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Notre Dame Football: Coaches who could have been hired before Charlie Weis

By Daniel Morrison

SOUTH BEND, IN - NOVEMBER 21: Head coach Charlie Weis of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish waits to enter the field for a game against the Univeristy of Connecticut Huskies at Notre Dame Stadium on November 21, 2009 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
SOUTH BEND, IN - NOVEMBER 21: Head coach Charlie Weis of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish waits to enter the field for a game against the Univeristy of Connecticut Huskies at Notre Dame Stadium on November 21, 2009 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /
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Notre Dame football hired Charlie Weis before the 2005 season, but was Coach Weis the best hire at the time?

As a Patriots and Notre Dame fan, I was excited by the Charlie Weis hire when it happened. By the end of Weis’ time, he had exhausted me as Notre Dame’s coach. Meanwhile, Tom Brady and the Patriots proved that he was replaceable as a coordinator.

Urban Meyer

TAMPA, FL – JANUARY 1: Coach Urban Meyer of the Florida Gators directs play against the Penn State Nittany Lions January 1, 2010 in the 25th Outback Bowl at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)
TAMPA, FL – JANUARY 1: Coach Urban Meyer of the Florida Gators directs play against the Penn State Nittany Lions January 1, 2010 in the 25th Outback Bowl at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images) /

The 2005 season was also the season that Urban Meyer took over at Florida. In fact, he chose to go to Florida over Notre Dame. This, according to Meyer, is because he wouldn’t be given time to build the program at Notre Dame like he did at Florida. It’s strange to think about that now, seeing as he won a National Championship in his second season at Florida, which is about half the time Charlie Weis got.

Maybe Meyer just knew from his time as Notre Dame’s wide receivers coach that his approach to recruiting would be checked at Notre Dame.

At any rate, had Meyer come to Notre Dame he would likely have had done significantly better than Weis at Notre Dame. He would likely have sacrificed some of Notre Dame’s recruiting morals to do so, but the Irish would have hung the banners anyway.

Les Miles

HOUSTON, TX – DECEMBER 29: Head coach Les Miles of the LSU Tigers waits near the bench area before the start of their game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders during the AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium on December 29, 2015 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TX – DECEMBER 29: Head coach Les Miles of the LSU Tigers waits near the bench area before the start of their game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders during the AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium on December 29, 2015 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images) /

Nick Saban bolted from LSU for the NFL following the 2004 season, which led to the LSU Tigers hiring Les Miles away from Oklahoma State. Now, had Notre Dame gone after Miles, it’s hard to say who he would have chosen. After all, Miles was not a southern guy. He was a Michigan offensive lineman.

Now, that might be enough to disqualify him on its own, but what would a Miles coached Notre Dame team look like?

It would be a run first team, that likely would have underutilized Notre Dame’s talented skill players like Jeff Samardzija. After all, his LSU teams were known for misusing the the college careers of players such as Odell Beckham, Jr.

Who would be power his running game? Darius Walker? Things likely wouldn’t have gotten off the ground for Miles at Notre Dame. Even if they did, Miles didn’t adapt with the game, and would likely see his time in South Bend sputter just like it did at LSU.

Kyle Whittingham

SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 06: Head coach Kyle Whittingham of the Utah Utes looks on while his team warms up prior to the start of the Pac-12 Championship game against the Oregon Ducks at Levi’s Stadium on December 06, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 06: Head coach Kyle Whittingham of the Utah Utes looks on while his team warms up prior to the start of the Pac-12 Championship game against the Oregon Ducks at Levi’s Stadium on December 06, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /

Someone needed to replace Urban Meyer at Utah, and that turned out to be his defensive coordinator, Kyle Whittingham, who has been with Utah since 1994 and remains there to this day. He obviously loves it there. Maybe the chance to win there would have kept him around. However, Utah was in the Mountain West at the time, and Notre Dame is Notre Dame.

He likely would have moved on.

The type of success Whittingham would have with Notre Dame would likely look similar to Brian Kelly’s. Whittinham’s Utah teams are always competitive, and often struggle to get over the hump. Just look at 2019’s disastrous loss to Oregon in the PAC-12 Championship Game, which kept them out of the College Football Playoff.

They’re also strong defensively, and he’s proven to be excellent at attracting talent to Utah from around the country, something any coach needs to be able to do to succeed at Notre Dame.

Related Story. Five highly ranked players who didn't pan out at Notre Dame. light

In short, Kyle Whittingham would succeed, but maybe not well enough for some fans.

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