The fact that Ryan Day was nearly run out of town after going 10-2 last year (pre-playoffs obviously), was getting death threats, and his kids were made fun of in school (a Catholic school btw) is pretty shocking. I haven't heard of anything like that happening at ND, even to coaches who were far less successful than Day. I know every fanbase has some nutcases in it, but yikes.
Not so sure about that....
Charlie Weis and family experienced a lot of shit from ND fans as he started to tank and immediately after his firing - Just go to Google AI mode and search on "Charlie Weis didn't like the way Notre Dame Fans treated his family"
(Of course, this is because a guy who publicly stated he had a "schematic advantage" enabling ND to win and was paid tens of millions of $s, was tanking on the field and in the W-L columns.)
From this ESPN
story:
"By the end, fans were grumbling to Maura at the drugstore. Kids were taunting Charlie Jr. at school. The neighbors stopped inviting them to the neighborhood Christmas party. Before his final season, in '09, a billboard appeared in South Bend, paid for mostly by Tom Reynolds, a former Notre Dame reserve linebacker: BEST WISHES TO CHARLIE WEIS IN THE 5TH YEAR OF HIS COLLEGE COACHING INTERNSHIP. After what turned out to be the final home game Weis coached, a 33-30 double-overtime loss to Connecticut, the family came home to 14 for-sale signs in their yard."
"Charlie Jr. was on track to enroll at Notre Dame. Weis says Jenkins himself had promised that he would be accepted, as long as his grades and test scores qualified, which they did. But after Weis was fired, Notre Dame sent a letter deferring Charlie Jr.'s acceptance. Not long after that, Weis says, he got a call from someone in Notre Dame's development office making him an offer: If he'd donate some of the money Notre Dame owed him back to the school -- "seven figures," Weis says -- Charlie Jr. could get in.
Weis said no. Charlie Jr. ended up enrolling at Florida when Weis was offensive coordinator there for a year. Then he followed his father to Kansas."
"Weis says he asked Swarbrick for a favor when he was fired. He didn't think Notre Dame's previous two coaches, Bob Davie and Tyrone Willingham, had been treated well after they left. He recalls the conversation: "
This is my alma mater. I put my blood, sweat and tears into fixing this place. I go, I really don't want to be treated like s---. He (Swarbrick) goes, You will always be family."
Weis pauses.
"The guy's never said another word to me."
________________________________________________________
AI Overview
Former Notre Dame head football coach Charlie Weis stated that
some Notre Dame fans treated his family poorly during his tenure. After his firing in 2009, news outlets highlighted the negative experiences faced by his wife, Maura, and their children, especially regarding their special-needs daughter, Hannah.
Details surrounding the fan treatment:
- Focus on his daughter. Negative comments and rumors were reportedly spread about Weis's daughter, Hannah, who has global developmental delays. For instance, a 2009 New York Times article mentioned fans attacking his family and his wife's efforts with their charity, Hannah and Friends.
- Targeting his son. Weis's son, Charlie Jr., was also affected. As a teenager, he was highly visible on the sidelines at Notre Dame practices and games, which was reportedly met with disapproval by many in the Irish fan base.
- Resentment from Weis. In a 2016 ESPN interview, Weis revealed that a representative from the university's development office had tried to pressure him into donating his own money back to the school to help his son's chances of admission. Weis refused, and his son ultimately attended another university. In the interview, Weis also shared that he and his wife would toast "to old Notre Dame" every time a buyout check arrived.
- Personal attacks. According to reports after his firing, Weis and his family were targets of personal insults, with some fans using his family to express their frustration with his coaching. In a 2015 interview with ND Insider, Weis said, "They can judge my coaching and recruiting however they want. That is their right as fans. But to judge you as a person without knowing who you are, I never thought that was right".
