A Weis Update

I know I've been pretty critical of Weis lately. Our performance on the field has been less than stellar and there is no excuse for it. That said, some things Weis has said over the past few days, along with the recruiting success of hauling in Michael Floyd and Jonas Gray despite our on-the-field struggles, has really got me thinking. I haven't quite swung back to the pro-Weis side, but I currently stand on a little bit more middle ground.

I have documented in several posts this season (archived on the right) the shortcomings of Weis and our team. It seems that many of our problems this year have been out of Weis' control, so to speak. He had very little to do with the lack of bodies and talent in the upper three classes (although he did run quite a few of them off when he first arrived) leading to inexperience and a lack of depth at many positions. And he had little to do with a front-loaded schedule. Other problems, like a lack of leadership, determined play, being ready to play at the beginning of the game, and a nasty attitude I would say are on both the players and Weis. Finally, some of the problems seemed to be primarily (and blatantly) basic coaching errors.

The poor special teams is one area I pin solely on Weis. He knows how they can change a game, he said it in one of his very first press conferences. But he hasn't shown that he's been able to improve them. This must be fixed very quickly. Virginia Tech has shown how special teams can win you games, but they can just as easily lose you games. The poor offensive performance I don't place solely on Weis, some of it is due to being young and inexperienced at many positions and facing some pretty good defenses. But I do blame him for the lack of commitment to one type of offensive philosophy, his inability or unwillingness to simplify things in the scheme, the delay in development our offense suffered from installing the spread in the fall, and the ineptitude of a running game that would take pressure off his young offensive line and quarterback. Some of these things are a "NFL vs. college" type of coaching difference. Most of this seems so obvious to me because I've only worked with football at the high school level where player development, creating a winning and championship attitude with the team, and simplification of scheme are of vital importance. Some of these things are a lack of head coaching experience. In both cases these things are fixable.

If Weis can learn from his mistakes, trying to out-scheme everyone, not simplifying the offense for a young team, not being ready for the "speed of the game," not creating a physical atmosphere in practice, not placing enough emphasis and focus on improving special teams, etc. then this can be fixed in the future. It seems to me that he hasn't learned so far this season because he was so bent on trying to win the next game he didn't look at the bigger picture. He didn't see that these problems stem from a larger, more encompassing issue, one that will take some time to fix. By trying to install the spread in the fall and out-scheme everyone early on in the year and by not hitting in practice he developed an attitude and environment that is not conducive to being a successful college football team. He didn't build toughness, leadership, or an identity, an area in which the offense could excel and take pride. His "NFL style" of coaching failed.

During his first few years with an older, more experienced team his "NFL style" of coaching worked. But with a younger team who had yet to learn about game speed, physical play at the college level relative to the high school level, and the complexities of a pro-style offense, it failed miserably (I realize this is simplifying the issue a little bit and there are other things that have contributed to the differences between this year and the past two). He further perpetuated the problem by enforcing his will rather than identifying the problem in the fall and working to solve it before and during the season. In some ways, based on what he has said, I think he did realize some of these things. But he didn't a) realize how big of a problem they would be and/or b) know how to fix it due to his lack of college head coaching experience. Even polling his assistant coaches for answers did him so good because the problem developed into something too large, too encompassing.

I said before (link here) that he may never have to face this situation again. It may be that we develop talent and depth throughout each class from his recruiting. But it may be a good thing that this disastrous season did happen. It may have forced Weis to learn these things in the only way that he could. As painful as it has been for us, the fans, for someone so arrogant and stubborn having a disastrous season like this may have been the only thing to really wake up him to the problem. If it hadn't been so bad, he might never have fully understood these things to the degrees in which they can effect a college football team. The question is, will he learn how to fix it going forward, and apply it to the more tangential aspects of college coaching like player development and creating leaders on the team to motivate their peers.

By all accounts Weis is intelligence. He was an excellent NFL offensive coordinator where the chess match of football is played at the highest level. Learning the failings in his recruiting effort from last year and applying them to this year has resulted in a #1 ranked class. The question is will he be able to learn and improve the same way in his coaching as he has in recruiting. He is also very hard working. Combine intelligence and hard work and I find it tough to believe he is incapable of learning from his mistakes and correcting them in the future.

Over the last couple of days Weis has said things like "To be honest with you, if things don't progress, on what basis would you go into the spring thinking that everything is going to be OK?", "I'm no different than the rest of you guys. I have to see evidence that we're making progress.", "I probably adapted more this year than I have in my whole coaching career.", and “I never thought I would entertain hitting during the season, but I think it has made us better so it is something I would have to entertain.” To me this indicates he is realizing things. Heck, last game he kicked off to try and change his approach. He has even informed the seniors that for the rest of the season he will be trying to play the younger guys much more to further their development and get the team pointed in the right direction by season's end. It has to be out with the old, in with the new, at least in some aspects of his coaching style, albeit without changing his coaching philosophy.

Two concerns, however, still loom. The first I have elaborated on and alluded to before (link here). Weis, while trying to fix things with different approaches and new solutions, seems to be unable to identify the root of the problem and solve it. In the very least, he hasn't been able to effectively execute the solution(s) to the problem(s) he has identified. To further compound this issue, trying new things can be confusing and represent a lack of continuity/confidence on bahalf of the head coach.

The second concern lies in how he treats the players. With the number of transfers and the recent move to "forgo" the playing time of fifth year seniors who gave their time, energy, effort, and (in some cases) draft status to play on such a disappointing team, a damaging message can be communicated to the players: a win at all costs attitude. Weis has made it no secret that the best player will always play. I have no problem with that. But he has to take care of all the players, and they all have to know he cares about their development as a person and a football player. Without this, he will never have their trust or devotion. He has to constantly push them to become better, to tactfully illustrate their weaknesses, to develop their strengths, and to help them get into a better position to get onto the field.

Only time will tell if Weis is the person to lead us back to yearly dominance in the college football world. Currently signs point to yes and no. But we do have an intelligent and hardworking head coach who, at least at the moment, seems to be capable of learning from his mistakes and getting us righted back in the proper direction.

ESPN + Sports Illustrated = Sensationalism

Pardon the use of an equation for a title, I'm an engineer. I'm just exhausted by the media these days, and it isn't due to the coverage of Notre Dame football. More than most years of college football, this one seems to be ripe with sensationalism and melodrama amongst the media and journalists. I think it's mostly because of all the upsets. Most "sports journalists" (I use that term loosely because they are far from objective in their reporting, the supposed goal of a journalist) have no clue about what it takes to have a successful college football team, program, or season. In the absence of such knowledge and in the wake of inexplicable upset after inexplicable upset they are left with no real ground on which to write intelligent, thought-provoking, non-biased commentary. Instead, they would rather spin one sensational story after another completely void of anything resembling a factually-based article about college football.

This year, so far anyway, the target has largely been Michigan and USC. Two games into the season everyone forgot about the fact that Michigan had two ESPN dubbed Heisman candidates in Hart and Henne. They forgot about the fact that Michigan holds the all time highest winning percentage in college football history. They forgot about the fact that Lloyd Carr won a national championship within the last decade. The same people that were wailing on Michigan were the ones who ranked them in the top 5 and dubbed them a national championship contender in the pre-season. Last time I checked they didn't ask to have that status. This is the same script the media followed two seasons ago.

Then USC loses to Stanford and all of the sudden they have "lost their aura" and are "in crises mode" (two direct quotes from articles on ESPN.com and SI.com). Of course, had any of these journalists taken the time to watch USC's previous two games they might have seen it coming. A rash of injuries resulted in penalties and turnovers via inexperienced players receiving significant playing time. But in the big scheme of things it's one game. Pete Carroll is 65-12 at USC. He has won 84.4% of the games he has coached there. His first season he was 6-6. If you take that season out he has won 90.8% of the games he has coached. That is flat out absurd. I'd kill for that type of a coaching record at Notre Dame. It just goes to show you how fickle college football writers are.

But what is worse, in the absence of explainable losses and in the face of the collapse of the college football giants, "sports journalists" slant the statistics to support their argument. It's amazing (and I'm guilty of it) to read one of the articles where they make comparisons or analyze a game, team, or program using only the statistics that support their argument. A simple ten minute search on Google is often times all that is needed to find the rest of the information to tell the whole story. The problem is most college football readers (myself usually included) don't readily understand what other information to look for in hopes of balancing the perspective. This is not only irresponsible reporting, it blatantly plays on the emotions of fans, both good and bad.

Playing on these emotions "sports journalists" like Pat Forde and Stewart Mandel create utopias (the good) and dystopias (the bad) surrounding college football programs, their players, and their fans. This is borderline criminal as it preys on the human psyche (the bad), creating fuel to the fires of criticism, while also creating the sort of fervent fanaticism (the good) that nearly leads to idolatry. And what is worse, with writers like Forde and Mandel their emotions shine so brightly through their writing they beat a dead horse because they are motivated not by objectivity, but by personal vendetta. The ultimate disservice, however, is to the players who are subjected to unfair, unnecessary, and, in many cases, unwarranted criticism.

I only bring this up now because the pendulum will swing back to Notre Dame one day. Someday soon we will be the object of their criticism, then their glorification, then their criticism, and so on and so forth. They will quickly forget how they deprecated Notre Dame, the mission surrounding its football program, and its disillusioned coaches, players, and fans in lieu of glorifying their current success because it makes dollars and increases their audience. Do not play their games, do not support their cause. Support the essence of the game: your team, your players, and your school, regardless of apparent success or failure.