I don't think there's anything wrong with him, just that there's nothing exceptionally great.

Because he's not a top tier coach? He might be fine for Iowa, but 6 of his 11 season at Iowa have been 7-5 or worse, and he's lost 3 or more games in the Big 10 all but 3 seasons, assuming they beat Minnesota this year. I don't see a great team when I watch Iowa, good defensively but boring and ineffective on offense. Assuming that the rumors of Meyer and Stoops are just that, I'd much rather take a chance on someone who has the potential to be great, whether that's Brian Kelly, Paul Johnson, Gary Patterson, Chis Peterson, someone like that rather than someone who has an 11 year track record of mediocrity with brief flashes of being good and not great.

Maybe my standards for Iowa are too low, but I've always been impressed by Ferentz's performance given the talent pool he's had to work with.

I think the same thing about Mike Belloti. I wonder if there's even a slim chance.

Ferentz has A TON of upperclassmen talent right now, which is largely why Iowa is successful. After their Brad Banks run, they had a couple excellent recruiting classes which are now upperclassmen.

Because he wouldn't take the job or he wouldn't be offered it?

Stoops would be a huge hire wtf at being lukewarm about him.

probably both, but theres almost no chance he takes it. hes basically said as much, and I definately believe him.

Wow, lol. Surely you did more than that? Looks like they've been getting a little short tempered lately but that's ridiculous.

That is an ugly-ass forum to look at, and the threaded mode setup looks like a forum I used to read in the 90s.

lol yeah and I mean nothing says honesty like a coach being asked about another job.

Fitzgerald would be a weak hire either way.

Fitzgerald has fired some shots across the bow, I think saying that Northwestern and ND might both have high academic standards, but at least NW can consistently win. Nevermind that it's not true, but stuff like that should make him a complete non starter, in addition to his being a mediocre option at best.

Also, more from Bob Stoops:

Stop getting my hopes up!

There are only three slam dunk options, with only one of them the school having a good shot at.

Kelly, Meyer, and Stoops ldo.

Ehh..UofO gets a fairly decent amount of talent. Mike Riley at OrState def does a better job with less talent then most coaches in the nation.

Why isnt Chris Peterson being throw around more? You would think that guy would be a hot commodity by now...

Peterson has done a fantastic job, and I love watching Boise play. But the the nature of that job is so different than the challenges that face ND. Everything from the type of recruits, to their location, to the nature of the pressure and expectations involved, to the type of schedule faced is markedly dissimilar. I'm not saying he couldn't adjust, but that stuff puts him a little ways down the list imo.

THE achievement of his tenure is that Weis exploded the canard that Notre Dame can't recruit top talent. Although we won't be a USC type all-star team anytime soon, we should expect that the next coach can keep up with a fair number of 4/5*s.

please tell me there aren't posters itt who think that

this would be awesome, i'd love to be able to root for nd again

Worth reposting:

ND fans,

If Charlie Weis isn't fired for having a 7-5 record. He is never going to get fired. The big problem for ND is the huge buyout. It's been rumored to be around $20 million. Add another 3-5 million on firing his assistants. So far total cost of firing Charlie $23-25 million.

Then you have to hire a good coach with success as a college head coach. The realistic candidates who would be a significant upgrade at this point would be Brian Kelly, Chris Petersen, Gary Patterson and a few others. You are probably looking at a $15-20 million contract for five years. Plus another $3-5 million to hire a good staff. So figure cost of $18-25 million for hiring a new coach.

The total cost of firing Weis and hiring a new coach would run about $40-50 million. Are the alumni/donors willing to pay up that kind of money to really fix the problem? I don't know off hand. What have you guys heard on the grapevine in the ND community? Is there enough money & support to make this kind of move?

They give ther uppermost numbers possible when they report contracts. The actual contract undoubtedly has terms for severance and ND and Weis will negotiate something nowhere near that.

Look on the bright side, if we're giving out 30-40 mill guaranteed contracts to 4-2 coaches, somebody competent should be willing to jump at that.

The other thing about buyouts, is that the max number that is negotiated is often only met if the employee does not take up another position during the period that was covered by the terminated contract in question. Weis will take a break, no doubt about that. But he will be working again within 18 months, most likely as an OC in the NFL.

EDIT: While we've all had enough and there are numerous reasons why this season's performance just isn't up to scratch, the fact remains that the four losses this season have been by a combined total of 18 points, and the team is running a points differential of +96. Neither fact is reason enough to keep him on another season, but they will be things that future employers will take into account when assessing the job he did here.

Are the folks arguing that Weis's buyout is too big for him to be fired effectively saying he's "Too big to fail"?

Man I hope Fatty gets the axe. The past 5 years I've had 2 friends back to back go through the MBA program at ND and they're both pretty adamant that they want him out and a good hire made as they're losing some faith. I need these guys to be happy b/c otherwise I won't be making my yearly trip down to watch a game. This year was the first year I missed, but to be fair have been overseas since October.

I remember going to a game in the first BCS year and there were at least 2 Weiss, Weiss chants a quarter .... how times have changed.

Stoops would be awesome, maybe it's wishful thinking but it just feels like the time is right for him to move on from OU --- it feels a bit stale, a down year, and his stud QB is going to leave. Pretty good time to abandon ship imo.

I don't think Urban would go so I won't get my hopes up on it.

If Charlie was successful and say was leaving on a high note to the NFL, it'd be a lot easier to bring in Chris Peterson on a handoff wiht the program firing on all cylinders. I just don't think the AD is going to have the balls to do it at this point ..... however I would gladly they go for Peterson over the alternative of standing pat.

A+