While Notre Dame was busy jumping out to a 27-3 first half lead over Miami in the Sun Bowl, the newswires were busy with reports of Charlie Weis headed back to college football as an offensive coordinator for new Florida head coach Will Muschamp.
First reported by Pat Dooley of the Gainesville Sun on Thursday, the story picked up steam on Friday with ESPN’s Chris Mortenson reporting that it seemed likely that Weis would be headed back to the college game after a successful rebound with the Kansas City Chiefs this year.
Mortenson reported Friday afternoon:
Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Charlie Weis is being targeted by the Florida Gators to become the offensive coordinator under new coach Will Muschamp, two sources confirmed to ESPN.
Weis is expected to take the job, but no firm agreement is in place.
Muschamp contacted the Chiefs this week for permission to talk to Weis, with the full intention of hiring the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator and former Notre Dame coach, sources said.
Wow.
In his first year back in the NFL, Weis has resurrected his career by guiding the high powered Kansas City offense. Cheifs quarterback Matt Cassell is headed to the Pro Bowl this year thanks to his 3,001 yards passing with 27 touchdowns to just 5 interceptions a year after throwing just 16 touchdowns compared to 16 interceptions. . More surprisingly, however, the Chiefs lead the NFL in rushing by a wide margin averaging 15 yards more per game than any other team in the NFL.
Weis, of course, is no stranger to the college game after his unsuccessful five year stint as the head coach for Notre Dame from 2005-2009. If Mortenson’s report comes to fruition, Notre Dame fans will become familiar with Weis once again as Notre Dame and Florida recruit against each other often each year.
Having to face Weis on the recruiting trail would be particularly interesting since Weis knows all of the ins and outs of the Notre Dame program. Would Weis negatively recruit against Notre Dame with his knowledge of the program? That remains to be seen, but Weis presence on the Florida staff would certainly spice up the recruiting battles between the schools. After losing several highly touted recruits to Florida over the last few years who thought that was possible?
What also remains to be seen is why Kansas City would let Weis leave to a college job after rebuilding the Cheifs offense this year. Mortenson speculated last week that the availability of Josh McDaniels, the former Denver Broncos head coach, made Weis’s return to Kansas City anything but certain, but why would Kansas City want to dump a very successful coordinator who turned around their offense in just one season?
Something doesn’t add up here, but if nothing else it will be interesting to see how this all unfolds over the next few days.
Can’t figure Charlie out. Opening a burger joint in Gainesville though. Gonna hit it big too.
Alex,
Stop fretting. If Bk and Co. take care of business ND football won’t have to worry about CW and Verducci. Once ND is elite again it will have to compete with the UFs of the world anyways, regardless of who’s there or not. CW to Gainesville — so be it. Bring on the competition!
Please stay in KC… He has to be at least a little bitter at ND and the recruits going to Florida will hear all about his “first hand experience” of why UF is the better place to be.
Say what you want about his success or lack of at ND, but Charlie can recruit and run a good offense. I prefer that he stays in the NFL for the potential harm that he could cause on the recruiting trail if he returns to college. Florida, an NFL player factory, is smart to ask for a pro offense type of guy. Hope he stays pro.