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At today’s 5:00 PM presser, Sheahon Zenger will introduce the 37th head coach of the Kansas football team, Charlie Weis. After a long, drawn out process, Zenger has finally found his guy. What was it that he saw in Weis? Well, here we go…
I don’t want to start by throwing Turner Gill and
his staff under the bus, but under the previous regime, players were not held
accountable, showing up to meetings late, horsing around in the weight room,
etc. It was just a complete disaster. Insert Charlie Weis: a no-nonsense disciplinarian. It is safe to say that we will see the last of those problems. Granted I expect some
players to ditch the program, but so be it, don’t let the door hit you on the
rear end. Sometimes the only way to heal an epidemic is to just bleed it out.
Keep the guys who want to be here, cut loose the ones who don’t give a rip.
So with where Turner Gill left this program, Kansas
is justly labeled as a “desperate” program. After all, 5-19 in the past two
years with next to no real signs of improvement is not the most appealing job
to hot-named coaches. Kansas, outside of Mike Leach (because of his
relationship with Zenger), was not likely going to land a big name. As the
saying goes, beggars can’t be choosers; however, it looks like Kansas still
found a pretty nice name.
Zenger really had his hands tied. Not only was he trying
to make a top-notch hire, but he is also trying to pay off the last coach. Big money
donors wanted Mike Leach because he was a sure bet for 6-7 wins, but when it’s
all said and done, I think they will come around to Mr. Weis.
Right now, using the old baseball analogy, I think
this hire is a solid double. Even if Weis doesn’t win championships at KU, it
will still be a nice little hire given the current situation (I would have been
surprised if Weis had been hired after Mangino, when the program was on much
more stable ground, much less now!). This bodes well for Zenger, who has shown us that he has the cojones
to fend with the big boys, hauling in probably the biggest name in school
history.
This is a big risk big reward hire, but don’t
compare it to the Turner Gill hire. Gill’s hiring was chancy because his resume
was limited, and because of that, 3 million, the estimated figure per year, to
Weis is different than 2 million to Gill. While many critics feel that Weis’s
glory days are behind him, his resume towers over Gill’s. Just add water to
Weis and Kansas gets “Instant Credibility”. The more austere Weis is better suited to fix
the current nose-dive of the football program than the nice-guy Gill. If Weis comes in and helps turn
this program around, then this hire has the potential to be a grand
slam.
If nothing else, this hiring is going to sell a glut
of season tickets. Names like Fedora, Sumlin, Dykes, and Malzahn were pretty “meh”
to Kansas donors, but when Weis’s name was tossed into the ring, the alumni’s collective
ears perked up. Why? Because not only do they recognize the name, but recruits,
parents of recruits, coaches of recruits, everyone knows Charlie Weis’s name.
And it’s not over folks. Let’s not get ahead of
ourselves, and I hope I am not speaking out of turn here, but in a perfect
world Notre Dame Transfer quarterback Dayne Crist may follow Weis to Kansas, Jim Leavitt may
take over as defensive-coordinator, and Bishop Miege High Head Coach and former
Kansas City Chief Lineman, Tim Grunhard might take over the offensive-line. If
everything falls into place, I will be thoroughly convinced that Zenger is part
of the illuminati. Or maybe he just knows what on God’s green earth he’s doing. Weis, after all, does have 4 Super Bowl rings and he can coach a quarterback. Could you imagine Kansas on the recruiting front with Reggie Mitchell, Jim
Leavitt, Tim Grunhard, and Charlie Weis coming in for the close? Smokes!
Last night Zenger released a comment on the hire. We
will find more later though:
“At the end
of the day,” Zenger told The Kansas City Star late Thursday night, “I would
tell you, what Charlie Weis brings to Kansas is someone who is regarded as one
of the brightest X’s and O’s minds in the country and a national profile that
we’ve not had at this institution in football before.”
Here is Weis’s profile, and here is his "60 Minutes" video.
Was it a desperate hire? Local columnist Sam
Mellinger thinks so. I can’t say that he is wrong, but I also can’t say that he
is right. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
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| Source: KU Sports |
Tim Grunhard, the potential candidate for the vacant
offensive line position that I talked about earlier, had a lot of good things
to say about Weis. Check this out.
Now the press conference starts in an hour and a half. Stay tuned.
UPDATE:
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| Source: KU Sports |
Here you go folks, the press-conference fix. Overall, I thought the presser went pretty well, and I thought the halftime presentation at the Ohio State Basketball game went exceptionally well. Let's all remember, though, that nothing is won in the press-conference. It was thought that Turner Gill won his opening press conference, and we all know how far that got him.
My favorite quote:
"It is not going to be pleasant around here in the spring time. There are not many things I can promise, but I can promise you that. I have already told [the players] to enjoy [their] Christmas holidays and have fun because when [they] get to the middle of January, it is not going to be very pleasant."
Even at his age, Weis is very well spoken and ambitious. Call me crazy, but I see remnants of Kansas State Head Coach Bill Snyder. Kansas football, from the Chancellor to Zenger to Weis on down, is in good hands.
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