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December 10, 2007
Tim Prister
IrishIllustrated.com Senior Editor
Talk about it in The Four Horsemen Lounge
NOTRE DAME, Ind.—The annual football banquet is a great time to reflect on the season just completed, unless of course the season just completed resulted in nine losses.
Matt Cashore
Charlie Weis took a moment to compliment the leadership of the '07 team for keeping the ship afloat before he turned his attention to next year's squad.
"At the end of the year, most teams under the same circumstances they were under would have thrown in the towel," said Weis, noting victories of Duke and Stanford after losing nine of the first 10 games. "But that wasn't the case."
In a speech that lasted approximately seven-and-a-half minutes, Weis also praised the loyal Notre Dame fans. A mere four rows of tables—about a third of a normal banquet crowd—were placed in the north dome of the Joyce Center.
"The people in this audience are your true fans," Weis said. "They're the ones who really count because they're the ones at the end of the game, along with the student body, who are still applauding for you, regardless of what the score is. They're the ones when the game is over that are singing the Alma Mater and the Fight Song.
"For one second can you imagine any other university in the country that would have that kind of fan support after the season we just had? It's unthinkable that it could happen anywhere else."
Weis was more focused on looking ahead, particularly since winter conditioning already had commenced under the direction of strength and conditioning coach Ruben Mendoza.
"We took a couple of baby steps here at the end of the year, but we're far from anywhere close to being where we at the University of Notre Dame want to or expect to be," Weis said.
"So our off-season started this past Monday. I'm sure our players were very happy to see Ruben's smiling face Monday morning.
"Ruben was under direct orders from the head coach to make sure that he did everything he could to make them throw up. How'd that work out?
"It all starts in the weight room. So for the next couple of months, realize that your season for next year has already started."
Weis isn't interested in addressing another sparse banquet crowd.
"No one likes going 3-9," said Weis to the returning players. "You know all those talks about perseverance and how you can grow from being 3-9? Well, you can grow from being 12-0, too. So why don't we try to work in that direction?
"No one wants to go to a banquet and celebrate going 3-9. We've gone through a whole season of everyone telling us how bad we are.
"There's no sense talking about it. The only thing we can do is go back to work and go do something about it."
Tim Prister
IrishIllustrated.com Senior Editor
Talk about it in The Four Horsemen Lounge
NOTRE DAME, Ind.—The annual football banquet is a great time to reflect on the season just completed, unless of course the season just completed resulted in nine losses.
Matt Cashore
Charlie Weis took a moment to compliment the leadership of the '07 team for keeping the ship afloat before he turned his attention to next year's squad.
"At the end of the year, most teams under the same circumstances they were under would have thrown in the towel," said Weis, noting victories of Duke and Stanford after losing nine of the first 10 games. "But that wasn't the case."
In a speech that lasted approximately seven-and-a-half minutes, Weis also praised the loyal Notre Dame fans. A mere four rows of tables—about a third of a normal banquet crowd—were placed in the north dome of the Joyce Center.
"The people in this audience are your true fans," Weis said. "They're the ones who really count because they're the ones at the end of the game, along with the student body, who are still applauding for you, regardless of what the score is. They're the ones when the game is over that are singing the Alma Mater and the Fight Song.
"For one second can you imagine any other university in the country that would have that kind of fan support after the season we just had? It's unthinkable that it could happen anywhere else."
Weis was more focused on looking ahead, particularly since winter conditioning already had commenced under the direction of strength and conditioning coach Ruben Mendoza.
"We took a couple of baby steps here at the end of the year, but we're far from anywhere close to being where we at the University of Notre Dame want to or expect to be," Weis said.
"So our off-season started this past Monday. I'm sure our players were very happy to see Ruben's smiling face Monday morning.
"Ruben was under direct orders from the head coach to make sure that he did everything he could to make them throw up. How'd that work out?
"It all starts in the weight room. So for the next couple of months, realize that your season for next year has already started."
Weis isn't interested in addressing another sparse banquet crowd.
"No one likes going 3-9," said Weis to the returning players. "You know all those talks about perseverance and how you can grow from being 3-9? Well, you can grow from being 12-0, too. So why don't we try to work in that direction?
"No one wants to go to a banquet and celebrate going 3-9. We've gone through a whole season of everyone telling us how bad we are.
"There's no sense talking about it. The only thing we can do is go back to work and go do something about it."
