I’d like to think Notre Dame made the right call. I’d like to spin the new 10-year contract it gave coach Charlie Weis – after only seven games, for Pete’s sake – into a sign that the Golden Dome refound its definition of loyalty.
After pulling the welcome mat out from under Tyrone Willingham after three years and looking like just another trigger-happy football factory, Notre Dame again appears grounded, ready to stand behind a guy who stands for all the right things.
But I also keep thinking that itchy trigger finger could someday shoot the Irish in the foot. A Leprechaun looks pretty stupid hopping around on one leg.
A 10-year contract after only seven games? Notre Dame is reportedly on the hook for upwards of $30 million through 2015. Sure, the only Catholic institution with more money than Notre Dame is the Vatican, but the pope wins every weekend.
St. Peter’s Basilica has no scoreboard. Notre Dame does, and it says here Weis received just short of the pope’s lifetime contract with his team still short of bowl eligibility.
Long-term contracts, while helping douse the lure of cheating, are dangerous. Take a look at what can happen. In 2002, Texas A&M signed Dennis Franchione to an eight-year deal through 2010, then gave him a raise and a two-year extension in March even after losing to Baylor and a blowout loss to Tennessee in the Cotton Bowl.
In his third year, the Aggies are fourth in the Big 12 South at 5-3 and 3-2 in the conference, and the vultures are in flight. With a difficult stretch to end the season – games against Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Texas – the Aggies are in danger of not making a bowl game.
Notre Dame’s problem is it got caught up in Weisteria. I know. I was at Notre Dame Stadium the night before the Oct. 15 USC game. I was too stunned that I joined 45,000 people at a pep rally to comprehend the platitudes of Irish greats from Joe Montana to Tim Brown, all doe-eyed in the presence of the slovenly Weis, sitting behind them.
Then the next day Weis came three seconds away from ending what could become the biggest college football dynasty in history. After the game, Weis walked into the USC locker room and congratulated the Trojans, confirming a class reputation started by keeping a promise to a dying South Bend boy who wanted him to throw on the first play of the Washington game.
Sure, he’s a better coach than Willingham and his offensive genius has probably made quarterback Brady Quinn next year’s preseason Heisman Trophy favorite.
But what if we’re all wrong?
Remember, Weis became the first Notre Dame coach since 1896 to lose his first two home games. He’s only 5-2 and his five victims are a combined 17-24. The Irish still haven’t qualified for a bowl, and for the kind of jack he’s getting he had better make a BCS bowl, which, in Notre Dame’s snooty independent world, is no gimme. It must win at least nine games and finish in the top 12 in the final BCS standings just to qualify.
Notre Dame is ranked 14th in the BCS and must win out to become eligible. What happens if the Irish, coming off a bye, stumble Saturday at home against a crumbling, unranked Tennessee team that finally figures out a way to utilize its talent?
Willingham never stumbled in his first eight games, but Notre Dame claims it wanted the new contract to keep Weis from returning to the NFL. Weis wanted it to stop opposing recruiters from telling kids he’s itching to leave.
Funny, while athletic director Kevin White claims he received some calls, NFL insiders say the interest never went above a whisper. Turns out the NFL isn’t any more impressed with moral victories against USC than Weis is.
Then again, the Irish could start their own dynasty next year. With 10 years committed, Weis had better get them close. The clock is ticking.
Vols’ Sanders steps aside
Like the good orange soldier that he is, offensive coordinator Randy Sanders took the fall for Tennessee’s pratfall this season and resigned Monday, though he will stay with the team to season’s end. The general feeling in Tennessee is he has been in over his head since he replaced David Cutcliffe after the 1998 season, when Cutcliffe went to Mississippi.
Maybe not coincidentally, since 1999 against the Southeastern Conference big four of Georgia, Florida, Auburn and LSU, Tennessee is 7-13 and hasn’t reached a BCS bowl. The Volunteers plummeted from No. 3 in the preseason to off the SEC radar at 3-4 and 2-4 in the conference.
Sanders’ offense was 99th nationally, scored 32 points in its past three games and fumbled three times inside the opponent’s 10 against South Carolina and Alabama.
“It’s not a response to any criticism,” Sanders said at a news conference. “It’s a response to what I see. I’m trying to be accountable for how we have played.”
Sanders, 40, had never coached anywhere but Tennessee. He went from backup quarterback to volunteer assistant to the top offensive position in one of the nation’s premier programs. Head coach Phillip Fulmer is making amends to correct the problem.
This week Fulmer met with Cut- cliffe. Fired from Ole Miss last year, he is recovering from triple-bypass heart surgery that forced him to leave his offensive coordinator position at Notre Dame. He may seek a head coaching job instead.
BCS computers tab Texas
Don’t overreact to third-ranked Virginia Tech’s tough schedule and its effect on the BCS computers. No. 2 Texas is ranked first in all six computers, and Tech may need to be two spots ahead of the Longhorns in the computers to leapfrog them into the coveted No. 2 spot for the Rose Bowl. However, it would behoove Texas not to start slowly at Baylor this week.
Texas lost votes in the coaches poll after its shoddy first half at Oklahoma State. If Virginia Tech blows out Miami on Saturday night, the voters may turn even more.
Footnotes
On Saturday, USC hosts Stanford, which handed the Trojans their last home loss on Sept. 29, 2001. …
Kansas seeks to end a 36-game losing streak to Nebraska in the 100th consecutive year they’ve played, the longest unbroken streak in the nation. … No team outside the top six in the BCS in November has made the championship game. … Washington has given up 40 points in three consecutive games for the first time since 1969, when it went 1-9.
Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at 303-802-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
