page_title: Charlie Weis
section_title: Notre Dame
hierarchical_section_title: Charlie Weis / Coaching career / Notre Dame
caption_attribution_description: English: w:Charlie Weis
context_page_description: Charles Joseph Weis is a former American football coach. He was the head coach for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from 2005 to 2009 and the Kansas Jayhawks from 2012 to 2014. He also served as an offensive coordinator in the National Football League for the New York Jets, New England Patriots, and Kansas City Chiefs.
context_section_description: On November 30, 2004, after finishing its football season with a 6–5 record, Notre Dame released head coach Tyrone Willingham. After first choice Urban Meyer accepted the head coaching position at the University of Florida, the university hired Weis on December 12, 2004, becoming the 28th football coach in Notre Dame history with a six-year contract worth a reported US$2 million per year. He was the first Notre Dame graduate to hold the football head coaching position since Hugh Devore (a 1934 graduate) served as interim coach in 1945 and 1963, and the first alumnus to serve as the Irish football coach on a full-fledged basis since Joe Kuharich (a 1938 Notre Dame graduate), who coached at Notre Dame from 1959 through 1962.
  2005
  In his first season as head coach of the Fighting Irish, Weis was widely quoted as telling his team that they would have a "decided schematic advantage" against their opponents, apparently in the belief that his schemes and strategies developed in the NFL were superior to the schemes being run by other college coaches. Indeed, the team's play, particularly that of junior quarterback Brady Quinn and junior wide receiver Jeff Samardzija, improved greatly. Samardzija, previously a little-used wide receiver, became Quinn's favorite target and a frequent game-breaker, and set school records for most touchdown receptions in a season (15), most receiving yardage in a season (1,249), and most consecutive games with a touchdown reception (8), after having no touchdown receptions in his previous two years at Notre Dame. Notre Dame lost to Michigan State in a dramatic overtime loss. Weis was quoted as saying that they would never again lose to Michigan State on his watch. Weis was 2–3 against the Spartans over his career.
  With a record of 9–2, his team finished the regular season ranked sixth in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) standings, granting them a berth in the 2006 Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Arizona, on January 2, 2006 which they lost to the Ohio State Buckeyes by a score of 34–20. The Irish finished ninth in the final AP Poll and eleventh in the Coaches Poll. His team's success on the field helped make Weis winner of the 2005 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award, selected by the Football Writers Association of America.
  On October 29, 2005, barely halfway through the first year of a six-year contract, and with a 5–2 record, Weis signed a contract extension with Notre Dame. The new 10-year deal, which began with the 2006 season, and which was to be worth a reported $30–40 million, would keep Weis at Notre Dame through 2015.
  2006
  During the 2006 season, Weis led the Fighting Irish to a 10–2 regular season record, and a second straight BCS berth, this time losing 41–14 in the Sugar Bowl to the LSU Tigers. This loss was the second straight bowl loss under Weis and the ninth straight bowl loss for the Irish. The Irish finished No. 17 in the final AP poll, and No. 19 in the final Coaches' Poll. While this season could be considered a disappointment based on Notre Dame's No. 2 pre-season ranking, Weis led the Irish to its second straight season of nine wins or more, something not achieved since the 1992 and 1993 seasons under Lou Holtz. Also for the second straight year Weis put together a top 10 recruiting class, including national player of the year Jimmy Clausen.
  2007
  In the 2007 season, Notre Dame went 3–9, with their only wins coming against UCLA, Duke and Stanford. Their loss to Navy on November 3 snapped an NCAA-record 43-game winning streak over the Midshipmen, dating back to the Heisman Trophy-winning tenure of Roger Staubach at the Naval Academy. The team ranked near the bottom of Division I FBS in both rushing yards per game and total yards per game. Along with being third from last in scoring per game, the team was shut out twice en route to its first nine-loss season ever. Weis attributed the team's downfall to his own mistakes, including his failure to use full-speed practices and to develop his players properly, his installation of two separate offensive systems, one for each potential starting
caption: Weis on the sidelines during the 2009 season
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