Jason Whitlock Nails Charlie Weis........Again

I'm not a big fan of Whitlock by any means, but I've always agreed with his take on Ty Willingham, Notre Dame, and Charlie Weis. His November 11 column nails it once again, with some sarcastic darts to boot. He writes:

It's no secret. I dislike Charlie Weis and despise the free pass he was given by the media when he was handed a huge contract extension for doing less than Willingham.

Weis is a bully and a coward, and his well-timed announcement that he would abandon this "head coach stuff" so he could bail out his offense proves my contentions.

He's planning on the Irish averaging 35 points the next two weeks and selling his impatient fan base on the myth that he's making real progress. He's hoping the media will assist him in selling this lie.

Weis is an average college head coach with horrendous people skills. That's not a good combination. Bobby Knight had poor people skills, a brilliant mind and a superior work ethic. Nick Saban is a football Bobby Knight.

Weis might be a reverse of Pete Carroll, who bombed in the pros and excelled in the collegiate game. Coaching in the NFL is easier. Everyone is on more equal footing. There are fewer variables. You can hire someone else to evaluate talent. College coaches have already developed the talent.

Weis is in over his head coaching the college game.

Pretty much. One would be hard to argue that Weis is a good coach based on results. They're 5-4 this year, and are coming off of back to back losses to Pittsburgh (who beat them at home) and Boston College (who shut them out). At best, they're underachieving with top-level talent; they've had top 10 recruiting classes for three years in a row now, and they're still losing games. Have we already forgotten that ND is coming off of its worst year in school history? They're going to be better this year, but what does that really mean? How hard is it to improve upon being one of the worst teams in the nation last year? They've yet to beat a ranked team this year, and probably won't beat one at all unless they pull a huge upset against USC. Know what that amounts to? More mediocrity in South Bend.

Of course, Weis might get another free pass by the media; instead of actually questioning his coaching prowess, they could shift the conversation to the next high recruiting class they land, as if having a lot of four and five star guys automatically assures 10 win seasons. ESPN did this during the preseason. Or, they could simply ignore Weis' lack of progress at ND entirely; saying that he made two BCS bowls doesn't mean much when A) they were undeserving of it both times (Oregon should've made the Fiesta Bowl over them in 2005, and West Virginia should've made the Sugar Bowl in 2006), and B) Notre Dame got stomped in both games. I seriously doubt the boosters brought Weis in to get wins on cupcake teams and not really compete against elite ones. ND was justified to can Willingham after going 21-15 during his first three years at ND, but with Weis not doing much better, will we see a similar firing after another subpar year for the Irish?

Don't hold your breath.