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Insights caught up with Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick about the future of Irish head coach.
In effect, Swarbrick said Weis isn't going anywhere.
Viewing the ins-and-outs of Notre Dame's program daily, Swarbrick sees more than just the play Saturday and the snippets of practice the media views each week.
"Being at practice every day gives you a different perspective," Swarbrick said. "You get to evaluate the relationships of the kids to the coaches and the kids to each other. You get to evaluate how practices are run and all of that is very, very good. You don't get to turn a switch. It's a work in progress and I'm very pleased with where we are."
When asked about the fans' recent displeasure with the way the program has been headed in the short term with losses in three of four games including a 17-0 shutout by Boston College, Swarbrick said fans should remember the New York Giants, which ran off a winning streak at the end of the season and in the playoffs to win the Super Bowl over the then-undefeated New England Patriots.
"I say I love your passion and while I wish sometimes it would take different forms, that's just part of the deal," Swarbrick said. "If you're gonna have a program that people care desperately about, which is what we want, they are going to express that in a lot of ways and that's great. Secondly, I would say, be mindful of the examples of sports provides us all the time of the mistake of trying to predict the end of the story in the middle of the season.
"Last year the New York Giants fans were sure Tom Coughlin needed to go in the middle of the season. No one thought that after he won the Super Bowl. You see that repeated time and again in sport and just, let the whole season go. More importantly from my perspective, understand that we evaluate these programs on a host of critical issues to us and competitive success is an important one and we are obviously going to be much more successful this year than last and that's a great trend.
"This program, in terms of attracting talented student-athletes and in terms of educating student athletes is performing at an extraordinary level right now, among the very best in the country. That's all elements of the program, among many, that we evaluate. So understand that we look at this in the largest context."
For more from Swarbrick and others about Weis and Notre Dame, read Thursday's Journal Gazette.
