What 3 recruits said about the hiring of Charlie Weis

[timm3117]

Recruits: Evan Sharpley

"I think it will be great," Sharpley said. "You see what he's done with the Patriots and Tom Brady and winning Super Bowls. As a quarterback, that's very exciting to think about."



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Recruits: Scott Smith
"He definitely made me very excited to play for him. He's a straightforward guy who just talks football. I really liked him."

What did they talk about?

"He talked about what he saw in the program and where he wanted to take it. He said he tailors his program around his player's strengths."

What did he think about his personality and ability to recruit?

"It's pretty obvious he's not going to settle for anything less than returning ND back to the top of college football. That was obvious. Just talking to him, you want to play football for him. I really liked his demeanor on the phone. I think everyone else will if they want to play football."

What did he like hearing from Weis?

"He talked about his philosophy as a coach and how he wants his players to play. He said he likes nasty players who are football players. Guys that want to work hard and love to play the game."



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Recruits: Joey Hiben
"I can tell just the passion that he has for the game. That's what Notre Dame needed the last few years because two different teams would show up for every game. I can tell Coach Weis is going to make it exciting, and I'm sure he'll make it nasty too, which is how football is supposed to be."

these come off of NDNation.com

 

[Irish Envy]

It would be real swell to get Brandon Harrison back although he signed with Michigan. Hope he gets burned really bad next season by one of our wideouts.

 

[Guest]

Weis is going to see Harrison on Friday, hopefully he can change his mind. He should tell Harrison that Michigan graduates 47 percent of their african American players.

 

[timm3117]

I'd like to see Brandon Harrison come to ND. But theres enough good players with ND on there short list, and I think Charlie will swing some of them. We'll have a decent class this year. But after we win 8 or 9 games next year. Things will be much easier.

 

[Irish Envy]

I'd like to see Brandon Harrison come to ND. But theres enough good players with ND on there short list, and I think Charlie will swing some of them. We'll have a decent class this year. But after we win 8 or 9 games next year. Things will be much easier.

Who as good as Harrison?

 

[timm3117]

I dont know? Who knows? Harrison Who? I refuse to get down over losing a recruit. He has a 50/50 chance of being a good college player, less then 20% of being a great player. 1 recruit wont make or break a program. Recruiting is hit or miss but rankings mean nothing, there are many, many good players out there not listed on anyones top100. Cary Harris 6-1/180 Sherman Oaks (CA) Notre Dame HS Rivals.com has ND, USC, CAL, and UCLA as his top 4. Cary Harris rated 12, Brandon Harrison 15th on rivals.com DB's list.

 

[NDLyght37]

Harrison's a shut-down corner for sure...and would probably do some damage on special teams.

He's a lil' short...but we can't afford to lose any defensive players at this point. Fixing that "D" should be one of Weis to priorities.

 

[Guest]

If Harrison loves Willingham so much, why isn't he going to Washington.

 

[NDLyght37]

IMO, because he's not a west-coast guy. He just feels more comfortable at Michigan than ND (our loss...grrr).

 

[onedomer]

Let's not write off Harrison yet. Signing day is still 6 weeks away and Charlie hasn't even had a chance to sit down with him yet. There must have been some reason he originally chose ND and I can't believe it was just Ty.

 

[Irish Envy]

Let's not write off Harrison yet. Signing day is still 6 weeks away and Charlie hasn't even had a chance to sit down with him yet. There must have been some reason he originally chose ND and I can't believe it was just Ty.

From what I've read and heard, Weis does not have time to sit down with any recruits this year. Hopefully that won't be the case.

 

[BigIrish]

I haven't gotten that impression. The impression I got was that Weis wasn't going to share his split-duties game plan with the press. I'll guarantee a guy as smart as Weis is going to be making a little time for the recruits - he knows he can't afford to have another recruiting class like last year's.

 

[Irish Envy]

I haven't gotten that impression. The impression I got was that Weis wasn't going to share his split-duties game plan with the press. I'll guarantee a guy as smart as Weis is going to be making a little time for the recruits - he knows he can't afford to have another recruiting class like last year's.

Mike Golic was talking about it this morning saying Weis will spend his day hours as property of New England, and off-facility hours as ND. Golic also made the impression that all Weis would be doing is calling players.

 

[Aerosmith777]

Don't forget, Weis hasn't officially hired his Defensive Coordinator yet either. If he gets that guy from Virginia, I think that'll go a long way in getting a solid corner like Harrison to re-commit to coming to south bend.

 

[ND 1987]

Traveling Salesman

Traveling Salesman

All this tells us is that Weiss would make a great traveling salesman. I could have said this and impressed a high school kid too.

New England is a great team with a great record. They will continue to be great without Weiss because this team was built by Parcells and Belichek.

If Weiss is going to go around an rip Ty, he has no class. Calling ND a Pop Warner offense shows a lack of class.

ND was founded on virtues that go beyond football. Great leaders like Hesburgh, Joyce, and Monk Malloy (before he was a lame duck) would have never stood for this. No person who believes in what Our Lady of the Lake stands for would support the firing of Ty Willingham. Kevin White does not represent what Notre Dame is all about. He needs to read his Baltimore Catechism and say a few Acts of Contrition.

 

[AlbuquerqueIrishFan]

Who as good as Harrison?

There may not be anyone better than Harrison, but there are so many excellent players out there under the radar. The MAC Conference seems to get a lot of these guys. Example: Ben Rothlesbuger. Finding them is the problem.

 

[Aerosmith777]

All this tells us is that Weiss would make a great traveling salesman. I could have said this and impressed a high school kid too.

New England is a great team with a great record. They will continue to be great without Weiss because this team was built by Parcells and Belichek.

If Weiss is going to go around an rip Ty, he has no class. Calling ND a Pop Warner offense shows a lack of class.

ND was founded on virtues that go beyond football. Great leaders like Hesburgh, Joyce, and Monk Malloy (before he was a lame duck) would have never stood for this. No person who believes in what Our Lady of the Lake stands for would support the firing of Ty Willingham. Kevin White does not represent what Notre Dame is all about. He needs to read his Baltimore Catechism and say a few Acts of Contrition.

#1 The core of the Pats have no ties w/ Parcells anymore. He's long-removed from this team.

#2 The defense is, certainly, Belichek's. But the offense is solely Weis'. He turned a 6th round QB into a superstar, and a mediocre recieving core into one of the most efficient in the game. Plus, I think you can look at Correy Dillon's numbers this year, compare them to last year's, and attribute at least a little of that re-surgence to Weis (certainly not all of it, I completely recognize that Dillon is an amazing pure talent, but some).

#3 Who said Weis is ripping anybody? In his press conference he seemed very respectful of Willingham and what he did here (a lot more than most fans). And I don't think he's going to rip anyone when he talks to ND's recruits, he's just going to let them know why he was brought in and what his system is going to be.

#4 If I'm not mistaken that "pop warner" reference was made last year when he was brought to South Bend as a guest speaker, and you have to assess it from that vantage point. He was brought in as a speaker to motivate the team, and it was long before he could have had any notion that the head coaching job would be vacant the very next December, so I don't think you can say it had anything to do w/ that.

#5 No one thought it was unethical when ND fired Bob Davie. No one thought it was unethical when they fired Faust. And both those coaches had equal or better records at the time of their firing than Willingham did. Both those coaches were pretty good recruiters (which is why they didn't get fired earlier) and neither lost by the horrific margins Willingham did. So if being true to Notre Dame's morals means sticking w/ a loser even when the administration knows he's a loser just b/c its what they've always done before, I don't see what the point is in trying to compete w/ big time programs. I mean, adhering to those types of standards means the Irish will NEVER be able to compete w/ the likes of Miami and USC, and if that's the case, they might as well go join the Ivy League or drop down to being a Div II school. I guess what it comes down to is, what is notre dame? Is it a football school that competes for the national title and goes out and gets the best coach available while also having a nice tradition and likes to graduate a good number of its athletes, or is it a traditional school that wants ALL of its students to make the grade and have a coach that supports that academic agenda first and then tries to have a nice little team to go out and try and give the students something to cheer about on Saturdays. The point is it can't be both anymore. Personally, I don't see what's so morally wrong w/ being the former instead of the latter. Notre Dame can make these type of aggressive moves to put a good team on the field, and still have a better graduation rate than 90% of the BCS schools out there and call itself an academic institution.

 

[onedomer]

All this tells us is that Weiss would make a great traveling salesman. I could have said this and impressed a high school kid too.

New England is a great team with a great record. They will continue to be great without Weiss because this team was built by Parcells and Belichek.

If Weiss is going to go around an rip Ty, he has no class. Calling ND a Pop Warner offense shows a lack of class.

ND was founded on virtues that go beyond football. Great leaders like Hesburgh, Joyce, and Monk Malloy (before he was a lame duck) would have never stood for this. No person who believes in what Our Lady of the Lake stands for would support the firing of Ty Willingham. Kevin White does not represent what Notre Dame is all about. He needs to read his Baltimore Catechism and say a few Acts of Contrition.

I think you need to go back and look at what Ted said in 1958 when he was accused of the same sell out that Jenkins and the BOT is accused of now. Responding to critics that said he had sold the schools soul to salvage the football program he replied:

"Some things never change at ND, one is ND's commitment to excellence. The other is criticism for having the "arrogance" to strive for it."

BTW - Kevin White did not vote to oust Ty and I believe that he has done an admirable job across the board as AD. Case in point, our Lady Irish brought home another National Championship in Soccer last week!

 

[NDLyght37]

Just a couple of quick points...

#2 Plus, I think you can look at Correy Dillon's numbers this year, compare them to last year's, and attribute at least a little of that re-surgence to Weis (certainly not all of it, I completely recognize that Dillon is an amazing pure talent, but some).

#5 No one thought it was unethical when ND fired Bob Davie. No one thought it was unethical when they fired Faust. And both those coaches had equal or better records at the time of their firing than Willingham did. Both those coaches were pretty good recruiters (which is why they didn't get fired earlier) and neither lost by the horrific margins Willingham did. So if being true to Notre Dame's morals means sticking w/ a loser even when the administration knows he's a loser just b/c its what they've always done before, I don't see what the point is in trying to compete w/ big time programs. I mean, adhering to those types of standards means the Irish will NEVER be able to compete w/ the likes of Miami and USC, and if that's the case, they might as well go join the Ivy League or drop down to being a Div II school.

#2 - Weis has done wonders with guys like Brady & Troy Brown...but Dillon was a Hall-Of-Fame caliber back before he even got to New England. I don't know how much credit CW can take for that.

#5 - Ty deserved 4 years...no more, no less. And a coach must mean more than what happens on gameday. I would go on, but now that Willingham has a great job & we have Weis I don't need to.

 

[bmf175]

#1 The core of the Pats have no ties w/ Parcells anymore. He's long-removed from this team.

#5 No one thought it was unethical when ND fired Bob Davie. No one thought it was unethical when they fired Faust. And both those coaches had equal or better records at the time of their firing than Willingham did. Both those coaches were pretty good recruiters (which is why they didn't get fired earlier) and neither lost by the horrific margins Willingham did. So if being true to Notre Dame's morals means sticking w/ a loser even when the administration knows he's a loser just b/c its what they've always done before, I don't see what the point is in trying to compete w/ big time programs. I mean, adhering to those types of standards means the Irish will NEVER be able to compete w/ the likes of Miami and USC, and if that's the case, they might as well go join the Ivy League or drop down to being a Div II school. I guess what it comes down to is, what is notre dame? Is it a football school that competes for the national title and goes out and gets the best coach available while also having a nice tradition and likes to graduate a good number of its athletes, or is it a traditional school that wants ALL of its students to make the grade and have a coach that supports that academic agenda first and then tries to have a nice little team to go out and try and give the students something to cheer about on Saturdays. The point is it can't be both anymore. Personally, I don't see what's so morally wrong w/ being the former instead of the latter. Notre Dame can make these type of aggressive moves to put a good team on the field, and still have a better graduation rate than 90% of the BCS schools out there and call itself an academic institution.

I agree totally...Give Ty four years for what reason? To turn out another sorry recruiting class? That would have made it longer for the next coach to dig the team out of the hole. ND did the right thing!

 

[Guest]

All this tells us is that Weiss would make a great traveling salesman. I could have said this and impressed a high school kid too.

New England is a great team with a great record. They will continue to be great without Weiss because this team was built by Parcells and Belichek.

If Weiss is going to go around an rip Ty, he has no class. Calling ND a Pop Warner offense shows a lack of class.

ND was founded on virtues that go beyond football. Great leaders like Hesburgh, Joyce, and Monk Malloy (before he was a lame duck) would have never stood for this. No person who believes in what Our Lady of the Lake stands for would support the firing of Ty Willingham. Kevin White does not represent what Notre Dame is all about. He needs to read his Baltimore Catechism and say a few Acts of Contrition.

Weis calls all the plays on offense. Belichek is a defensive minded coach, always has been. I don't know why your mentioning Parcells he has no connection there at all, Carroll coached a couple years after Parcell's . Ask Brady, Curtis martin, Givens,Keyshaun Johnson, if Weis is a good coach, all those guys praise Weis. Tom Brady loves Weis gives him tons of credit all the time.

David Givens is a perfect example, Weis wanted him, so they drafted him in the 7th round. Givens did nothing at notre dame, now thanks to Weis he's on his way to the pro bowl this year.

Patriots have no 1st round draft picks on offense. Only team in the NFL not to have at least one first rounder. So you can't say its the personel. weis has developed a great offense with 5th 6th 7th rounders. Some guys on their offsnse weren't even drafted. Now thats impressive.

 

[NDLyght37]

I agree totally...Give Ty four years for what reason? To turn out another sorry recruiting class? That would have made it longer for the next coach to dig the team out of the hole. ND did the right thing!

LOL...we will have to agree to disagree about that.

 

[Guest]

I gotta agree with BMF175 on that. If Ty was at least bringing in good talent I woulda given him another year. But last years class was the worst in 25 years, this years was looking better but Idoubt it coulda cracked the top 25 by years end. Many recruits said how they wouldn't hear from TY thats much, once a recruit would start to favor another shool, Ty would give up and stop recruiting them. That was the case with lorig this year, He said Ty just stop contacting him all together. Meanwhile he said Carroll was calling him every week.

So last years class was poor, This years class wouldn't of been that good, and if we gave Ty another year and he failed, recruiting would of suffered next year to. Thats 3 bad classes in a row, that could of ruined ND. We play the toughest scheduale, it's important we bring in talent consistantly. ND needed to make the change now, it was a gamble bringing TY back next year. ND can't afford to Gamble.

 

[NDLyght37]

Technically it's a gamble to continue firing coaches instead of addressing the core issues. I think with the way the team performed this year, ND would have gone 8-3 and been in an upper-tier bowl game. But I think both ND & Ty will benefit from the change. Sure Willingham didn't meet expectations (his, the universitys, or the fans). But I'll always come to the guy's defense because I think he's a very solid coach that does things the right way (which is very rare theese days). If I had a son, Willingham is the kind of coach I'd want him to play for.

 

[brucejcarr]

Willingham Great Guy....Bad Recruiting Staff

Willingham Great Guy....Bad Recruiting Staff

ND has always recruited well (except Willingham), even under Davie. What they lacked was a motivator. Weis will light a fire under the A**es of the ND players and win more over the long run. Weis will also be able to bring recruits (four and five star) into South Bend, because he is a passionate guy about ND.

 

[Aerosmith777]

Just a couple of quick points...

#2 - Weis has done wonders with guys like Brady & Troy Brown...but Dillon was a Hall-Of-Fame caliber back before he even got to New England. I don't know how much credit CW can take for that.

#5 - Ty deserved 4 years...no more, no less. And a coach must mean more than what happens on gameday. I would go on, but now that Willingham has a great job & we have Weis I don't need to.

I don't know that Dillon was going to the Hall before he left Cincinatti. He only got like 500 yards last year, partly due to injury, and partly due to ineffectiveness. Now, obviously from his previous work, he's talented. But it still remains he was no longer living up to that talent when he got to New England. Now he is again; always a credit to the coaching staff to draw the talent out of guys who underachieve in other places. Its one of the things Weis' mentor Parcells was always known for. & I recognize that the coach has off-field issues to deal with as well, especially at Notre Dame. But Weis said it best, the reason coaches get hired first and foremost is to win football games. If you can't do that first, the rest of it really doesn't matter. Notre Dame wants a guy who can do both, & I think Weis can do both, run a competitive program at Notre Dame AND keep it up to the higher standard Notre Dame expects. I don't think just 'cause Weis is the coach & is going to try to win football games that we're going to see any Maurice Clarett's in South Bend. He'll keep the program competitive and clean. Willingham could never do that, maybe b/c he never really wanted to be there in the first place. Anyway, good luck to him, but I'm still happy about this change and hope the Irish beat the crap out of Washington come September.

 

[jiggafini19]

Cary Harris would be a huge signing. Considering ND beat Michigan's ass this past season, I couldn't really care less if Harrison wants to go up there. ND can't win at home and Michigan can't win big games on the road. Not sure which is worse.

These guys have to figure they will play right away at ND, especially DBs and O-Line. If not '05, then '06 for sure. Weis has to be able to sell the school, but the depth chart speaks for itself.