It appears as if that speculation can stop — at least for now.

Multiple websites are reporting that “sources” have informed them that Charlie Weis will return in 2009 to coach the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. I’ve read this on ESPN.com, Irish Illustrated, and even Weis’ homepage: Arrogance.net. (Well, I didn’t actually check that last one.)

I did not want to post anything until I had confirmation from our secret source for insider Notre Dame football information here at Midwest Sports Fans, but I spoke with Charlie Grimace earlier today and he also confirmed the return of Charlie Weis as head coach. Thanks CG.

From Notre Dame’s perspective, it makes sense to decide the fate of Charlie Weis as quickly possible. The recruiting season is heating up, and Notre Dame already has commitments from several top-ranked recruits.

We know how obsessed with tradition Notre Dame is, and to continue the school’s recent tradition of bringing in top-10 recruiting classes and then coming nowhere close to actual top-10 during the season, the school needs to retain Charlie Weis to ensure the stability of its recruiting class for 2009.

With the not-officially-confirmed announcement yesterday that Weis will be back, the Irish should retain their bounty of highly ranked recruits and once again offer false hope to their fan base that Notre Dame is actually still an elite football program.

I realize that I am being harsh here, but two primary facts are clouding my opinion as I write:

1. I don’t like Notre Dame.
2. Karma is a bitch, and Charlie Weis’ arrogance when he got to Notre Dame wrote a pretty hefty check that his results have not come close to cashing.

For the record, Charlie Weis has a .571 winning percentage in his four years at Notre Dame. By comparison, Tyrone Willingham had a .583 winning percentage before being unceremoniously discharged from his duties as head after four seasons. Remember, that was the first time that any Notre Dame coach had been fired before completing their initial five-year contract.

Now, some people say that Notre Dame was wrong to fire Tyrone Willingham. I think it stunk how the situation was handled, but Willingham’s results at Washington seem to show that he might not have been the man to lead Notre Dame football back to national prominence.. Unfortunately for Notre Dame, they couldn’t get Urban Meyer after firing Willingham, and now they are stuck with another coach who does not seem to be the man to lead the Irish back to the promised land of college football.

So I am not jumping on the “they did Tyrone Willingham wrong” bandwagon — and I think it’s hard to do so when he has failed so miserably at Washington. However, what about Bob Davie?

Davie, who succeeded Lou Holtz in South Bend, also had a .583 winning percentage. Like Willingham, this is better than the winning percentage posted by Charlie Weis through four seasons. I realize that at Notre Dame, winning just under 60% of your games is not enough. Hey, I’m an Indiana basketball fan, so I know what it’s about to cling to your tradition from the 40s through the 80s even though your team now only pops up on the national radar every few seasons anymore.

So, again, I can’t really fault Notre Dame for firing Bob Davie. I’m not sure anyone really thought that Davie was the man to lead Notre Dame back to prominence. However, I wish that Notre Dame had either kept Davie has head coach or never let him ascend to that position in the first place. Because of the high profile he developed on the sidelines beneath Touchdown Jesus, Davie was able to land a gig as an announcer with ABC and ESPN. His failure as a Notre Dame coach never affected me, because I don’t actively root for or against Notre Dame — I don’t care. However, I love watching college football, but am too keen on the idea of listening to a Ben Stein-type monotone voice provide color commentary.

Sometimes during games in which Bob Davie is announcing, I have to check my pulse just to make sure I’m still alive and have not descended into a catatonic state. Something tells me the play-by-play guy who works with Davie has to do the same — both for himself and Davie.

But I digress.

The good news for Charlie Weis is that it appears he will get a fifth season to confirm that he is not a good college football coach. He sailed pretty smoothly his first couple seasons with arrogance and Ty Willingham’s recruits. Coaching with his own recruits and a little more humility, the last two seasons have not gone quite as planned.

I don’t know who Brian Combs is, but over at www.briancombs.net he put together a list of the Top 8 Charlie Weis quotes. Allow me to regale you with my favorite one:

“You are what you are folks, and right now you’re a 6-5 football team. And guess what? That’s just not good enough. It’s not good enough for you. And it’s certainly not going to be good enough for me. So, if you think they hired me here to go .500, you…you got the wrong guy.”

Damn straight Charlie. You got them to .571!

And I won’t even bring up the whole “schematic advantage” quote. It’s too cliched at this point.

As the son of a former college football coach, I never actively root for any coach to fail because I understand the pressure coaches are under, the energy and passion they put into their work, and the utter frustration of your livelihood depending on 18-22 year old college kids. I was a college kid not too long ago, and it gave me even more of an appreciation for immature college kids are, but yet how much is riding on them in the big business of college football.

With that said, Charlie Weis has made it very hard for anyone to have sympathy for him. He came into South Bend projecting himself as some sort of coaching knight on a white horse (pity the horse) who would, without question or difficulty, lead Notre Dame back to the top 10 and restore the proud tradition of Fighting Irish football.

Instead, he has put the program in far worse shape than they were four years ago when Tyrone Willingham left.

But it appears that Charlie Weis will return in 2009 and have one last shot at making Touchdown Jesus smile. If the Irish continue to fail to compete against top-level competition, and lose more games to teams like Syracuse, not even Jesus, the King of Forgiveness and the Golden Rule himself, may be able to muster up any forgiveness for Charlie “Schematic Advantage” Weis.

Update: Just caught on ESPN.com that Notre Dame is officially keeping Charlie Weis for 2009.

“Though this past season fell short of the expectations that all of us have for our football program, I am confident that Charlie has a strong foundation in place for future success and that the best course of action is to move forward under his leadership,” athletic director Jack Swarbrick said in a statement released by the university Wednesday.”

Obviously Jack Swarbrick and the other imbeciles who run the Notre Dame athletic department (superpassed only by the imbeciles who have been running the IU athletic department for the last decade) did want to lose their schematic advantage. That load groan you hear is the collective hopes of the entire Notre Dame fan base, who must be subjected to another year of top-level recruits and bottom-level performance.

And up in the Great Northwest, in Washington — where sports teams and franchises go to die (seriously – every team in that state blows), there is an intriguing matchup between two men who will always be linked: Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis (pictured left…thanks KVB) and Washington coach Tyrone Willingham.

As I’m sure you remember, Notre Dame fired Tyrone Willingham while Willingham still had years left on his contract. This was the first time that Notre Dame had gotten rid of a coach before his contract was up. They replaced him with Charlie Weis, who was coming off another Super Bowl win with the New England Patriots. Over his first couple of seasons in South Bend, Charlie Weis led the Fighting Irish to great success. He received a 10-year extension while Tyrone Willingham was forced to take over a Washington team that has gotten progressively worse since he has been there.

On Saturday, at 8:00 EDT on ESPN2, the 4-2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Charlie Weis will take on the 0-6 Washington Huskies and Tyrone Willingham at Husky Stadium. To add even a little more spice to the matchup, guess who will be calling the game from booth…

That’s right, the Ben Stein of football announcers: Bob Davie. You remember Bob Davie right? He took over for Lou Holtz and bridged the gap to the Tyrone Willingham era. The South Bend Tribune published an interesting article that looked at this intriguing reunion of three coaches who do not seem to be the best of friends. And just think, if ESPN had practiced a little disciplinary consistency and given Lou Holtz some well-deserved time off for using an ill-advised Hitler reference, he could have been there too and made it a quartet. Can you imagine? I think Beano Cook’s turkey neck would explode. (And maybe Ron Powlus could bring his three Heisman trophies for everyone too?)

Anyway, this Notre Dame-Washington game doesn’t really have many implications other than the fact that Notre Dame seems to be rebounding from their awful 2007 season, and a victory would push them one game closer to bowl eligibility. You’d have to think they’ll win, but something tells me that Tyrone Willingham’s team will be ready to at least make it a fight. Willingham does seem to inspire loyalty and passion among his players, even if he is not the greatest X’s and O’s coach in the world. (Charlie Weis, however, is the greatest X’s and O’s coach in the history of mankind and all civilization. Just ask him.)

I think Washington can keep this one close, but I do see Notre Dame pulling it out. Jimmy Clausen seems to be coming into his own as the leader of this Irish offense, and Notre Dame simply will be too talented for the undermanned Huskies.

The real excitement of this game, however, won’t really be the play on the field; but the subtext that surrounds it. There are few jobs in coaching as prestigious and pressure packed as being the head football coach at Notre Dame. Amazingly, the last three men to hold that title will all be involved with this game on Saturday. I am sure that nothing “controversial” will happen and it will just be a pretty normal football game, but it will still be a worth a glance during the commercials of Ohio State and Penn State.

(Photo Art by Midwest Sports Fans and Flash Sports Tonight; and yes, that is Charlie Weis’ head in the Touchdown Jesus mural.  If you are offended, eat a pickle spear and get a sense of humor.)

[tags]charlie weis, tyrone willingham, notre dame football, washington huskies, college football, ncaa[/tags]