Charlie Weis has been fired again. Which is probably good news for the Kansas Jayhawks, and may also be good news for some NFL team.
Kansas fired Weis today after yesterday’s 23-0 loss to Texas dropped the Jayhawks to 2-2 this season and 6-22 in his two-plus years as the school’s head coach. Between Kansas and Notre Dame, Weis has shown himself to be a truly lousy head football coach -- except when it comes to negotiating lucrative contracts, at which he’s a genius. Weis left Notre Dame still being owed $19 million for the remainder of his contract, and he leaves Kansas with the school owing him $7 million. A $26 million payday not to coach is a leading exemplar of the NCAA’s brand of “amateur” athletics.
But while Weis is not a good head football coach, he is a good offensive coordinator. He had a successful stint as the Jets’ offensive coordinator from 1997 to 1999, a very successful stint as the Patriots’ offensive coordinator from 2000 to 2004, and a sometimes-overlooked successful stint as the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator in 2010.
It would be shocking if the 58-year-old Weis ever gets another head-coaching job, but it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see Weis get another job as an offensive coordinator. And it wouldn’t be surprising to see some team benefit from having Weis as a top assistant -- just as Notre Dame and Kansas have suffered from having Weis as the man in charge.
