Only One Man to Blame

I have been on the "Charlie is really ok" side of the coach argument this year, but sometime in the second half I switched to the other side. I think it was sometime around when we went 0 yards on 3 plays, failed to score, and blew our 3rd timeout much too early in the half. At that point I realized it did not matter if we won or lost in relation to assessing our coach.

What makes a good college football coach? Of course the only true measure in today's world is wins & losses. And those stats are pretty dismal for Charlie right now. But if you look beyond that metric, the story is even more disconcerting. Here is my analysis of the top 8 things a college coach should do and how we should rate Charlie.

1. Win Games. Plenty of evidence that ND is no better in wins than any coach going back to 1960. Embarrassing.

2. Secure Great Recruiting Classes. OK, we have to rate Charlie very high here by the way people count things. Great athletes matter the most.

3. Get the team motivated and ready to play every week. Charlie is horrible at this. Yesterday the team was flat in the final home game trying to earn the Gator Bowl. We all can name many instances where the Irish did not demonstrate the will to win in the last few years. We are going to get creamed next week and it will be embarrassing for everyone.

4. Make a difference in close games. Charlie is consistently out-coached in close games. See his overtime performance, his close game performance, etc. He makes bad decisions regularly at key junctures in the game. Very bad game coach.

5. Give the team a “schematic advantage”. At least Charlie should have a great playbook. If we do, it seems other teams have figured it out. I cannot prove it, but it feels like the other team knows exactly what play we are calling most of the time. Look at all the no-name coaches taking their teams to major bowls this year without the talent and advantages that ND football has.

6. Develop talent, make the team better. Again, I see very little evidence that Charlie's players get better under his tutelage. As a team, the group has regressed this year. We have NEVER had a game under Charlie since his first USC game, where the team played above its head.

7. Run the program with Integrity and Class. Everything I read says we are okay here. We don't see too many stories about ND players in trouble though of course there are always a few.

8. Represent the University well. Charlie has pissed off a lot of people, particularly in the media. Being a "New Jersey" guy is cute up to a point, but he is also a Notre Dame guy and a Notre Dame graduate. He should enhance the image of the university not diminish it.

Throw that all in the wash and one concludes we need a change. It won't happen this year, but I am of the opinion that we will fall short of expectations again next year and that may be it for Charlie. I would love to be proven wrong.

GO IRISH. BEAT TROJANS. (yeah right!)