By Staff
After several years of searching for just the right guy, it appears that the University of Notre Dame was “Weis-ed up.”
The Fighting Irish faithful seemed relieved that the school has decided to give Charlie Weis a 10-year extension to his contract.
Rumors began circulating about a week ago that the National Football League was sniffing around the Notre Dame campus inquiring about the buy-out clause in Weis' contract.
Notre Dame worked quickly, which it should have, to squelch those rumors and lock up their popular coach to a long-term deal.
Some have questioned why the university would do such a thing after just seven games.
After all, Tyrone Willingham was 8-0 at one stretch in his career at Notre Dame and 10-3 after one season.
Notre Dame worked quickly and publicly to lock up Weis to a long-term contract so that the rumors would not hurt recruiting.
Even the slightest hint that he could be leaving after this year, or even a year or two down the road, would probably have potential Fighting Irish players looking elsewhere.
Weis has some of the top players in the country committing to the university and he cannot afford a few NFL teams inquiring about his contract to sidetrack those recruits.
Weis has already proven he can win at the college level and his offense is already one of the best in the entire country.
But Weis is still playing with Willingham's players.
He needs to bring in the type of players he wants to have running his offense and defense.
That means recruiting over the next two or three years will be critical for the Fighting Irish's success.
We applaud Notre Dame's quick action in this matter.
Notre Dame is back on the college football map after floundering through the likes of Bob Davie and Willingham.
We would like them to stay there.
This move should insure that the Fighting Irish will remain among college football's elite programs - just as it should be.