Stoops, Notre Dame Need Each Other

STANFORD, Calif. -- When last we heard from Bob Stoops about coaching at Notre Dame, he was tongue-lashing the media on the subject -- though not exactly issuing a denial worthy of a tongue-lashing. "There's not even a job [open] at Notre Dame. That's ridiculous,'' he barked. "Some guy makes stuff up.'' Uh, hear any sort of refutation in there?

Me, neither.

Well, the job most likely is open effective immediately, with the glare of the Golden Dome beaming directly upon the Oklahoma coach. And let me say here amid the evergreens of Stanford Stadium, where the football program has succeeded at a finer institution of higher learning while the Fighting Irish have not, that Stoops would be thebest candidate to replace Charlie Weis. He has a marquee name. He has a national-title pedigree. He has years of experience in big games. And he's Irish, Catholic and a Midwest native, all things paramount to any Notre Dame coaching candidacy, though sometimes I wonder why heritage, religion and geographical background really matter at the most national of football programs.

They need each other, don't you think? Stoops needs Notre Dame, having topped out at Oklahoma, feeling unappreciated after one sub-par year and several high-profile postseason losses and probably requiring a change of scenery as he nears 50. And Notre Dame needs the cachet of Stoops, who will recruit well AND coach well AND provide the boosters and alumni and mother TV network NBC with a proud, respected presence, unlike the coach about to relieved of his duties.

Outlined against a pitch-dark sky, no blue or gray in sight, Weis rode into oblivion Saturday night. Naturally, in what was believed to be his final game at ND, the Irish played as well as they have offensively in a three-year period in which Weis has lost 21 games. Showcasing Jimmy Clausen, the black-eyed quarterback whom he has polished into a high first-round NFL pick, and the dazzling explosiveness of receivers Golden Tate and Michael Floyd, the Irish so confused the Stanford defense that we wondered if some of the funky band members -- including the guy who had a marijuana leaf logo and a "This bud's for you'' slogan on his tuba -- were more coherent.

What a shame that Weis saved his most dazzling stuff for last. But in the end, as is his trademark, he lost in the final minutes to the Cardinal. I'll confess that Notre Dame is fun drama that spills into the final minutes every week, but Weis wasn't hired to be Charlie The Entertainer. He was hired to win. And he hasn't.

Showing no emotion, he trudged off the field after the 45-38 loss, fought through the student bedlam to find winning coach Jim Harbaugh -- a young buck who would be perfect at ND if he wasn't so damned high-strung -- and disappeared into a tunnel that will lead to his imminent dismissal after another failed era. "You [bleep], Charlie!'' a Stanford fan yelled as he moved slowly up an incline. The night was a microcosm of what's so maddening about Weis. His offense was a revelation, but inevitably, Stanford rallied in the second half behind the running (and throwing) of rambling Toby Gerhart -- Heisman votes, anyone? -- to win the game and surely seal Weis' fate.

Weis refused to meet with the media afterward, doing only one interview with the Notre Dame radio network. "He declined. No reason given,'' a school spokesman said. Like LeBron James blowing off handshakes and a press conference after his team was eliminated from the playoffs, this was not good form for a man who should speak to Notre Dame fans until the very end.

"[The game] was a microcosm of our season,'' Weis told the radio network, refusing to address his job situation. "I really feel bad for the outgoing players. I think too many times, we forget that these guys are kids. There's a bunch of 22- and 23-year-old young men right there finishing out their careers losing the last four games. They feel miserable, and I feel miserable for them.''

In contrast, Clausen did show up in a small white interview tent with one of the ugliest shiners you'll ever see, all black and bloody a week after he allegedly was sucker-punched outside a South Bend bar.

"It's tough right now. Every time, we lose by a touchdown or less. It's tough as a competitor,'' Weis said.

What did Weis say to the team? "I'm gonna keep that in the locker room,'' Clausen said. "He told us he was proud of us for fighting back. I give Coach Weis and the coaches a lot of credit for sticking with us. It's just tough not to finish those games.''

If he was asked his opinion about whether to keep Weis, what would Clausen say? "The reason I came here was because of Coach Weis. To be honest, I wouldn't be here right now if not for him,'' he said. "I want to think him and his family.''

Sounds like a guy who will announce he is entering the NFL draft, as he should. And that eye? "You guys have talked about it for a week,'' he said, not denying any of the reported details that a fan coldcocked him. "You see my eye right now.''

And so it goes at Notre Dame. Or is it Notre Doom? After five years of Weis, three years of Tyrone Willingham and five years of Bob Davie, let's just say a brand name once as prestigious as any in American sports has wasted the last 13 years of its football life. The next coaching hire had better be an inspired one, lest the Fighting Irish lose whatever hint of mystique and grandeur still remains from the 20th century. Though you sense it never can be NOTRE DAME again -- the NOTRE DAME of legends, echoes, ghosts, Heismans and Hollywood -- this is a program that still can rise and be a major player if the school president, the Rev. John I. Jenkins, and athletic director Jack Swarbrick make the right call and do so quickly.

The good news? Unlike the previous AD, Kevin White, Swarbrick is not a puppet for high-powered boosters and alumni nearly as much as his own law-school-educated man. The bad news? White and those very boosters and alumni grew too giddy over Weis after his early successes and foolishly gave him a 10-year contract extension, including a buyout clause estimated between $15 million and $18 million. Let's hope the buyout price doesn't prompt Swarbrick to shy away from Stoops, who will demand an enormous, top-dollar contract. He is signed through 2015 at Oklahome for an estimated $30 million and is on record that he won't leave, a hint that he'll drive a hard bargain to change his mind.



Before the game, a CBS report indicated Stoops would be huddling with ND officials in South Bend as early as Sunday. Swarbrick sought quickly to knock down the Stoops rumor, claiming he has yet to make contact with any candidate. He said he planned to meet with Weis for an "evaluation'' not long after the game, having demanded the coach return with the team to campus instead of recruiting on the West Coast as originally planned. "We haven't talked to anybody," Swarbrick said.

"We haven't authorized anybody to talk to anybody. It's simply not true, any version of it."

Much as the university can afford Stoops money with all its millionaire donors, who seem to construct a new building every new year on campus, you wonder if too heavy a financial demand would cause Swarbrick to look for the highest quality, cost-efficient coach. Which is why Brian Kelly's name also is being uttered every other nanosecond.

I'm not as high on him as many Domers are, simply because I'm not sure a guy from the University of Cincinnati -- I know, I know, the Bearcats are ranked No. 5 and have gone 33-6 in Kelly's three years -- is ready to lead a Notre Dame resurgence. Yes, he's also Irish and Catholic. But he has been a charming underdog at Cincy and Central Michigan and hasn't remotely faced the expectations and grind of Notre Dame hell. Last time the school reached to the Queen City for a coach, ND plucked Moeller High School's Gerry Faust, another flop before Lou Holtz saved the program with its last national championship.

Yet Kelly, who makes less than $1.5 million a year, wouldn't require nearly the salary investment required for Stoops. He's also much more fun than the dry-as-dust Oklahoma coach, a character whose quotability will entertain reporters and Domers alike. It's clear Swarbrick has made at least indirect contact with Kelly after ABC's Bob Griese, breaking news instead of making it with ignorant remarks about Colombian race drivers and tacos, said before the Cincinnati-Illinois game Friday that Kelly apparently has a decision to make. "I talked to Brian Kelly on the field, and he said something will be decided in the next seven to 10 days," Griese reported.

Would Jenkins and Swarbrick view that comment as a privacy breach? Even when asked about ND by the media, Kelly hasn't exactly knocked down the idea. "This is the silly season, you know?" he said. "This is where it happens every year. We've been having this conversation for the last two years, so this isn't new ground for our players. The truth is, this happens every year. It will continue to happen while I'm at the University of Cincinnati because nobody thinks that Cincinnati is a destination job, so it just happens this way.''

It's a destination job only for a rising, young coach. Notre Dame is a destination for a dreamer bold enough to think he can awaken the echoes. The brash Harbaugh would fit the mold, but he has insisted all week that he'll be at Stanford at least for next season. The former NFL quarterback would continue the quarterbacking pipeline in South Bend and bring a youthful, proud touch to a program that needs it. He also has demonstrated an ability to win and overtake slumping USC in the Pac-10 Conference despite strict academic requirements; Weis has excelled in the scholastic area, graduating an NCAA-high 96 percent of his players, but hasn't matched the excellence on the field.

"I love Stanford, I'm only talking Stanford, and I will be at Stanford, God willing,'' Harbaugh told reporters.

Weis wasn't reluctant to voice high respect for Harbaugh, even if the same coach who ran up the score on USC's Pete Carroll refused to shake Clausen's hand after their last meeting. "There aren't many quarterbacks who are tough guys, and he was one who was," Weis said. "At this position where there's so many people that want to get protected all the time, there aren't very many people who will mix it up with you. And he's certainly one, and that personality permeates down." Chances are, Harbaugh will be off to the NFL in a couple of years, joining brother John, coach of the Baltimore Ravens.

Wherever Kelly's future lies, he prefers being on the positive end of gossip. "I guess it's better than being on the other side of that," he said. "They're talking about, let's see: Charlie Weis, [Kansas'] Mark Mangino, [LSU's] Les Miles. To give due respect to all the coaches that are supposedly on the hot seat -- there's like 10 coaches. I don't want to be one of them because that really hurts your recruiting."

Ah, recruiting. This is why the Weis purge will happen quickly, so Notre Dame doesn't repeat its mistake of waiting too long after firing Willingham. White and Co. put all its chips on Meyer, then a young, dynamic Utah coach who considered ND his dream job, only to scramble when he signed on with Florida. Forced to patch this scar with a "big name,'' they settled for Weis and his three Super Bowl rings with the New England Patriots, though he never had been a head coach on any level. His inexperience showed in late-game situations and in developing talent. In the end, he was a glorified offensive coordinator who maximized the abilities of quarterbacks Clausen and Brady Quinn and turned their receivers (Jeff Samardzija, John Carlson, Tate) into pro-ready talents but didn't know how to build a complete team, woefully neglecting his defense.

The Weis Guy's last three seasons represented the worst collective stretch in Notre Dame history. The abuse he took from media and fans was harsh, particular regarding his weight problem. And to his credit, he never has complained about criticism directed at his coaching performance, accepting the microscope as a part of the Irish landscape. But I was saddened, admittedly, to hear him tell FanHouse's John Walters in a revealing interview that certain personal attacks have permanently scarred his wife and 16-year-old son.

"The damage to Maura and Charlie Jr. is irreparable," Weis said. "It's watching me get hammered. I'll never forgive the people who character-assassinated me without even knowing me. Those people did irreparable damage to my wife and son, and I'll never forgive them.

"They have the right to criticize the coach for being 6-5. They have that right. It's all the other stuff. You think I don't know that I'm fat? Duh!"

In his most bitter moment, Weis didn't hesitate when asked where Charlie Jr. will attend college. "I know where he won't be going to college,'' said his father, a proud 1978 graduate of the university he loves.

Blame Weis for leaving the program in a black hole. But make sure to blame Notre Dame for hiring him to begin with, giving him a ridiculously lucrative extension and letting him coach five years when Willingham got only three. Weis will return to the NFL, where he'll most likely resume his career as an offensive coordinator -- maybe back in New England with Bill Belichick and Tom Brady -- unless a team like the desperate Buffalo Bills gives him a crack as a head coach. "I'm more respected there," Weis said. "I'm more well-liked there.''

Don't tell his players that. "I want to see him back,'' said Tate, who likely will leave for the NFL. "I think he's done a great job of developing me. I talk to him about family stuff, school stuff. He's always been honest with me. He means a lot to me.''

Maybe the pros like him more because Weis doesn't strut around the NFL the way he did when he arrived at Notre Dame. Not only did he utter the infamous comments about not accepting a 6-5 record -- when that winning percentage, .545, is more or less what Weis produced in a 35-27 career, including 6-6 this year -- he said the Irish would have "a schematic advantage'' because of his expertise in the pro-style offense. Who knew that he'd also put his team at a disadvantage in crunch time?

It would be too awkward to let him coach in a bowl game, assuming there is one. At 6-6, the Irish are eligible for a bowl only if the system runs out of 7-5 teams. Know what Notre Dame's bowl shot came down to, according to one scenario? Oh, whether a third team from the Sun Belt Conference, Louisiana-Lafayette or Louisiana-Monroe, finished with seven wins. If so, the Irish might have to stay home in the ultimate indignity.

They should just stay home anyway and avoid the embarrassment of the Little Caesars Bowl in downtown Detroit. "I have to talk it over with the captains,'' said Clausen, not sounding overwhelmed by the idea. It's time to move on to Bob Stoops while hoping, for the first time since the mid-1990s, that Notre Dame hires a coach worthy of the stale, distant hype.