Kansas Jayhawks Hire Charlie Weis, Despite Past Failures He Could Succeed

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

KUathletics.com

By David Blum
CFB Writer

College football is all about recruiting.

This year, that fact should be abundantly clear. The two teams facing each other in the BCS National Championship game feature a myriad of high school All-Americans and NFL prospects, such as Alabama’s star running-back Trent Richardson.

Recruiting, though, is just as much about snagging the grand prize as it is finding the diamond in the rough, as evidenced by LSU’s lightly recruited star Tyrann Mathieu.

When Kansas made the surprising hire of Charlie Weis last week, many questioned whether Weis would have a chance to win at the Big 12’s perennial doormat. However, if his history is any indication, the hire could prove to be an inspired one for the Jayhawks.

The questions surrounding Weis begin with the KU football program itself.

Unlike other schools in the Big 12, it runs a distant-second to the men’s basketball team. While the Jayhawks had some success a few years ago under Mark Mangino, the conventional wisdom is that the Kansas football job is one of college football’s worst.

Lack of fan support, poor facilities, low level of local talent base and playing in a conference that is consistently one of the nation’s strongest put former head coach Turner Gill in a very difficult situation. Unfortunately for him, the team won just five games in two seasons, including a nine-game losing streak to close 2011 that resulted with his dismissal.

However, Mangino’s successes in the middle of the last decade prove that Kansas can produce a winner.

Featuring NFL talents such as Aqib Talib, Dezmon Briscoe and diminutive yet prolific quarterback Todd Reesing, the Jayhawks rose all the way to No. 2 in the polls in 2007. This year, in-state rival Kansas State enjoyed a return to the ranks of college football’s elite. If Weis can follow the pattern of Wildcat head coach Bill Snyder, the Jayhawks have the potential to at least be competitive in the coming seasons.

For a team that possessed the nation’s worst defense, and was outscored by an average of 43.8 to 22.3 in 2011, that might be all they could ask for.

Weis is not a well-liked man in media circles for a myriad of reasons. Whether it’s his perceived arrogance, his treatment of reporters or the nomadic nature of his coaching career--the hiring of Weis by KU was met with a raised eyebrow by the media.

At Notre Dame, though, Weis did enjoy some success.

While his first two seasons that ended in BCS Bowl berths were largely on the back of Tyrone Willingham’s players, there is no denying that Weis was able to recruit well. Top high-school players like Jimmy Clausen, Manti Te’o and Michael Floyd flocked to South Bend to play for Weis. While the Kansas program lacks the prestige of the Fighting Irish, Weis’s track record on the recruiting path suggests he could have some success bringing players to KU.

The question then is whether he can win with those recruits.

This was a problem that plagued him during his five-year tenure at Notre Dame, with those vaunted recruiting classes producing just fifteen wins in his final three seasons. Still, Weis is a big name who has coached in the NFL, and that is a very important factor in the minds of young men who have dreams of playing professional football. His reputation as an offensive mastermind, along with the promise of immediate playing time, could allow Weis to attract recruits to Lawrence, and possibly even cause a quick turnaround in the program.

Kansas made a name-hire in Weis, which at least shows that the athletic department is trying.

In 2012 the Big 12 could be wide open, with several teams breaking in new quarterbacks and dealing with NFL departures. It would be difficult to expect Weis to contend for a championship immediately in Lawrence, but a marked improvement would not be out of the question.

If Weis can hire a solid defensive coordinator, recruit well and implement his new offense with incumbent quarterback Jordan Webb (a bright spot for KU in 2011), he could produce more wins in 2012 for the Jayhawks.

After all, it would be difficult to be worse than they were this season.


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