Weis Press Conference: Powlus and Brown

Well, I read most of the press conference concerning the new changes to the coaching staff and would like to give my take on it.

Weis said Minter and Vaas didn't have their contracts renewed. To me, that says two things. First, it says that they were essentially fired. And second, it says that Weis isn't going to put up with poor performance. Having only a two year contract means that you can be terminated in a relatively short time frame without the lingering effects of said performance lasting too long. It's cut-throat, I know, but if you want to win you have to be the best. A two year contract basically means you are interviewing again for your job at the end of it.

Second, I agree with what David said when he commented on my last article (link here), Powlus is going to be a killer hire. The things he said in the press conference have already shown me that he understands Notre Dame, the program, the pressure surrounding it, the way to bring along a QB, etc. Plus, he knows how to handle the media. Weis said Powlus has already earned his trust and that he believes it will be a good fit going into next season since a lot of time will be spent bringing the QBs along.

I like Corwin Brown more now than I did prior to this press conference. Weis diffused much of my angst by saying that he went to Groh, Belichick, Parcells, and Crennel and they all came up with the same name: Corwin Brown. This is a good fit for the program. He will run the defense in a manner that Weis is familiar with causing less speculation, anxiety, and uncertainty during the flow of the game. On top of that, he spoke like Weis speaks in terms of his defensive philosophy: you prepare for the teams accordingly but not without being aggressive and dictating the game via your gameplan. If you have a team that runs the ball well, you prepare for the run, if they aren't good at handling pressure, get after the QB, if they can protect, sit back and play coverage, etc. But he also said "You have to get after it. I believe in being aggressive. You have to hit. You have to run. And you've got to play hard. And that's what I believe in. You have to hit and run and you gotta play hard and that's what we're going to do. We're going to be tough." only shortly after talking about how a good foundation of fundamentals is essential to sound defensive play. He's saying the right things, but talk is cheap, it's much more difficult to get the words to show up on the field.

A few quotes from the press conference (link here) that I thought were particularly interesting:

"We have a system in place and within that system we should be able to address different matters that will come up within a game and I feel personally that you have to, sometimes you have to dictate what the game is going to, how the game is going to unfold. Sometimes you have to be the aggressor."

"It's all about players. I've really not been here long enough to really comment on the players. But the one thing I know just by all these guys being here is that they welcome the pressure. These guys are going to be confident and they're going to be aggressive and they're Notre Dame. So that's what you know about our players right now. And believe me, it's all about our players."

"I coach like I played. It's fast and hard. I also believe that you have to know your players, and you gotta respond to them. So some players they need harder coaching. Some players they need more explanation. So that's what I do. I don't believe in just approaching everyone the same way. And that's how I do it."

"I think there is an adjustment, because they're younger and also these guys are students so you don't have them all day. But at the same time at the end of the day it's still football. And it comes down to two things. Blocking and tackling and how you play and getting after the guy with the ball."

It also appears that he is keeping the defensive staff that we have. He didn't say he would be working with the linebackers specifically, but with all of the skill position players (safeties, linebackers, corners) so it may be that some duties of the defensive coaching staff will change. The bottom line appears to me that Brown is a good fit for Weis because they have the same background and experience. They also seem to run the same types of systems and have the same attitude towards football in general. This will only help game planning as Weis often tries to gameplan with both offense and defense in mind.

I'm still skeptical about Brown's ability to call defenses and be the architect of a properly and effectively designed defensive gameplan but he'll have plenty of opportunities to prove himself in the near future, i.e. next season.

Finally, Samardzija isn't going to the NFL. He's going to stick to baseball. This may have been the been the plan all along and would explain the often-times lack of effort in his play this season.