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Weis now entrenched as KU coach
Posted: June 25, 2012 - 7:37pmPhotos
Orlin Wagner
New Kansas coach Charlie Weis answers questions during a news conference in Lawrence, Kan., Friday, Dec. 9, 2011. Weis says that Kansas offered him an opportunity too good to pass up: The chance to rebuild a long-suffering program and mend his own tarnished reputation. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)
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By Austin Meek
THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
Weis now entrenched as KU coach
Austin Meek
June 25, 2012 11:05 PM EDT
Copyright 2012 CJ Online. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
LAWRENCE — Charlie Weis has inhabited this office for roughly six months, long enough to add a few personal touches.
The walls are decorated with pictures of Weis’ children, Hannah and Charlie, Jr. A small fridge has been stocked with bottled beverages. There’s a suitcase by the door and an exercise machine in the middle of the room.
“You see that box right there?” Weis said. “That’s a blow-up bed. Here’s the quilt. There’s a pillow in there as well.”
Weis found a two-bedroom place close to campus that he shares with Charlie, Jr., a student manager and offensive assistant on his father’s staff. When Kansas opens training camp, though, Weis figures he’ll just blow up the mattress, point a fan towards his face and crash in his office.
“There’s a little music playing,” he said. “I can watch TV if I want to. You’re looking at my bedroom. You’re in it.”
This is a personal space, one that was opened to a group of reporters for more than 2½ hours Monday morning. The purpose, presumably, was to provide a glimpse inside Weis’ world. It’s a fascinating place, deserving of further exploration at a later date, but there are two dominant elements: Weis’ job as the KU football coach, and his role as a father to Hannah, his 17-year-old daughter with developmental disabilities.
When he met with reporters Monday, Weis had just returned from a golf tournament that benefited Hannah and Friends, the charitable organization the family created for individuals with special needs.
Hannah lives with her mother in Florida, an arrangement devised to preserve her routine after Weis was hired at KU. Next year she will move to the Hannah and Friends facility Weis founded in South Bend, Ind., when he was the coach at Notre Dame.
The care is comprehensive, and even the guy who built the place doesn’t get a discount, Weis noted with some chagrin.
“We figure it will probably take my wife a bunch of months to be able to cut the cord herself and let her stay there, but once Hannah is comfortable, we’ll revisit the whole living situation,” Weis said. “For now, we’re going back and forth on a regular basis.”
This is where the roles of father and coach intersect. When Weis leaves his office, it’s often to board a plane to visit his wife and daughter. Hannah and Maura Weis will make the same trip in reverse when the Jayhawks play at home this fall.
It’s an unconventional arrangement, but Weis said it hasn’t hindered his acclimation at KU.
“I’m entrenched in here,” he said.
Weis has spent the past six months turning KU into his team. He installed his own offense, recruited his own players and trimmed the roster to reflect his philosophy.
There have been changes, the latest being Pat Lewandowski’s switch from defensive end to offensive tackle. More will occur when newcomers are added to the depth chart in the fall, with Weis working to assemble interchangeable parts on defense.
“All the two-deep guys will be playing,” he said. “It’s not like the starting quarterback. The starting quarterback is playing. The starting rush end is going to play, and then the guy behind him, he’s going to play, too.
“I don’t know if they’re going to play 50-50 or 60-40, but they’re both going to play significant snaps in every game.”
The major overhaul is moving on schedule in mid-June. Weis cautioned not to worry about recruits who haven’t arrived on campus, saying all but two will report by the end of the week and the remaining players will arrive in late July.
“The only reason those two guys aren’t coming is because they still have a class that’s going to take them until toward the end of July,” Weis said. “A lot of times when you’re dealing with junior college kids, the reason why they have extra classes is because classes that they were told were accredited classes, when you go through the process, sometimes they say, ‘Well, that class doesn’t count.’
“It wasn’t like they were short hours. It was like they had to go back and almost take another class to counter a class that they said didn’t count.”
Weis occupies this office because the two coaches before him, Mark Mangino and Turner Gill, combined to go 2-23 in Big 12 play over the past three seasons. Restoring competitive football at KU will be a huge undertaking, but Weis has accepted the job and all that comes with it.
“I don’t look at it like some of the other coaches who have taken over new programs,” he said. “The guys that are here now, they’re my guys. They’re not Mangino’s guys. They’re not Gill’s guys. They’re my guys.”
Weis now entrenched as KU coach
Posted: June 25, 2012 - 7:37pmPhotos
Orlin Wagner
New Kansas coach Charlie Weis answers questions during a news conference in Lawrence, Kan., Friday, Dec. 9, 2011. Weis says that Kansas offered him an opportunity too good to pass up: The chance to rebuild a long-suffering program and mend his own tarnished reputation. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)
Follow Capital-Journal Sports on Facebook
Read more KU stories at HawkZone
Advertisement
By Austin Meek
THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
Weis now entrenched as KU coach
Austin Meek
June 25, 2012 11:05 PM EDT
Copyright 2012 CJ Online. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
LAWRENCE — Charlie Weis has inhabited this office for roughly six months, long enough to add a few personal touches.
The walls are decorated with pictures of Weis’ children, Hannah and Charlie, Jr. A small fridge has been stocked with bottled beverages. There’s a suitcase by the door and an exercise machine in the middle of the room.
“You see that box right there?” Weis said. “That’s a blow-up bed. Here’s the quilt. There’s a pillow in there as well.”
Weis found a two-bedroom place close to campus that he shares with Charlie, Jr., a student manager and offensive assistant on his father’s staff. When Kansas opens training camp, though, Weis figures he’ll just blow up the mattress, point a fan towards his face and crash in his office.
“There’s a little music playing,” he said. “I can watch TV if I want to. You’re looking at my bedroom. You’re in it.”
This is a personal space, one that was opened to a group of reporters for more than 2½ hours Monday morning. The purpose, presumably, was to provide a glimpse inside Weis’ world. It’s a fascinating place, deserving of further exploration at a later date, but there are two dominant elements: Weis’ job as the KU football coach, and his role as a father to Hannah, his 17-year-old daughter with developmental disabilities.
When he met with reporters Monday, Weis had just returned from a golf tournament that benefited Hannah and Friends, the charitable organization the family created for individuals with special needs.
Hannah lives with her mother in Florida, an arrangement devised to preserve her routine after Weis was hired at KU. Next year she will move to the Hannah and Friends facility Weis founded in South Bend, Ind., when he was the coach at Notre Dame.
The care is comprehensive, and even the guy who built the place doesn’t get a discount, Weis noted with some chagrin.
“We figure it will probably take my wife a bunch of months to be able to cut the cord herself and let her stay there, but once Hannah is comfortable, we’ll revisit the whole living situation,” Weis said. “For now, we’re going back and forth on a regular basis.”
This is where the roles of father and coach intersect. When Weis leaves his office, it’s often to board a plane to visit his wife and daughter. Hannah and Maura Weis will make the same trip in reverse when the Jayhawks play at home this fall.
It’s an unconventional arrangement, but Weis said it hasn’t hindered his acclimation at KU.
“I’m entrenched in here,” he said.
Weis has spent the past six months turning KU into his team. He installed his own offense, recruited his own players and trimmed the roster to reflect his philosophy.
There have been changes, the latest being Pat Lewandowski’s switch from defensive end to offensive tackle. More will occur when newcomers are added to the depth chart in the fall, with Weis working to assemble interchangeable parts on defense.
“All the two-deep guys will be playing,” he said. “It’s not like the starting quarterback. The starting quarterback is playing. The starting rush end is going to play, and then the guy behind him, he’s going to play, too.
“I don’t know if they’re going to play 50-50 or 60-40, but they’re both going to play significant snaps in every game.”
The major overhaul is moving on schedule in mid-June. Weis cautioned not to worry about recruits who haven’t arrived on campus, saying all but two will report by the end of the week and the remaining players will arrive in late July.
“The only reason those two guys aren’t coming is because they still have a class that’s going to take them until toward the end of July,” Weis said. “A lot of times when you’re dealing with junior college kids, the reason why they have extra classes is because classes that they were told were accredited classes, when you go through the process, sometimes they say, ‘Well, that class doesn’t count.’
“It wasn’t like they were short hours. It was like they had to go back and almost take another class to counter a class that they said didn’t count.”
Weis occupies this office because the two coaches before him, Mark Mangino and Turner Gill, combined to go 2-23 in Big 12 play over the past three seasons. Restoring competitive football at KU will be a huge undertaking, but Weis has accepted the job and all that comes with it.
“I don’t look at it like some of the other coaches who have taken over new programs,” he said. “The guys that are here now, they’re my guys. They’re not Mangino’s guys. They’re not Gill’s guys. They’re my guys.”
