During the last few days of the Charlie Weis era at Notre Dame, the size of Weis’s buyout was the source of much speculation in the media. The buyout was believed to be anywhere from between $5 million to over $20 million, but no one really knew – until now.
On Friday, Brian Hamilton of the Chicago Tribune reported the buyout for Weis cost Notre Dame over $6 million in 2010 with more payments to come according to their 2010 tax return.
“Termination payment of $6,638,403 was made during the reporting period to Charles J. Weis under a separation agreement that includes much smaller annual payments through December, 2015.”
What those smaller payments are is not clear at this time, but what is clear is that the cost of that 10 year extension Kevin White signed Weis to during his first season ended up costing Notre Dame nearly $7 million with that figure sure to grow more over the next four years.
It’s also not clear at this time whether or not the compensation Weis received and is receiving is exactly what was defined in his contract or if Jack Swarbrick and Weis worked out a smaller figure once the University decided to terminate Weis after a third consecutive disappointing season.
With Notre Dame still on the hook for payments to Weis, now the offensive coordinator for the Florida Gators, for a few more years, it is good to know that the University is no longer making payments to Weis predecessor, Tyrone Willingham, who was let go following the 2004 season. According to Hamilton’s report, Willingham did not receive compensation from Notre Dame in 2010.
After the strong finish to the first season of the Brian Kelly era, it would appear as though such discussions may not come up again for a while. That being said, I wouldn’t expect to see Swarbrick ink Kelly to a 10 year extension anytime soon either.
@DocBinge: No offense, I doubt that Chris Badger will ever see any meaningful clock when he gets back in town. He lost his opportunity to play. Too many talented athletes will have arrived when he gets back, but I TOTALLY agree that ND will have a heck of a defense and the receiving unit will be restocked by then. Things are looking good!
Take another look at the depth chart. In 2012 there will be three returning safeties. (One of the 2011 class has already been turned to wide receiver.) None of the class of 2012 have been “inked” so there’s no sure thing coming in, and when given the choice to play a 17/18 year old versus a 20/21 year old who has been through one spring practice already and has spent the past two years getting stronger, I wouldn’t stick the 20/21 year old on the scout team quite yet.
Here is what gets me about ESPN, they rank ND’s recruiting classes in the top 20 every year. They always say there is little difference between number one and 15 but yet they say that they will get out atheleted. They are idiots consider the source. BK will coach them up and he is building a defense that will he able to keep it close when the offense doesn’t put up points.
Here’s what gets me about ESPN.
Joe Montana’s kid was with ND last year as a QB. After the season ended he transfered to the University of Montana.
He is no longer a part of the University of Notre Dame.
But when he got stopped last week for a DUI, and ESPN reported the story, they used the ND logo to head up their story.
i just watched this ’round table’ discussion by espn analysts, link below. i think herby does a good job calling games (musberger is another story) but he has a smugness about him when he rips on notre dame. i think we all remember the ‘highschool speed’ comment (btw, walls did run a 4.4).
he brings out the same old argument about recruiting at nd, which has been discussed and blogged about ad naseum, he then throws a back-door jab at nd’s schedule by stating that if/when nd faces an sec squad, they will get anhiliated. i’ll admit the jury is out on how we would handle an lsu, auburn or bama right now, but i have a feeling none of them will want to play this nd team at the end of the year.
in any event, all the other analysts are on board the kelly train, even mark may has come around.
urban’s comments are interesting too. seems like he was worried that the administration wasn’t committed to winning football games in previous years, probably played a part in him going to florida.
http://espn.go.com/college-football/team/_/id/87/notre-dame-fighting-irish
Doc,
Great points!
I, too, was baffled by Prestwood’s original decommit. I think there was some hometown pressure involved to stay in state. I just hope he thinks for himself and doesn’t let anyone talk him out of moving permanently to S. Bend.
I also like the look of this upcoming class. This WR that just committed seems to have come out of nowhere to impress recruiting experts and team scouts. However, Doc, WRs are a strange lot. It’s just hard to predict how they’re going to do from HS to college (not to mention from college to the pros). Deion Walker come to mind?
I had totally forgot about the Mormon kid. Kudos, Doc, for the reminder. It will be nice to add some depth to the D backfield.
Nice to talk about actual football related matters as opposed to arrests, sanctions, and moral grand-standing!
2012 looks like quite a year in the making. I am especially glad to see Jordan Prestwood come to his senses and be transfering to ND for school in the fall and will be able to play football for the 2012 season. I didn’t understand why he flipped to FSU as he seemed to be real bright in the interviews I heard. Team that with the 9 recruits we already have and hope to sign and toss in a 20-year old freshman in Chris Badger coming off an LDS mission and we are going to have one heck of a defense and strong line.
Yea, the ‘chickens’ certainly have come to roost….who the real ND fans are on this site after the Tulsa game last year. A real “braintrust” of SO CALLED “REALISTS”. Sure hope BK has ANOTHER good year for these fair weather lecturemonious psuedo fans. Can’t even imagine them rearing their ugly heads against ND? Again? LOL!
And ND has no one to blame but themselves. 15+ years of archaic, ridiculous decision-making by the ND braintrust culminated in the hiring of CW. Thank God that era is over.
Go BK and Go Irish!
I am really enjoying the OSU debacle. Karma is a bitch.
JDH, I don’t think the CW era offficially ends until the last of his players leaves or graduates.
He may not have been the best head coach, but he sure could recruit.
Speaking of recruiting, with OSU facing the rath of the NCAA, USC limited on scholarships,and Michigan in recovery mode, I hope Kelly and his staff can really clean up on the recruiting trail!
This site needs to be updated. Are we really opening the season on Sept 3 against Purdue? WTF guys? I want my money back! LOL!
The hammer can fall on any school
Speaking of chickens coming home to roost, Jim Tressel out at Ohio State. I love the fact that 2 very successful programs of the previous decade were run so poorly. He go T. Pryor and it ruined his career. I hope it was worth it. The question I have is when is the hammer going to fall on some SEC schools. A lot of rumors about Auburn and other schools.
Does anyone feel Pete and Reggie should be held accountable as well?
The ‘chickens’ have come to roost at SC. Too bad.
So the NCAA shot down USC’s appeal yesterday. So sad.
Came as a bit of surprise to me. While I didn’t think that they would get off scot free, I did think the penilties would be reduced some. After all, USC is famous for wiggling off the hook.
I have been following this situation, and what I learned is that USC fans are the biggest bunch of whiners and cry baby’s of any school in the nation.
Now there’s a claim to fame that Trojan fans can take pride in!
While watching the NFL network they had the top 10 football factories in college football. ND was third behind Miami and USC. I could have made an arguement in the early 90’s that ND should be higher but not a lot of NFL top talent lately. The only one that comes to mind is Justin Tuck.
Congratulations to Pete Carroll and Reggie Bush. You got out just in time to make your millions. It’s just too bad that you two a-holes aren’t being punished too. With Lane Kitten there, USC will probably face the death penalty in a few years. GO IRISH!!!
Scav,
The question is has he changed his life, because if he doesn’t, BK isn’t going to let him play a down. He also needs to change his life if he wants to make a living on Sundays. He needs to have a clean summer, fall and winter. He needs have a monster year to improve his draft prospects. I know he wants to get an education, but he plans to play on Sundays. He will change for the better, I have faith.
Just saw this on another site:
Notre Dame star receiver Michael Floyd won’t miss any games if he is reinstated from his indefinite suspension for DUI, Irish coach Brian Kelly told the South Bend Tribune on Tuesday.
“We’re looking at Mike as an ‘all in or not’ situation,” Kelly told the paper. “In other words, he’s changing his life or he’s not. If he changes the way he’s lived his life, he’ll play every game for us. If he doesn’t, he won’t play one down here at Notre Dame.
maybe he was counting the number of defensive coordinators he went through. that was the downfall…no defense!
Ya to keep going with what Shazam was saying, Weis did a lot of good things well here. I think the big drawback (and its kind of paramount and a deal breaker) is that whatever he was doing right, he couldnt quite put it all together as a head coach. He was a terrific recruiter, class marks were high, etc. He was hired as an offensive guru and look at what he did with quinn, samardzija, and company. The bottom fell out with no upperclassment with clausen started but he developed him into a terrific qb and the offense his last season was rediculous. Tate was the most electrifying player I’ve seen on the field since Rocket. In terms of sheer “this guy could score if he touches the ball.” He just couldnt ever get the defense up to snuff.
Here’s what kills me (somewhat off topic but directed at the first comment here) and what I got tired of when Weis was our coach. When complaining about him, saying how you’re not happy with something, calling him fat or fatass or whatever has no relevance to how good of a coach he is or how good of a job he was doing. Yep he’s overweight. Anyone with vision can see that. Thats not a contributing argument to whether or not he can coach though.
I mean, how many great “fat ass” coaches have there been? I know CW was a nice guy and the kids loved him and he gave us a feeling of success but he’s a coach of athletes — and he has a very large weight problem. If he cannot take care of his own body how can we expect him to take care of athletes?
Maybe I expect too way too much (or way too little). But it strikes me as strange to expect an athletic coach who is very overweight to also be very successful. Again, just a random thought. I’m sure there is a great coach out there who is obese. . . .
ND always pays their head coaches top dollars. That’s because any coach worth their while knows the job comes with high exsectations and even higher pressure.
Until Kelly came along, ND has always had to settle for their second, third, or even fourth choice in a head football coach.
CW didn’t win a national championship, but he did the best he could, and stepped in when no one else seemed to want the job. He made sure his players stayed out of trouble, and excelled in the classroom.
There were no cheating alegations, or NCAA investigations loomomhg over the program. Yeah, he could have, and should done better, but at least he didn’t discrace the University like so many others have done recently at other programs.
How has no one commented on the picture I used for this yet? I thought it was perfect 🙂
It was outstanding, but we all expect you to do something this clever. I am not a good lip reader, but I think he’s saying “idiots”.
Too bad we’re not playing Florida this year. Might be interesting.
Good for Charlie and his family, They deserve every penny.
No one twisted Whites arm and the powers to be at ND obvioisly agreed to the amount. CW has that coming to him, as contractually agreed. Anyone that says that CW should give the money back is plain stupid. Would you???
Of course not, and neither would anyone else.
A deal is a deal, and both parties have to live up to that.
Now is the time to write into the deal W’s and L’s. Why not?
I can’t believe that fatass would not reduce this for ND. What a complete waste of money.
Agreed, but a contract is a contract and White was the idiot who did it.
Agreed. Holy crap I’m glad White is gone.