Weis era over in South Bend
His Notre Dame "internship" has officially come to an end.
Back in 2005, Charlie Weis signed a new 10-year contract to replace the six-year contract he had signed in 2004.
"In a very short period of time, Charlie has clearly and impressively demonstrated the ability to take the Notre Dame program where we all want it to go," said Notre Dame athletics director Kevin White at the time.
Today Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick announced that Weis won't be back as Notre Dame coach.
"He will go on to have great success. He'll add some Super Bowl rings to the ones he already has as a successful coordinator in the NFL and we will miss him," Swarbrick said (via ESPN). "But for us it's time to move forward. It's time to move forward because it is critical to this program and to its place in the university and college football that we compete at the highest level. That we compete for national championships."
Weis finished with a record of 35-27 in his five years as head coach in South Bend. In the past three seasons, however, Weis had a losing record (16-21).
With the Weis firing, there is a very high likelihood that top of its top playmakers -- QB Jimmy Clausen and WR Golden Tate -- will leave early for the NFL.
Although the interest may not be reciprocal (at least based on public comments), Florida's Urban Meyer and Oklahoma's Bob Stoops are rumored to be at the top of Notre Dame's list. ESPN's Adam Schefter has said that he's hearing (albeit not firsthand) that the interest from Stoops is "mutual."
Other possible candidates are Cincinnati's Brian Kelly, TCU's Gary Patterson, Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald and Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, among others.
