Irish Musings

Season 2005 Issue #3

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

There is a new look in the renowned football facility to commemorate its 75th anniversary.

We found this graphic on Aug. 23, 2005:

You can see more on the ND website!!

This is a truly new day under the Golden Dome.  I have never been so excited about a new coach—not with Ara and not with Lou.  After much reading about Charlie, there is literally NO EVIDENCE THAT HE IS NOT THE GENIUS SOME HAVE CLAIMED THAT HE IS!!

To me there are five attributes to look for in a great coach:

·        Opponents say that he is unpredictable

·        He is an organizational genius, a detail nut, a perfectionist and a cracker jack at fundamentals

·        He is a great leader and motivator

·        He has supreme confidence in his own abilities

·        And, he hires the best coaches possible

Notice I do not even mention recruiting as a separate item because great recruiting will happen under a college head coach who has these attributes. 

Charlie has all these attributes and they are the five reasons why his ten or eleven years at the helm of the greatest team in the history of college football will lead him to the Hall of Fame himself.

Here is what one of our patron saints has said about Charlie Weis:

"The understanding of the lore, tradition and history, those kind of things were kind of ignored,'' said Tom Pagna, a former assistant coach [untitled offensive coordinator] under Ara Parseghian and radio analyst for the Fighting Irish. ``I think the personality of the team reflected it. I think you have a guy who understands Notre Dame and I think he's going to make that right.''

Several of our former players have left the program.  I view this as a

very good sign.  If you wonder why, check out The Junction Boys.

To help fill out the lack of depth—which would have been a problem even before these players left, Weis awarded three scholarships after practice to walk-on players who have stood out for their performances during the summer conditioning period and fall camp. Senior cornerback Brandon Harris, senior wide receiver Rob Woods and junior defensive lineman Casey Cullen were the three honored with a free year of college education. The head coach was going to award only one walk-on a scholarship at the beginning of camp but with the recent defections, the number got boosted up to three. Weis wanted guys who could help on game day.  

Here is what he says:

“What guys can we take to the game that may not be in the two-deep on offense and defense that we think we can put on the field to help us win?” Weis asked when thinking about who to give the scholarships to. “That’s really what it came down to. All three of these guys we see playing a part on special teams. I went and researched grade point average. I went and looked at character to see if they were in any trouble with the university in addition to what I thought of them as players.”  All three of them have particular strengths, Weis said, and the team cheered loudly after practice when they were announced. Woods has a 3.95 grade point average in engineering and Weis wants to surround the team with winners. He thinks Woods is one of these guys. Cullen, the coach said, has been impossible to block or stop at practice and will be on three or four special team units. Harris, a potential return man, has impressed Weis from day one.  “Since the day I’ve got here, he’s stood out as far as how hard he works and how fast he runs,” Weis said. “He’s a bit raw and inexperienced. He came here on a partial music scholarship and I told him he could take that partial music scholarship and throw that baby away. I’m picking up the tab for you this year.”

Here are some predictions about players and different elements of Your 2005 Fighting Irish:

Surprises

·        Defensive backfield—the key here is to understand why Charlie hired Bill Lewis.  He may be the single most important assistant coach we have.  Normally, I would say that the O-Line coach, Latina, is the key to the immediate future.  However, Lewis is the only assistant coach I know of whom Charlie has publicly said why he hired him.   Very simply it is because over recent years the Miami Dolphins pass defense gave him, Charlie, more fits than any other team.  Consider that this experience reported by Charlie includes the recent years that Bill Wannstedt had been their head coach.  To me this hire is at least as important as the Latina hire, keeping in mind that Latina is a Joe Moore protégé, and what is more, he, Latina, is proud of his Moore Heritage.  In the short term, I think this hire, that of Lewis, is most important, because we are desperate for a Savior in this coaching slot, someone who can turn it around on a dime and that is what I saw in the Spring Game. 

·        Offensive line—check this link out—you will have to paste it into your browser as it is probably not alive:

http://www.etruth.com/News/Content.aspx?ID=354822&page=

My thought about our offense starts with the O line.  It always does.  Joe M could not play and win without one.  It is the heart of the team and must be the heart of the program, but it has not been that.  Yet, we have the most experienced O line in the history of Notre Dame Football, bar none, and so what is the situation.  They have underperformed for a number of years because of poor coaching, not because of lack of talent.  We now have more top 100 recruits in the O line than any other school in the country.  So, do not listen to naysayers about how we don’t have the talent to be competitive!!!

These guys have not known how to finish their blocks.  If they are taught the necessity and the skill for this, Darius gains over six yards per carry!!!  Remember how Jeff Faine finished his blocks?  If so, you know what I am talking about here.

·        Special teams—watch for Brandon Harris and Justin Hoskins and Tommy Z to catapult onto the national scene in punt returns and kickoff returns.  It is unclear now who will do what, although the depth chart below has some clues.

·        Overall team speed—focus on quickness.  We have not had the lack of team speed that many critics have accused us of.  We have had a lack of team quickness, which is the practiced skill and coaching required to know exactly how to use your speed.  Our cornerbacks have not known how to do this.  Watch for a very big change!!!

Weaknesses

·        Inconsistency

·        Youth

·        Lack of confidence based on accomplishment

·        Defense that is a big question mark, especially on pass defense, but the D line is by no means a proven commodity, despite the number 8 ranking last year in run defense.  We lost a lot of guys but not everyone.  I expect major improvement from Abiamiri and Laws; I’m concerned that Landri lost weight over the past 6 months. 

·        Lack of depth—this one is a serious problem if the Irish start suffering from injuries

What the success of the team turns on:

·        Coaching—compare the Lou staff and the Ara staff to Charlie’s staff.  There is no question in my mind that this is the best coaching staff that Notre Dame has ever put together.  Historically, we have not really had a staff that is consistent and excellent.  In addition, they all seem to be teachers at heart, but unlike the Tyresome crew they are a bunch of great recruiters. 

·        Organization—There were virtually no penalties or mistakes in the Spring Game

·        Fundamentals—For the first time in recent memory, we could see from the stands that the d backs watch for the ball, and defend against the receiver catching the ball rather than planning on tackling the receiver when he catches the ball.

·        Fresh start—I think that we all know now just how bad the past regime was, and therefore any new coaching staff would have a fresh start.

·        Attitude—During the Spring Game the players stood on both sidelines—all of them without exception—and they all watched the game—every play!!  Under the past two birdbrains I noticed that the players would sit on the bench, talk among one another and generally pay little attention to the game.  Seldom did an assistant coach come over to talk with them, coach them, encourage them or teach them, so there was no excuse for ignoring the game.  Also, Charlie’s approach has been to exorcise systematically every single one of the excuses that have been given, even by our alums, for the failure of the team to be competitive: weather, location, social life, Catholic, distance from Florida, academics, percentage of minorities, etc.

·        Talent used correctly—Charlie has driven off about seven players, and in general we should be happy, because it suggests his toughness is impacting the players so much that some decide that they are not up to it.  One of my biggest criticisms of the program over the past eight years is that we have brought in too many players who have no clue why they are at Our Lady’s University rather than Behemoth State University.  I think the players who are now gone most probably fit into this category.  From following Charlie since he came to ND it is clear that HE WILL NOT KNOWINGLY BRING IN A SINGLE PLAYER WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHY HE IS COMING TO ND.  In the long run, this one factor will be the backbone of the program and coupled with Charlie’s coaching genius guarantee the success of the program.

·        Flexibility

Players to be surprised by:

·        Brandon Harris—looked great in the Spring Game, albeit not getting too many looks.  He is remarkably quick and fast, and is one of the reasons that I believe we will have more actual speed and quickness than last year, but that all of us will feel that there is a huge difference in that the staff will show the players how to use their quickness and speed, whereas, especially on pass defense, the players had no idea how to use their physical skills.

·        Chinedum Ndukwe—he moves from pass catching buddy of Brady’s in Dublin to free safety, where he will surprise you with his quickness and his HITTING.

·        Leo Ferrine—at corner

·        Tom Zbikowski—surprised are you?  He did not fulfill his promise last year.  He had an all world game against Moo Yoo but then kind of slipped into inconsistency.  He was a key player in a defensive backfield that had the worst record statistically of 117 college teams, while the front line was fourth in run defense.  So, he did not have a good year overall, but he is clearly very talented and with proper coaching, look for him to emerge as an excellent player with the potential to become an All-American.

·        Maurice Crum

Here is the recently announced depth chart:

http://und.collegesports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/082805aad.html

and more stuff on the game:

http://www.collegesports.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/nd/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/05NDFBNotesVs

Here are the eleven threats to the success of the Irish in 2005 under Charlie Weis:

Here is the Irish Musings proprietary methodology for calculating the record for the season.  Last year we predicted 6 and 5!!  This is our second year venturing into rough waters:

The numbers below are the probabilities we assign to winning each game:

Pittsburgh    60/70

Pitt is nowhere as good as people think, as they were handed the game last year by corrupt officials.  Palko is very good, but we had no pass defense last year and Pitt did not beat any good team.  One of my scouts does tell me that they believe they have lots and lots of team speed.

Michigan      30/40

Their coach is our best friend, handing the game to us last year, but this is up there and Lloyd will not be so conservative this year.

Michigan State       70/80

Charlie will win his first home game, against a team that has little defense.

Washington           80/90

No players, no coach!

Purdue         50/50

Spoilermakers no more.  Purdue does not beat us two years in a row very often.  Tyresome made em look a lot better than they are last year.

USC            30

Last year I had us at 0%.  They have lots of problems.  Disciplinary.  Coaches gone—Chow is at Tennessee now and he was the genius behind the program.  We get em at ND.  Charlie will be pointing to this game like no other.  We have often beaten them when the odds were badly against us—1977, 1973 even 1995 and even 1988.  Charlie knows he must be the master of this series.  Look what Lou did against them.  Next year they will be down and if we beat em this year, we can dominate them for awhile.

BYU            90

The one true religion is…  And besides they got lucky last year.

Tennessee    40

Toughest one—they won’t have two wounded qbs this year.  They won’t hand us the game.  We will have our hands full against them.  They nearly always play us even or outplay us physically in the second half so this will be a key game to assess our conditioning.

Syracuse      80/90

Remember the Carrier Dome and 2003!

Navy           100

Not since Roger the Dodger.  Not now!

Stanford      100

No talent, but watch for the let down.  ND does terribly late in the season and in the last game.  The record is embarrassing.  Charlie knows this and knows he has to turn it around.  Contrast our record in November with TN under Fulmer.

We come up with a range between 7.3 WINS and 7.8WINS

Last year we had 6.3, so it is even closer this year.

We round up, giving Charlie the benefit of the doubt as a refreshing motivating exciting great new coach.

Patterns—we always win one game we are not supposed to and lose at least one game we are not supposed to—even under Lou and Ara to some extent.  In recent years under Ty Davie, we have lost two, three or even four games that we are not supposed to lose.  When this sort of thing happens year in and year out, it is due to gross coaching incompetence. 

By the way, before anyone gets real upset and thinks that we are criticizing the coaches as people, we believe that the difference between a great team and a very good team is very small in performance, and it is even smaller in coaching.  But there is a difference and that difference is profoundly important.  In the case of Bobbing Davie and Tyresome W we had two coaches who were below average in ability as head coaches.  Davie is a good football coach but was over his head as head coach in the number one job in college football.  Ty is an enigma.  He is probably not a good football coach.  He got much worse as time went on, and that is a sign of incompetence.  But again, the difference is not cataclysmic.  The history of college football coaches reveals many who were no good for a long time and then all of a sudden became very good.  And the reverse is true.  After years of greatness many of the very best begin to slip as the game passes them by.

Addendum:

Charlie on Spurrier:

Last week he was discussing the difficulty former Florida and current South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier had when he tried to bring his "Fun 'N Gun" offense to the Washington Redskins.

Weis candidly talked about how Spurrier's offense was fatally predictable.

"Those defenses in the NFL, they'll figure you out in a hurry," Weis said. "You're just sitting out there and every time they blitz, you're going to throw a slip screen, which is what he did, and everyone in the league knew it," Weis said.

Weis is equally candid with his players.

(I find this observation to be absolutely fascinating.)

Caveats on optimism:

Every one of the successful Irish coaches have departed ND under awful circumstances, whereas the bad ones just kind of slink off into the darkness, like Davie, Faust, Tyresome, Kuharich and Hunk Anderson.

This happened to Bud Wilkinson at Oklahoma and to Paul Brown in the NFL.  We can think of lots of other examples.  Joe Paterno is a recent example.  He has slipped from being very good to great to being a bit of a buffoon!!!  QUIT WHILE YOU ARE BEHIND, JOE!!!  No, wait.  Stay until we play you again, so we can beat you easily.

Charles T. Kenny, Ph.D., President

Class of 1963
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