Charles Weis (born March 30, 1956 in
Trenton, New JerseyTrenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of 2007, the United States Census Bureau estimated that the City of Trenton had a population of 82,804....
) is the
head coachA head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing sports men and women. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...
of the
University of Notre DameThe University of Notre Dame du Lac is a private Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, Indiana, USA....
football teamNotre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the football team of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, USA. The team competes as an Independent at the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision level. The current head coach is Charlie Weis....
.
Coaching career
After graduating from Notre Dame (a 1978 alum), Weis began his coaching career in 1979 at
Boonton High SchoolBoonton High School is a comprehensive four-year public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Boonton, in Morris County, New Jersey, United States, as part of the Boonton Public Schools....
in New Jersey, then spent the next five seasons at
Morristown (N.J.) High SchoolMorristown High School is a four-year public high school serving students in grades 9 - 12 from three communities in Morris County, New Jersey, United States, as part of the Morris School District...
as a football assistant. In 1985, he was hired by head coach
Joe MorrisonJoseph R. Morrison was an American football player in the National Football League for the New York Giants and a coach best known as the head coach at the University of South Carolina.-Playing career:...
at the
University of South CarolinaThe University of South Carolina is a public, co-educational, research university located in Columbia, South Carolina, United States...
, where he served four seasons on the
GamecockThe University of South Carolina's 19 varsity sports teams are known as the Gamecocks. The unique moniker is held in honor of Thomas Sumter, a South Carolina war hero who was given the name "The Carolina Gamecock" during the American Revolution for his fierce fighting tactics, regardless of his...
staff before returning to New Jersey as the head coach at
Franklin High SchoolFranklin High School is a comprehensive four-year public high school located at 500 Elizabeth Avenue, in the Somerset section of Franklin Township, New Jersey, United States...
in 1989. That year, he directed Franklin Township to the New Jersey state championship while also assisting in the
New York GiantsThe New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The team plays its home games at Giants Stadium, which also serves as its headquarters, and trains at an adjacent practice facility within the Meadowlands Sports Complex...
' pro personnel department.
Assistant to Bill Parcells
In 1990, he launched his professional coaching career with the Giants when he was named offensive assistant and assistant special teams coach under Giants head coach
Bill ParcellsBill Parcells is the current Executive Vice President of Football Operations for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League. He is also a former American football head coach, most recently with the Dallas Cowboys from 2003 to 2007...
. The Giants went on to win the
Super BowlThe Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League, the premier association of professional American football. In most years, the Super Bowl is the most-watched American television broadcast. Many popular singers and musicians have performed during the event’s pre-game and...
that season, beating the
Buffalo BillsThe Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the metropolitan area of Buffalo, New York. They play their home games in the suburb of Orchard Park, and beginning in 2008, one home game is played in Toronto. They are members of the Eastern Division of the American Football...
by a score of
20-19Super Bowl XXV was an American football game played on January 27, 1991 at Tampa Stadium in Tampa, Florida to decide the National Football League champion following the 1990 regular season...
. After
Ray HandleyRay Handley is a former American football player and coach who is best remembered for his stormy two seasons as head coach of the National Football League's New York Giants in the early 1990s.-Collegiate career:...
took over as head coach in 1991, Weis stayed on as the
running backA running back is the position of a player on an American or Canadian football team who usually lines up in the offensive backfield...
s coach for two seasons.
Weis then began a four-year stint with the
New England PatriotsThe New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the...
. For the first two years, Weis served as
tight endThe tight end is a position in American football on the offensive team. The tight end is sometimes the last man on the offensive line, but has a slightly different build and, in some cases, a different role than other linemen...
s coach (1993–94).
In New York, Weis served his first year as the
wide receiverA wide receiver is an offensive position in American and Canadian football, and is the key player in most of the passing plays. Only players in the backfield or the ends on the line are eligible to catch a forward pass. The two players who begin play at the ends of the offensive line are eligible...
s coach ('97). In 1997, Weis became the
offensive coordinatorAn offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football team who is in charge of the offense. Generally, along with his defensive counterpart, he represents the second level of command structure after the head coach...
of the Jets, in addition to being the primary receivers coach. In his second year as Offensive coordinator, the New York Jets finished fourth in the
National Football LeagueThe National Football League is the largest professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing its name to the National Football League in 1922. The league currently consists of...
in offense. Weis served as the team's offensive coordinator from 1997 to 1999.
Patriots offensive coordinator
Weis returned to New England Patriots following Parcells' announced retirement after the 1999 season. He served as offensive coordinator under head coach
Bill BelichickWilliam Stephen Belichick is the American football head coach for the New England Patriots of the National Football League. After spending his first 15 seasons in the league as an assistant coach, Belichick got his first head coaching job with the Cleveland Browns in 1991...
from 2000 through 2004, installing the Erhardt - Perkins offensive system, and assisting the Patriots in three Super Bowl victories (
XXXVISuper Bowl XXXVI was an American football game played on February 3, 2002 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana to decide the National Football League champion following the 2001 regular season. The American Football Conference champion New England Patriots win their first Super...
,
XXXVIIISuper Bowl XXXVIII was an American football game played on February 1, 2004 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas to decide the National Football League champion following the 2003 regular season....
,
XXXIXSuper Bowl XXXIX was an American football game played on 6 February 2005, at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, to decide the National Football League champion following the 2004 regular season...
).
Notre Dame head coach
After a 6–5 season, on November 30 2004, Notre Dame released its head football coach,
Tyrone WillinghamLionel Tyrone Willingham, or Ty Willingham is the former head football coach at the University of Washington, Notre Dame, and Stanford.-Early career:...
. After Notre Dame's first choice, Urban Meyer, decided to accept a job at Florida,the University ultimately decided to hire Weis, and on December 12 2004, Weis was named the 28
th head football coach in Notre Dame history, agreeing to a six-year contract worth a reported
$The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States. The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol. It is divided into 100 cents .The U.S...
2 million per year. Weis is the first Notre Dame graduate to hold the football head coaching position at his
alma materAlma mater is Latin for "nourishing mother". It was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, and in Medieval Christianity for the Virgin Mary. In modern times it is ordinarily used to refer to the university or college a person attended...
since
Hugh DevoreHugh Devore was a football player and coach whose close connection to the University of Notre Dame saw him serve in both capacities, while also seeing time as head coach at two other colleges as well as the National Football League's Philadelphia Eagles.- Early career :Devore was born and raised...
(a 1934 graduate) served as interim coach in 1945 and 1963 and the first to serve as the Irish football coach on a full-fledged basis since
Joe KuharichJoseph Lawrence Kuharich was a collegiate and professional American football coach.-Early life:Kuharich was born April 14, 1917 in South Bend, Indiana. He played college football at the University of Notre Dame under coach Elmer Layden, who rated Kuharich as one of the best and smartest players...
(a 1938 Notre Dame graduate who coached at Notre Dame from 1959 through 1962). He is atypical among NCAA Division I head football coaches, as he did not play football at the college level.
2005
In his
first seasonThe 2005 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team was a college football team who represented the University of Notre Dame in the 2005 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Charlie Weis in his first year as head coach, and played their home games at Notre Dame Stadium...
as the 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 QuinnBrayden Tyler "Brady" Quinn is an American football quarterback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League...
and junior wide receiver
Jeff SamardzijaJeffrey Alan Samardzija is an American baseball pitcher with the Chicago Cubs organization. He is a former football wide receiver at the University of Notre Dame.-Early years:...
, 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 (15), most receiving yardage in a season (1249), and most consecutive games with a touchdown reception (8), after having no touchdown receptions in his previous two years at Notre Dame. Notre Dame lost to Michigan State in a dramatic 3 overtime loss. He was quoted in saying that they will never lose to Michigan State on his watch. Weis is 2-3 against the Spartans.
With a record of 9-2, his team finished the regular season ranked sixth in the
Bowl Championship SeriesThe Bowl Championship Series is a selection system designed to give the top two teams in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision an opportunity to compete in a "national championship game"...
(BCS) standings, granting them a berth in the
2006 Fiesta BowlThe 2006 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, played on January 2, 2006, was the 35th edition of the Fiesta Bowl, featuring Notre Dame and Ohio State. Ohio State won the game 34–20....
in
Tempe, ArizonaTempe is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, with a 2007 population of 174,091. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in the East Valley section of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area; it is bordered by Phoenix and Guadalupe on the west, Scottsdale on the north,...
, on January 2 2006 which they lost to the
Ohio State BuckeyesThe 2005 Ohio State Buckeyes football team represented The Ohio State University in the college football season of 2005-2006. The team's head football coach was Jim Tressel. The Buckeyes played their home games in Ohio Stadium. The team finished the season with a win-loss record of 10 and 2, and...
by a score of 34-20. The Irish finished ninth in the final
AP PollThe Associated Press Poll typically refers to a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I college football and Division I college basketball teams, though other AP polls exist as well. The rankings are compiled by polling sportswriters across the nation...
and eleventh in the
Coaches PollThe USA Today Coaches' Poll is the current name for a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football and Division I college basketball teams....
. His team's success on the field helped make Weis winner of the 2005
Eddie Robinson Coach of the YearThe Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year award is given annually to a college football coach by the Football Writers Association of America. The award honors Eddie Robinson, former coach at Grambling State who holds the record for most Division I wins with 408....
Award, selected by the
Football Writers Association of AmericaThe Football Writers Association of America is one of the organizations whose College Football All-America Team is recognized by the NCAA...
.
On October 29 2005, barely halfway through the first year of a six-year contract, and with only 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. The extension was particularly controversial because Weis' predecessor, Tyrone Willingham, started 8–0 and finished with a similar 10–3 record his first year, but was never offered an extension by Notre Dame.
2006
During the
2006 seasonThe 2006 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team was a college football team which represented the University of Notre Dame during the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached by Charlie Weis in his second year as head coach and played their home football games at Notre Dame...
, 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 BowlThe 2007 Allstate Sugar Bowl Game was a college football bowl game, which formed part of the 2006–2007 Bowl Championship Series of the 2006 NCAA Division I-BS football season. Played on January 3, 2007, in the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, it was the 73rd Sugar Bowl...
to the
LSU TigersThe 2006 LSU Tigers football team represented Louisiana State University in the college football season of 2006-2007. The team's coach is former Oklahoma State coach Les Miles. It plays its home games at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana...
. This loss was the second straight bowl loss under Weis and the ninth straight bowl loss for the Irish. The Irish finished #17 in the final AP poll, #19 in the final Coaches Poll. While this season could be considered a disappointment based on Notre Dame's #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 Coach
Lou HoltzLouis Leo "Lou" Holtz is a former football head coach. Currently an author, television commentator, and motivational speaker, Holtz is the only coach in NCAA history to lead six different programs to bowl games and the only coach to guide four different programs to the final top 20 rankings...
. Also for the 2nd straight year in a row Weis put together a top 10 recruiting class, including national player of the year
Jimmy ClausenJames Richard "Jimmy" Clausen is an American collegiate football player. He is a quarterback at the University of Notre Dame.-High school career:...
.
2007
In the
2007The 2007 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the college football team that represents the University of Notre Dame in the 2007 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team is coached by Charlie Weis in his third year as head coach, and plays its home games at Notre Dame Stadium in Notre...
season, Notre Dame went 3–9, with their only wins coming against
UCLAThe 2007 UCLA Bruins football team represents UCLA in the college football 2007-2008 season. They played their home games at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California and were coached by Karl Dorrell for the regular season. It was Dorrell's fifth, and final season as the UCLA head coach. UCLA's season...
,
DukeThe Duke Blue Devils football program is a college football team that represents Duke University . The team is currently a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference , which is a Division I Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association...
and
StanfordThe Stanford Cardinal football program competes in NCAA Division I-A and is a member of the Pac-10 Conference. Stanford began playing football in 1892, and its annual Big Game against Cal, also begun 1892, is one of the oldest rivalry games in college football.
-Head coaches:-Bowl game...
. 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 StaubachRoger Thomas Staubach, also known as Roger the Dodger, The Jolly Roger, Captain Comeback, and Captain America, is a businessman, Heisman Trophy winner and Hall of Fame quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys from 1969 until 1979...
at the Naval Academy. The team ranked near the bottom of Division 1-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, as well as to the graduation of star quarterback
Brady QuinnBrayden Tyler "Brady" Quinn is an American football quarterback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League...
. Despite the poor season, which was Notre Dame's worst ever (by losses), 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 2007-08 marks the most losses for any two-year span. Despite speculation the university might fire Weis, it was announced shortly after the conclusion of the regular season that he would remain head coach in 2009. 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
Hawai'iThe 2008 Hawaii Warriors football team will represent the University of Hawaii at Mānoa in the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS college football season....
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.
The Fighting Irish stand at 4-2 for the 2009 season.
Personal
Weis and wife Maura have two children, Charles Joseph and Hannah Margaret. In 2003, Weis and his wife Maura established the Hannah & Friends Foundation, dedicated to children affected by developmental disorders and named after his daughter, who is
autisticAutism is a disorder of neural development that is characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism involves many parts of the brain; how this occurs is not well understood...
. In the spring of 2004, the first annual Hannah & Friends Celebrity Golf Classic was held to benefit the foundation.
Weis told
YES NetworkThe Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network is a New York City regional cable TV channel dedicated to broadcasting baseball games of the New York Yankees, and basketball games of the New Jersey Nets. YES made its debut on March 19, 2002...
commentators at the
New York YankeesThe New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the borough of the Bronx, in New York City, New York and are a member of Major League Baseball's American League East Division...
and
Detroit TigersThe Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team based in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in . The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant 10 times...
MLB game on Friday, July 17, 2009, that his favorite baseball team is the Yankees. He was there to celebrate the announcement of the Notre Dame and Army football game to be played at the new
Yankee StadiumYankee Stadium was a stadium at East 161st Street and River Avenue in the Bronx in New York City. It was the home baseball park of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees from 1923 to 1973 and after extensive renovations, from 1976 to 2008. The stadium had a capacity of 57,545 and hosted 6,581...
in November 2010.
Weis was born in
Trenton, New JerseyTrenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of 2007, the United States Census Bureau estimated that the City of Trenton had a population of 82,804....
, and graduated from
Middlesex High SchoolMiddlesex High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in the center of Middlesex, Middlesex County, New Jersey. It is part of the Middlesex Board of Education...
in Middlesex, NJ. He has one older sister and three younger brothers, one of whom attended West Point.
Health issues
In 2002, Weis underwent gastric bypass surgery, after which he lost from his top weight of . When asked why he underwent surgery, Weis stated he was afraid he would "drop dead" from
obesityObesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...
.
Playing against Michigan on September 13, 2008, one of Notre Dame's players, John Ryan, ran into Charlie Weis by accident. Weis tore his ACL and MCL in the process.
Head coaching record
External links