There are “out” clauses in coaching contracts, but there might be even be an “out” for Charlie Weis if Notre Dame doesn’t live up to expectations (a BCS bid at minimum) in his fifth season. The perceived out is if Jimmy Clausen suffers an injury before or early in the season, all bets are off and any judgments should be null and void.
At the end of last season, new Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick said the football record would be significant in his evaluation of the program and Weis — but extenuating circumstances could change things.
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Crist (above) and Sharpley should provide plenty of insurance at QB should a worst-case scenario arise..
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“We could envision a circumstance where the team is much better but has something very strange happen — multiple injuries at the quarterback position … — where you’d say, ‘Okay our record was better but not as good as it would have been but for those injuries.’ It is probably too fine a point to make.”
There seems to be a popular response by many Irish followers that this Irish unit should post a double-digit victory total in 2009 … “unless something happens to Jimmy.”
In the first or second year of a coaching regime, I can buy that. In the fifth, I no longer can.
There’s a difference between a team and a program. A team goes week to week, holding its breath, hoping for the best. A program fills a vacated slot and carries on without missing too much of a beat (see USC, Texas, Florida…), although clunker seasons can happen to anyone (see LSU last year). By a coach’s fifth season at a place such as Notre Dame, it should be more the latter than the former.
An injury to Clausen should no longer be an “out” for dramatically lowering expectations. Had Brady Quinn been injured in 2005 or 2006, yes, there would have been a precipitous drop-off. The proverbial cupboards were not getting stocked, one of the main reasons there was a coaching change in the first place. Backup David Wolke eventually would transfer to Western Kentucky after the 2005 season, and freshman Evan Sharpley was in his fledgling stages.
In 2009, Clausen is backed up by 2008 five-star recruit Dayne Crist and Sharpley, his fifth year in the current system. Not many college football programs have such a luxury. Now, that’s not saying there is still not an appreciable gap between the starter and backup(s), but not to the point where an eight-win season would be deemed acceptable.
The most disappointing aspect of Notre Dame football over the last decade or so is the subtle lowering of the bar and expectations that have come with perceiving 9-3 records as a peak instead of a valley. It’s almost humorous today listening to players from the Ara Parseghian, Dan Devine or Lou Holtz regimes talk about how 9-3 used to be viewed as failure, no matter how treacherous the schedule might have been.
“When Dan Devine lost three games … oh man, people just wanted him out,” recalled 1970s linebacker Steve Heimkreiter, the third all-time leader in tackles at Notre Dame, in an interview this summer with Blue & Gold Illustrated.
As a 1970s graduate of Notre Dame, Weis sensed the lowering of the bar as well. When he enrolled at Notre Dame in 1974, the Irish were the defending national champs, and when he graduated they were the reigning champs. In between, Weis even took an impromptu (and eventually humbling) visit to president Rev. Theodore Hesburgh’s office the day after a defeat to complain about one of those three-loss seasons under Devine. Consequently, to possibly allay such feelings, Weis had the “9-3 Isn’t Good Enough” banner in the weight room after his first season.
All kinds of mishaps occur in a season, even at quarterback. An injury at quarterback can bring a football team to its knees on occasion. Witness Bob Davie’s 1998 season when the Irish were 9-1, but starter Jarious Jackson was injured in the closing seconds of the LSU game while “taking a knee.” The next week at USC, sans Jackson, the Irish were shut out (10-0) because neither Eric Chappell (who moved to safety when he transferred to a much smaller school) or true freshman Arnaz Battle were primed to be a starter.
But that was only Davie’s second year. In Davie’s fourth year, junior starter Battle suffered a season-ending injury in the second game. Still, not only did the Irish defeat that year’s Rose Bowl champion (Purdue with Drew Brees at QB) with backup Gary Godsey, but true freshman Matt LoVecchio also was masterfully used by offensive coordinator Kevin Rogers as the Irish won seven in a row to clinch a BCS bid.
What about 1993 when “The Chosen One,” Ron Powlus, suffered a broken clavicle in a scrimmage the week before the opener? Unheralded Kevin McDougal stepped in (with some help from Paul Failla too) and set a Notre Dame record for pass efficiency for the 11-1 Irish who finished a highly debatable No. 2.
What about in 1988 when Holtz sent home his leading rusher (Tony Brooks) and leading receiver (Ricky Watters) on the eve of the showdown with 10-0 and No. 2 USC? The Holtz mantra was, “Don’t flinch, close ranks, have someone else pick up the rifle, and march forward.” Notre Dame still won, 27-10, en route to the national title.
What about 1977 when star running back Al Hunter (who became the schools first single-season 1,000-yard rusher a year earlier) was dismissed from school before the season? Plus, the Irish had to “resort” to using third-team quarterback Joe Montana. They still managed to win the national title.
What about 1966, when in “The Game of the Century” versus Michigan State, Notre Dame was without All-America running back Nick Eddy, All-America center George Goeddeke and had star quarterback Terry Hanratty knocked out of the game while falling behind 10-0? It still found a way to rally with a sophomore diabetic QB, Coley O’Brien, who also starred the following week in a 51-0 dismantling of Pac 8 champion USC to clinch the national title.
That was the Notre Dame legions of its followers grew up with and pointed to as an example of being a program, not merely a team.
So no, even if an injury or two occurs at quarterback, I no longer want to buy into saying it justifies another disappointing season.
“When you have five recruiting classes, you have no excuses for failure,” said Weis prior to his first season at Notre Dame. “… If you can’t provide a program that is contending to win it all at a place like this, you’re doing something wrong.”
Exceptions can always be found, and some are legitimate … but the margin for more setbacks in 2009 should be much, much thinner.
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