Why on earth would he not take the money that he was owed per the agreement of his contract? If the places were reversed, and you were the HC getting fired, you sure as shit would not turn down that money, none of us would. The best part of being a college football coach isn’t the job, it’s when they pay you to go away.
Believe me, I'm not turning down the millions that are contractually obligated to me. What I'm saying is Weis doesn't know why he's not welcomed back on campus with open arms like other past coaches are, and I'm hypothesizing that it comes down to the bloated contract. Faust sucked royally on the field, but he was still beloved after getting let go. The only reason I can guess that Weis doesn't get the same treatment as an alum is the bloated contract that we were stuck paying for several years after he was fired. Was he entitled to that money? Absolutely, because Kevin White was a dope.
I'm making the case that Weis could have probably gotten the Faust treatment if he resigned from the job on his own and maybe he does a deal with the university under the table to reduce the payout. I'm thinking something like how Shaw resigned as an alum of Stanford. Obviously it's not Weis' fault he got overpaid, that's on his agent and White. Regardless, he doesn't seem to be welcome back and my guess is it all stems from the bad contract. While he was a bit rough around the edges, I think he had a better demeanor than BK and he genuinely loves/loved his alma mater.
This is a little different situation from other coaches that were fired early, like Coach O. While Orgeron was a native of Louisiana and played for the Tiguhs for a year, he graduated from Northwestern State. I don't think he cares much if he's welcome back at LSU or not, although I imagine he is because he agreed to step down pretty amicably. Weis, on the other hand, was an ND graduate and he really wants to be welcome back on campus and doesn't seem to be at this time.
