- The Record Archives
- Volume CXVIII, No. XX - November 10, 2005 - sports
Whitlock unfair to Weis and contract
ESPN columnist's claim of racism at Notre Dame is wrong
Staff writer
The "Great Weis Hope" — that is what Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock is calling Notre Dame's head football coach Charlie Weis. His play on words reverts to the movie "The Great White Hype," attempting to label Weis' Oct. 30 contract extension as racist. Weis was awarded a five-year extension, extending his contract to 2015.
Whitlock claims that it is racist to award the contract. He claims that no other school, including Notre Dame, would do the same for a black coach.
Whitlock complains that former Notre Dame Coach Tyrone Willingham was let go prematurely (three years) and had a better start than Weis. Weis' Irish are 5-2 compared to Willingham's Irish squad that started 8-0.
It's absurd to call it racist. To use his term, Whitlock is only looking skin deep. If Whitlock were to take a deeper look, he would see the truth.
The Irish almost upset No. 1 USC. This was a Trojan team that had embarrassed Willingham's Irish year after year.
Take a deeper look and you will find an 8-0 Irish squad that ranked 91st in passing and did not even crack the top 100 in yards per game. For its 10 wins that season, only three were decided by more than 10 points. Coming from one of the biggest Notre Dame fans on campus, I believe that year was a fluke.
Whitlock makes the argument that Willingham came into a program that did not have the players needed to succeed in his type of offense, and that Weis is now from Willingham's recruiting. If this were true, then why in Willingham's last year with the exact same players as now, did the offense still continue to struggle?
Weis has turned the 54th ranked passing offense from last season into one of the most elite in the nation. Many ESPN columnists and commentators argue that quarterback Brady Quinn will be drafted ahead of Heisman winner Matt Leinart.
This is a result of Weis. Keep in mind this is the same Weis that turned Tom Brady from part-time quarterback at Michigan into a Super Bowl MVP.
Weis is being rewarded for what he has done and what is sure to follow. He is currently pulling in one of the top recruiting classes in the nation, a problem that Willingham always struggled with. Notre Dame and Charlie Weis simply want to guarantee their relationship to the past, present and future players, as well as to the fans and watchdog alumni.
"In a very short period of time, Charlie has clearly and impressively demonstrated the ability to take the Notre Dame program where we all want it to go," said Kevin White, Notre Dame athletic director in an AP story. "We're excited that Charlie wanted to extend his commitment to Notre Dame. All of us are enthusiastic about what the future holds for Notre Dame football with Charlie Weis as our head coach. We're confident that we've got the best coach in America ensconced at his alma mater for the remainder of his career."
Everyone involved is confident in the decision and optimistic for the years to come. To say that a black coach, under the same circumstances, would not get this opportunity would only be looking skin deep.