Coaching from above,,,,

SpeedsterX

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Again, another one of my reposts from the sister site, just wanted to share:

"Forgive me Father, for I have sinned"

I went to another (less informative site) and saw how they were talking about Charlie should "be the Head Coach and stay on the sideline", "It would be embarrassing for our Head Coach to be up in the booth" yada yada,,,,,

Well, here's my .05 cents.

Ok, first of all, I already know that he has called plays from the sideline with the Patriots. We are not the New England Patriots! What is lost on the people that point that fact out is that most of his playcalling with the Pats were from the birds nest.

Can we all agree that one of CW's strengths is playcalling? I think we can. Up in the booth, there are less distractions than on the sideline. ALL he has to think about is the next play and how it plays out in one on one matchups. There's no arguing with refs, no need to talk players up, no moving from end to end, no worries about weather, players hitting him, JUST the next play.

Let's be honest, Charlie is not the best motivator. That's just how it is. He doesn't relate to younger emotions that motivates a player to reach down in the midst of combat to perform higher than his natural talent. It's just how it is and it's not a knock on him or anything. Corwin and the younger coaches have that talent and should be taken advantage of to the fullest. CW is not Lou and shouldn't be expected to be. Truth be told, Lou wasn't much of a "defensive" guy. That's why he had Bob Davie. And do not tell me that Davie wasn't a great DC! Defenses win Championships and Bob was our DC and we had a great defense!

Charlie himself said that being up in the booth is a "great advantage"! Hey! Straight from his lips, not mine. "Night and Day" I believe was another quote. Someone said, try playing a chess match looking at board level, then try looking from above. Well, that would certainly be a huge difference. Charlie is a professional coach, so he would see the LB's moving in or out. He could see the gaps in lines. He can see the intricacies of how the defensive players leaning or looking (helmet movement). It truly does make a difference. My point here is that as, now, he's also the official OC. The fact that he, himself, says that being in the booth DOES give an advantage, then why the hell would he decide to be any other place? So, the world can see that he's the "Head Coach"? Who gives a rats behind where the Head Coach coaches? As long as we're winning! Also the fact that he would be closer to God doesn't hurt either. LOL!!

Lastly, and I believe is more an excuse than an actual reason, his health. We all know his knees are not good and it doesn't hurt to have at least one season off the legs.

Look, Charlie is and always has been an OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR at heart and a very successful one. He can feel comfortable in the fact that for 353 days out of the year, he is the Head Coach of The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, but for 4 hours x 12 Saturdays in the fall, he's the Offensive Coordinator of the most successful offense in College Football!

Championships take talent, skill, preparation and a lot of luck!

Any and every advantage should be exploited and Charlie Weis, himself, has said that being up in the booth IS an advantage. I just hope he takes his own words to heart. It just may cost him his job.

GO IRISH!
 
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gairish

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charlie in booth

charlie in booth

I agree with all this 101%. its the way to go this year and who cares what other people think. He still will be the head man and from up there he can do what he does best. If he does this and it works like I think it will he and the program will be off and running. He can do the relating thing with the guys during the week. The other coaches on game day bring nice emotion and pop to the guys as they come off the field. Charlie should not be looked at negatively in any way if he does this, I'm sure he will do the right thing for the program but I for one would like to see it
 

TDHeysus

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As stated before (by me - I know, quoting yourself is not good), operating from the booth is Charlie's comfort zone. Eventhough he called a great game against HAW; I think the play-calling should be done by someone else. But, if operating from booth is what it takes to bring this program to the next level, then I'm all for it. Also said before, charlie is putting his ND future/career in the hands of Corwin Brown, Charlie clearly has the utmost confidence in Corwin Brown.

For Charlie, the whole 'coach from the booth or not' issue, is obviously very polarizing. If he coaches from the booth, and is successfull he looks like a genius. If he coaches from the booth and it fails, all of sudden 'coaching from the booth' looks like the worst idea since George O'Leary /duck
 
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gairish

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coaching from the booth

coaching from the booth

He doesnt give a ----- about what people think and as a ND man I believe he wants whats best for his school and team. Where I think it becomes a problem is he misses the game (action down on the field). I would think he may feel like not part of things when in actuality he (we) should recognize he is the architect of what is going to be a very good college football team. People should look at this in a positve manner. I for one want him up there. No more screwing with him as he tries to get to the locker room at half, no more bad shots of him by NBC just to make him look bad, no more comments by the NBC guys or any media on his physical profile. Just get your big butt up in the booth and let it roll with all the studs your starting to put on the field. Plus the other coaches are more emotional and rah rah type and they can pound chests with the players, thats not Charlie's deal so why ask him to do it. Just win 10 games and put us in line for a run at all the marbles in a couple of years. Do it Charlie.
 

NDinL.A.

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Let me be the lone dissenter here. If you've played football, or coached football, the pulse of the team is right there on the field, not the booth. In no way shape or form do I want my head coach up in the booth. If you want him to be an offensive coordinator and not a HC, then hell, why not just fire him now? Why wait? A head coach is a leader, a general, and the general needs to be with his troops, not sitting in a booth.

CW was basically the offensive coordinator his 1st 2 years, and led an offense that was prolific. There was no call for him to be in the booth back then, regardless of whether he was calling plays or not. It was his offense; he even admits that's all he did was focus on the offense. He was up in the booth for one game against an overmatched team. I'm not going to reinvent the wheel over one fantastic game.

LOTS of head coaches call the plays on the field, and their offenses are prolific. Just a couple months ago people here were begging us to hire Mike Leach. Jon Gruden, another guy plenty of ND fans wanted 4 years ago AND this year, almost took the sorry-ass Raiders to a SB, and then won a Super Bowl with TB calling his team's plays. Andy Reid has had huge success, SB or not. Mike Shanahan won 2 SB's. I could go on and on.

See, if CW is not a leader, then I don't want him as our friggin' coach! Fire his ass now! Head coaches HAVE to be leaders. But where we disagree is that I do believe that he is a leader, and he'll continue to get better in that area. Don't tell me guys won't follow him - recruits LOVE him. Former players like Shark and Brady Quinn love him and believe in him still. He's had a couple rough seasons in which a lot has been learned. He's got better people in place, and now with the athletes on this team we're ready to rock and roll.

Not trying to be an ass here, it's just a simple difference of opinion. I see your guys' points, but I just disagree. As a former player, when I look at the sideline for direction, for leadership, I'm looking for my general, not an associate HC. I'm looking for my coach, a guy I believe in. I want ND players to be looking at their true leader -- the head coach...
 
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chyrspchuck

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ND in LA i agree with you so often, I think it must be this California air or something.

I agree, one game against an over matched team does not make one booth sitter for life....

Also, Charlie has got to learn how to motivate if we are going to take it next level, especially if we lose Corwin to head coaching duties somewhere else after next year.
 
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gairish

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coaching from above

coaching from above

Dont get me wrong I want Charlie to succeed, not only for ND but for Charlie. This guy has given us his all, make no mistake about that. During the game college guys need a little juice and he's not going to do that. The guys DO love him and the pro prospects respect him even more but unless he turns the coaches loose to jack these guys up during the game or goes upstairs and leaves it to them on the field the emotion wont be there. Of course you dont win on silly displays of false bravado during a major college football game but a slap, fist pump, or big time display of -thats what we want big man -goes a long way during a game. This thing has become personal for me as I want this man to succeed just because he's busted his %$# to get ND back. I understand how important it is to have your leader on the sidelines but this may be a different set of circumstances. This team is getting close in 1/2 years to being really stout and if this is what it takes for success I'm all for it. MY gut tells me he wont do it for all the reasons that have been mentioned against it. I played a sport on the professional level and during the game a coach doesnt teach- he motivates and creates leadership by example, if Charlie feels he should turn that over to other people then I'm all for it. If Charlie fells he can do it himself and still run the offense then I'm all for that. One thing is for sure if they dont get success pretty soon we're going to lose a great recruiter, a good ND man, and a guy the players seem to really like.
 
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gairish

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coaching from above

coaching from above

Just look at the competitions that are created with these recruiting classes he has assembled. Scout has an article on who may and may not play, its an awesome thing to see. We are getting to the point very soon where practices should be the price of an admission ticket, I'd love to see some of these battles. That has been the problem for years- no practice competition, as I said before when I've been to a game the last few years the depth or lack of it was shocking. Now the guys that get on the field on Sat will be the studs who survived the competition, its how it should be. I think we are headed for some good times boys- we need to let Brown and Tenuta do their things and coordinated a running game around an o line that BRINGS IT and we will be good to go. The skilled guys and running backs could come at you in waves. Nevada (like SDSU last year) is going to tell you all you need to know about the year, they need to win that game going away. If it goes like last year then the talent has not been coached up. I think the coaching changes will allow these good players to fullfill their destiny. Charlie's butt is on the line and I hope they have a tough spring and fall session to bring the best in Sept. I can hear the train coming!!!!!
 
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