SOUTH BEND – Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis is planning for his future.
And that future is with the Irish, as far as he knew Tuesday.
“I don’t think that any decision has been made, because I probably would know, and I don’t know,” Weis said. “With that being said, it’s full speed ahead. That’s full speed ahead with (Connecticut), then full speed ahead to Stanford and full speed ahead to going on the road recruiting.”
Weis’ job status has been questioned as Notre Dame (6-4) has gone into a tailspin entering Saturday’s home game against Connecticut (5-4). Kickoff is 2:30 p.m.
The Irish have lost their last two games, falling on the road to No. 8 Pittsburgh 27-22 on Saturday and losing to Navy 23-21 on Nov. 7, the second consecutive home game they’ve lost to Navy. Weis has the same record (35-25) in five years at Notre Dame that Bob Davie had when he was fired eight years ago, and he has the same winning percentage (.583) that Tyrone Willingham had when he was let go five years ago.
Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said he will evaluate Weis’ future only after the season. Notre Dame closes the regular season with a road game against No. 14 Stanford at 8 p.m. Nov. 28.
Swarbrick did not give a exact timetable for when he would meet with Weis. The athletic director did say that the economic issues of buying out the last six years of Weis’ contract, which runs through 2015, and having to pay a second coach would not factor into the decision.
He also said only an extreme circumstance, not about wins or loses, would force a decision to remove a coach in any sport at Notre Dame before the end of a season.
“If there was some ethical breach or some problem relative to our commitment to our student-athletes, something went wrong, a violation of NCAA rules or something,” Swarbrick said. “That’s the only thing that would cause me to break from the normal process we use here for all our sports.”
Notre Dame hasn’t broken from what has become normal for it in November.
The Irish have gone 3-11 in the last three Novembers with two games to go this season. But the team hasn’t given up on closing strong, according to right tackle Sam Young
“I think from the outside looking in it might be harder than it seems,” Young said. “To say it’s not a challenge would be naïve, but I think what this team has shown that day in and day out we are going to bring it to work.”
And while Weis is not one to look back or ahead, the coach did say last year’s 24-23 Senior Day loss to Syracuse and the 28-7 win over Duke to close the home schedule in 2007 will motivate the players.
“It’s one thing when you win your last home game and you get to run around and take a lap and high-five the fans when you are going around that whole lap,” Weis said. “Conversely, there’s the feeling they had last year when you sing the alma mater then go moping up the tunnel into the locker room. They’ve been able to experience both ends of those.”
