Read the arguments from Sports Geek and Loyal Homer about which head coach in college football is the best selection to replace current Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis.
How do you replace Charlie Weis at Notre Dame? Easily!
Notre Dame is a school steeped in tradition. Driven by values exceeding the “just win, baby” mentality of many organizations in sports, Notre Dame football prides itself on a Catholic foundation, a commitment to excellence both on AND off the field, strong character, and a deep respect for the program’s history and legacy developed over 120 years by legends such as Knute Rockne, Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian, and Lou Holtz. Should Notre Dame decide to part ways with Weis at the close of the 2009 season (which is absolutely what athletic director Jack Swarbrick SHOULD do), the formula for replacing him is not a complex one – fall back upon those values so prized by the university, and look for the candidate who best exemplifies them.
Luckily for Swarbrick, that very candidate exists… and he lives only 100 miles away! Pat Fitzgerald, current head coach of the Northwestern Wildcats, is the perfect candidate to be the next head coach of the Fighting Irish.
Like Notre Dame, Northwestern is a university that holds its student-athletes to a higher academic standard than most schools within the Division I FBS ranks, as demonstrated by the fact that Northwestern and Notre Dame are two of only SIX schools within the Division I FBS to post a graduation rate of more than 90 percent for its football players. This standard, which is generally viewed as a hindrance to the football program because it limits the pool of eligible recruits, has traditionally prevented Northwestern from seeing any sustainable success on the college football field. Being a part of the Big Ten Conference and facing annual opponents such as Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan (okay, maybe not recently, but you get the idea) becomes an exponentially more difficult challenge when facing stricter recruiting guidelines than the competition.
Notre Dame, through the reputation and history of its football program, has been able to overcome some of the barriers that strict recruiting guidelines may create (it does not hurt to have an exclusive contract with NBC, either). Notre Dame still manages to draw some of the top talent in the nation, but Weis – to this point – has failed to successfully develop his players to the standard that many have come to expect from the Fighting Irish over the decades.
In contrast, Pat Fitzgerald has lacked the recruiting power of Notre Dame, but has still built a successful on-field product. Although Northwestern has not developed into a national contender while under his leadership, Fitzgerald has brought a level of consistent and sustained success to the Northwestern program that has never before been seen in Evanston, Illinois. Prior to Fitzgerald’s appointment as head coach of the Wildcats, Northwestern had only been invited to six bowl games in the entire history of the university. Since becoming the youngest head coach in Division I FBS history following the tragic death of the Wildcats previous head coach Randy Walker in 2006, Fitzgerald has already earned an invitation to one bowl game (the 2008 Alamo Bowl) and is poised for a second invitation in his short four-year tenure, finishing 2009 with a bowl-eligible record of 8-4, including two wins over top-25 opponents (Iowa and Wisconsin).
Fitzgerald, a college football Hall-of-Famer who was a standout player for Northwestern himself in the mid-1990s, has a strong, personal understanding of the traits that can make a player successful both in the classroom and on the field. He has demonstrated an ability to recruit talent and coach it successfully under the increasingly stringent guidelines of his university. He knows what it takes to turn unique talent into wins on the football field (something Charlie Weis has not been able to do). Just imagine what a charismatic, intelligent, and proven leader like Fitzgerald can do with the marketing and recruiting power of Notre Dame at his disposal!
Fitzgerald has managed to produce greater results (relatively speaking) than Charlie Weis, a fact which Fitzgerald himself will readily point out! He possesses all of the qualities prized by Notre Dame, and has proven that he can successfully build a program without sacrificing the standards of the organization he represents. If Notre Dame finds themselves in the hunt for a new head coach at the end of the 2009 season, it should look no further than Pat Fitzgerald. Plus, he’s Irish-Catholic… it’s the perfect match!
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Why should Fitz leave his alma mater for a scrub Notre Dame position? No one cares about ND anymore – and they havent really won since 1988…Fitz is at NU for life!
Thanks for the comment, Vin. The partisan fan perspective is always appreciated!
I agree that Fitzgerald is doing an outstanding job at Northwestern. In fact, the argument is really a compliment to the coach that he should even be considered. Do you think, if offered a prestigious position like Notre Dame, Fitzgerald would just turn it down without being tempted at all? If so, why?
Notre Dame hasn’t won since 1988?!
They went 10-3 in 2006, 9-3 in 2005, 10-3 in 2002, and 9-3 in 2000. That’s just in the last ten years, and doesn’t even include Holtz’s teams of the early ’90s. From 1989 (when you argue that the Irish started losing) until Lou Holtz left Notre Dame in 1996, Notre Dame racked up 75 wins to only 20 losses (with their WORST seasons being the 6-5-1 season of 1994, and the 8-3 season of 1996. Other than that, the Irish finished EVERY season during that time with AT LEAST 9 wins, and won 5 out of 7 bowl games.
During that same 21-year period, Northwestern has put up 13 different LOSING seasons, with two more ending at .500. Of their six winning seasons from the last two decades, their BEST record came in 1995, when they went 10-2. Outside of 1995, they have had only two other 9-win seasons.
Fitzgerald has done a tremendous job with Northwestern, but there is no comparison between the NU program and the ND program. Charlie Weis and Tyrone Willingham may not have done Notre Dame many favors in the past few seasons, but they also have not destroyed the program. Head coach at Notre Dame is hardly a scrub position!
Moving to South Bend would be a HUGE step up for Fitzgerald, both in prestige and pay.
What else can Fitzgerald realistically accomplish at NU? Keyword…realistically!