romo. You just denounced every great coach with your statement. I can't drive a car without arms or legs. That's not a brilliant deduction, that's common freaking sense.
The truth of the matter is, you can't have decade long dynasties like you used to with FA. Their team will still make the playoffs and they have 500 draft picks next year. The Pats will have 11-12 win teams for the next 2-3 years and then when the picks pan out, they are stacked again. That's IF they don't roll those picks into trades for impact pass rushers and corners. I know it sucks to be a Jets fan in the Belichick era, but that's a cross you'll have to bear. The wild card isn't soooo bad as a best bet. Aks Browns fans how awesome a WC would be...
You're right Yahoodave, NE did absolutely nothing after Belichik was caught taping the first game of the season. Didn't go 16-0 in regular season. Didn't completely destroy most teams they face.....
Going 11-5 with a QB who wasn't even a full time starter in college is failure?
I'm guessing you don't actually watch football.....
I have no doubt in my mind that Weis is good with QBs. Does anyone think Quinn would have been a 1st rounder without Weis? I sure don't. He'd be a good OC for a team with a young QB. He's good with scheming around average personnel. See 2001-2003 Pats. Yes by the end of 2003 Brady was great, but the rest of their personnel was a bunch of no names really. The one year he had a dominant RB he had a great O in NE (2004). He would be PERFECT for Miami if Henning decides to call it a day after this year.
Um..parcells won with hostettler. And let's not go crazy with bellichecks stockpile of draftpicks...he hasn't exactly been knocking the cover off the ball when he actually drafts a player. He is real good at gathering more picks tho..
Has Belichick won a big game since the league stopped him? Yes. The Superbowl. and great qb vs great coach is chicken vs. egg... Dan Marino was a great QB - how many superbowls did he win??
Don't underestimate Al Davis, he would hire Weis as Head Coach.
The best response to Spygate blather is to ignore it. It is ignorant and petty. It survives for the same reason Obama "birther" nonsense survives: it fits the narrative closed-minded people want to maintain for their own reasons. Don't lend it credence and don't mention particularly obnoxious comment trolls by name. You're just giving them the attention they crave.
Yahoodave...You know there is a concept called spellcheck, you ought to try it.... anyone can have a typo, but you butcher the language....
You remind me of an old saying... "In a battle of wits, you come unarmed"
Linemen should meet girth/muscle definition requirements. Having a uniform threshold for players is the best way of insuring that a team has a depth of physicality in its play.
Then again, Mike has said there is a problem with size/speed teams as well. They sometimes lack depth of speed, and that leads to problems as injuries develop, or in some substitution matchups, and especially with special teams.
The players who get these star ratings don't necessarily become top special teams gunners. A player along the bottom of a roster who can long snap and play a position for goal line, or dime, or even play offense and defense in limited reps to go with special teams coverage, might be well worth more than a former four/five star hopeful in helping a pro team.
For college teams, positions that have the most scholarships available are on the offensive line. There is a reason for that, and it's a shame programs at lower levels do not emphasize the fact to greater extents. Trainers(read-assistant coaches) are so crucial to helping a program develop players in high school, there are programs with a track record of that(many of those include mandatory track participation).
Another critical factor in the evaluation process is the challenge of determining the fit of scheme players to new levels. So many people use the spread offense and zone blocking now, it's much like determining if option backs have the elusiveness and patience to work a traditional pull/trap offense.
Mitch Mustain had that problem coming up from high school to a new system, yet the Mahlzan offense still got its share of yards and points in the SEC this season.
How many head coaches have the time to get all of the player's background into the picture? Does being multisport hurt motivation at programs where the other sport is historically better? Who best determines schemes to players, and can that person handle the alumni or personnel department's legacy or marketing demands?
One of these days Norv Turner is going to stop getting a bad rap. Among the half-dozen Redskin coaches since the Daniel took over, he's done the best, and that includes Gibbs. The Chargers have gotten better over the course of the season each year he's been there, and you have to give him some credit for Rivers's progress. He's dine badly with bad teams, but he's never done badly with a good team. I'd rank him top 10 among today's HCs, easily
@yahoodave
Yah, and Billick won with Trent Dilfer. But really, did either of them? Parcells won with LT, Carl Banks and Otis Anderson just like Brian Billick won with Ray Lewis. My point is, in the great majority of SB wins, a great coach won with a great QB and be denouncing Belichick, you're denouncing almost every SB winning coach ever.
My bad for assuming you'd understand what that giant paragraph clearly stated. Sorry, bro.
Nice read . Makes me think of Matt Millen . His Lions had so many high grades year after year by these so called draft experts . It never did translate into success did it ? The way he went through coaches as well . I'd always wondered how much of the NFL was about evaluating players for a system as compared to building a system around talent .
yahoodave-
That is inaccurate. Pats did make the playoffs with Bledsoe. And to further discredit your asinine notion, the Pats would have made the playoffs last year, if Brady had gotten hurt sooner. Losing Brady the first game of the year made it tough, because Cassell really had to learn on the job. If you gave Belichick Cassell for the full year, I'm sure they'd have made the playoffs.
Very important to remember these are 17-18 year old kids that are being evaluated. It's more important to develop players than just bring in 4-5 star recruits. I believe this is where Charlie and team failed. I don't know what % of a players development happens from 19-22, but I'd speculate it much more than while in high school where most 4-5 star recruits can dominate.
Disagree entirely with the premise that Weis' downfall was one of talent evaluation and recruiting. The four and five star athletes at ND were offered by all of the big time programs, who clearly wanted them, too. Unless you're willing to say that Pete Carroll cannot evaluate talent, too, the premise is simply wrong. Weis did fine on the recruiting end--this is his greatest gift to Notre Dame given the pathetic shape of the program he inherited, and makes THIS coaching vacancy dramatically more attractive than the last one.
No, the disappointment wasn't on the procurement of talent but the development of the talent once arriving at ND. Linemen like Sam Young, the nation's top OL prospect out of high school, never quite became what his potential suggested he should become. That can only be attributed to poor coaching over the course of the last four years.
I also believe that Weis' pass-oriented offense makes it difficult to develop a physical, road-grader mentality on the offensive side of the ball. In practice scrimmages, finesse offenses beget finesse defenses, and that showed on Saturday against big, physical offensive teams.
There are a handful of players who are just great. For everyone else you need to know what kind of a team you are trying to build, and then pick guys who will be good for you.
Thank you for post.
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Dec 02, 2009
11:42 AM
Michael - I'm not sure who Tommy Lemming is but I'm sure you two must have some bad blood between you. Anyway - interesting analysis.