Charlie Weis
Charles Joseph Weis Sr. is an American former football coach. He was the head coach for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from 2005 to 2009 and the Kansas Jayhawks from 2012 to 2014. He also served as an offensive coordinator in the National Football League for the New York Jets, New England Patriots, and Kansas City Chiefs. Weis most recently hosted "Airing It Out," along with Bob Papa, on Sirius XM NFL Radio.
Coaching career
After graduating from Notre Dame in 1978, Weis began his coaching career at Boonton High School in New Jersey. He spent the next five seasons at perennial powerhouse Morristown High School in New Jersey as a football assistant developing players such as Michael Landsberg. In 1985, he was hired by head coach Joe Morrison at the University of South Carolina, where he received his master's degree in education while working as a graduate assistant position coach and assistant recruiting coordinator. He served four seasons on the Gamecock staff until Morrison died in 1989. He then returned to New Jersey as the head coach at Franklin High School and directed Franklin Township to the New Jersey state championship while also assisting in the New York Giants' pro personnel department.Early years
Weis launched his professional coaching career in 1990 when he was named offensive assistant and assistant special teams coach under Giants head coach Bill Parcells. The Giants went on to win Super Bowl XXV at the end of that season, beating the Buffalo Bills by a score of 20–19.After Ray Handley took over as head coach in 1991, Weis stayed on as the running back coach for two seasons. In 1991, he helped guide 2nd year running back Rodney Hampton to 1,059 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground. The Giants finished 6th in rushing yards and 7th in rushing touchdowns in the NFL. The next year, Weis utilized both Hampton and Jarrod Bunch to form a potent running back combination. The Giants finished 6th in rushing yards and 2nd in rushing touchdowns in the NFL.
After that he began a four-year stint with the New England Patriots. For the first two years, Weis served as the tight end coach. In 1995, he would switch to running back coach and finished 1996 as wide receiver coach. In 1993, he helped Ben Coates break out with 659 yards and 8 touchdowns. Marv Cook proved a reliable blocker as well. In 1994, Coates had one of the best seasons by a tight end ever with 96 catches, 1174 yards, and 7 touchdowns. In 1995, Weis helped turn rookie Curtis Martin's year into a Pro Bowl season with 1,487 yards and 14 touchdowns on the ground. Dave Meggett and Sam Gash proved to be reliable receivers out of the backfield as well with a combined 78 catches. Terry Glenn broke out with 90 catches for 1,132 yards and 6 touchdowns. Weis also helped wide receiver Shawn Jefferson put up 771 yards and 4 touchdowns along with developing Troy Brown into a solid role player with 21 catches for 222 yards.
In 1997, Weis became the offensive coordinator of the Jets, in addition to duties as the team's primary receivers coach. In his second year as offensive coordinator, the Jets finished fourth in the National Football League in offense. Weis served as the team's offensive coordinator from 1997 to 1999.
New England Patriots
Weis returned to New England Patriots following Parcells' announced retirement after the 1999 season. He served as offensive coordinator under head coach Bill Belichick from 2000 through 2004, installing the Erhardt-Perkins offensive system, and assisting the Patriots in three Super Bowl victories.Notre Dame
On November 30, 2004, after finishing its football season with a 6–5 record, Notre Dame released head coach Tyrone Willingham. After first choice Urban Meyer accepted the head coaching position at the University of Florida, Notre Dame hired Weis on December 12, 2004, as the 28th football coach in the school's history with a six-year contract worth a reported US$2 million per year. He was the first Notre Dame graduate to hold the position since Hugh Devore served as interim coach in 1945 and 1963, and the first alumnus to serve as the Irish football coach on a full-fledged basis since Joe Kuharich, who coached in South Bend from 1959 to 1962.;2005
In his first season as head coach of the Fighting Irish, Weis was widely quoted as telling his team that they would have a "decided schematic advantage" against their opponents, apparently in the belief that his schemes and strategies developed in the NFL were superior to the schemes being run by other college coaches. Indeed, the team's play, particularly that of junior quarterback Brady Quinn and junior wide receiver Jeff Samardzija, improved greatly. Samardzija, previously a little-used wide receiver, became Quinn's favorite target and a frequent game-breaker, and set school records for most touchdown receptions in a season, most receiving yardage in a season, and most consecutive games with a touchdown reception, after having no touchdown receptions in his previous two years at Notre Dame. Notre Dame lost to Michigan State in a dramatic overtime loss. Weis was quoted as saying they would never again lose to Michigan State on his watch. He went 2–3 against the Spartans over his career.
With a record of 9–2, his team finished the regular season ranked sixth in the Bowl Championship Series standings, granting them a berth in the 2006 Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Arizona, on January 2, 2006, which they lost to the Ohio State Buckeyes by a score of 34–20. The Irish finished ninth in the final AP Poll and eleventh in the Coaches Poll. His team's success on the field helped make Weis winner of the 2005 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award, selected by the Football Writers Association of America.
On October 29, 2005, barely halfway through the first year of a six-year contract, and with a 5–2 record, Weis signed a contract extension with Notre Dame. The new 10-year deal, which began with the 2006 season, and which was to be worth a reported $30–40 million, would keep Weis at Notre Dame through 2015.
;2006
During the 2006 season, Weis led the Fighting Irish to a 10–2 regular season record, and a second straight BCS berth, this time losing 41–14 in the Sugar Bowl to the LSU Tigers. This loss was the second straight bowl loss under Weis and the ninth straight bowl loss for the Irish. The Irish finished No. 17 in the final AP poll, and No. 19 in the final Coaches' Poll. While this season could be considered a disappointment based on Notre Dame's No. 2 pre-season ranking, Weis led the Irish to its second straight season of nine wins or more, something not achieved since the 1992 and 1993 seasons under Lou Holtz. Also for the second straight year Weis put together a top 10 recruiting class, including national player of the year Jimmy Clausen.
;2007
In the 2007 season, Notre Dame went 3–9, with their only wins coming against UCLA, Duke and Stanford. Their loss to Navy on November 3 snapped an NCAA-record 43-game winning streak over the Midshipmen, dating back to the Heisman Trophy-winning tenure of Roger Staubach at the Naval Academy. The team ranked near the bottom of Division I FBS in both rushing yards per game and total yards per game. Along with being third from last in scoring per game, the team was shut out twice en route to its first nine-loss season ever. Weis attributed the team's downfall to his own mistakes, including his failure to use full-speed practices and to develop his players properly, his installation of two separate offensive systems, one for each potential starting quarterback, as well as to the graduation of star quarterback Brady Quinn. Despite the poor season, which was Notre Dame's worst ever, Weis nonetheless managed to recruit one of the top recruiting classes in the country.
;2008
In 2008, The Irish started 4–1, but completed the regular season with a 6–6 record, including a 24–23 loss to Syracuse, the first time that Notre Dame had fallen to an eight-loss team. The combined 15 losses from 2007 to 2008 marks the most losses for any two-year span. Despite speculation the university might fire Weis, Notre Dame retained Weis for the 2009 season. Weis's Notre Dame squad ended the season on a positive note, finally breaking the Irish's NCAA record nine-game bowl losing streak by beating Hawaii 49–21. In the process, Notre Dame scored its highest point total of the season, its highest point total ever in a bowl game, and broke 8 other bowl records. The bowl win also helped Notre Dame to a 7–6 final record, its 102nd winning season in 120 years of football and Weis' third in four years. Notre Dame ended the year with a top 15 recruiting class, including signing the top defensive player in the nation.
;2009
The Fighting Irish finished the 2009 regular season with a 6–6 record. A poor record for the season in addition to high preseason expectations for the team, including a preseason top 25 ranking, caused widespread speculation that Notre Dame would fire Weis. Weis was fired on November 30, 2009. He was succeeded by Brian Kelly.