Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Perception Matters

I don't know if I am the only one who has noticed this, but it appears that there is a concerted effort recently to change the commonly held (mis)perceptions about Coach Weis. We have all heard the criticisms and complaints -- he is arrogant, he ignores former players, he is brash, he is difficult to work with, he is hostile, etc. etc. etc. Let me be clear in stating that I do not believe any of these statements accurately portray Coach Weis. However, those (mis)perceptions are out there and I have finally noticed an effort on the part of the Notre Dame community to portray a different side of Coach Weis.

First, take a look at what Coach Weis has done himself. He has made himself more available and approachable to his players. He is delegating more responsibility to his assistant coaches. Since he can no longer be on the road recruiting in May, he is taking the opportunity to get out and visit numerous alumni groups during this time. He is visiting U.S. troops in the Middle East. Please understand that I am not in any way suggesting Coach Weis is doing any of this for good publicity. He is not. he is doing these things because they are the right thing to do and he understands his tremendous role as an ambassador for the University. However, a secondary benefit of these actions should be that people see that there is a different side to Coach Weis than has been portrayed in the media.

Second, I have noticed several public positive comments coming from others about Coach Weis. For example, in yesterday's Observer article, Maura Weis, Coach Weis' wife states:

"Coach loves her [Hannah], she is his little angel," Maura said. "My husband is a wonderful human being. He does not play golf or go out with his friends; being with his family is his hobby."

From today's South Bend Tribune, baseball coach Dave Schrage says:

"Coach (Charlie) Weis has been phenomenal as far as letting these guys play baseball," Schrage said of working things out with the football coach, referring to sophomore receiver/outfielder Golden Tate and junior punter/pitcher Eric Maust. "He's been just tremendous to work with on this."

Schrage later says:

"We have three (baseball) players who also play football. They're smart kids and they're dedicated kids, and one of the nice things about Notre Dame is we have a football coach who cares about the whole program, and he's letting this happen, because I've been in places where this doesn't happen."

My reaction? FINALLY!!! Look, no one wants to see a University or a football program run in such a way that we cater public perception or make decisions by sticking a finger in the wind and taking a poll. However, by the same token, you can't stand by and allow one of the University's highest profile representatives to be hammered repeatedly while you say nothing either. Coach Weis has really stepped up to the plate since he has been at Notre Dame and elevated the profile of the program from the yawn of the Willingham debacle to where ND is back to being a lightning rod for discussion. He has run a clean program and a successful program. Before I take heat on the successful part, please let s not forget that he is the same coach who led the program to back to back BCS games in his first 2 years after inheriting a program that was going nowhere under Ty-Tanic Willingham.

I am not an apologist for Coach Weis and believe he has made several mistakes, as he himself has acknowledged. However, I just wanted to share what I have noticed as a subtle effort to re-shape the public perception and image of Coach Weis. I think it is long overdue and I am happy to see it.

Your thoughts???

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

IG:

Thank you for stepping forward and saying what needed to be said. Your post that appears on NDLNA, and I am certain other venues shortly, states it well.

I believe the Notre Dame community could have been faster with this support for Charlie.

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Anonymous said...

Great reading and sharp insights Irish Glory. I have just gotten back on line (Moved) so am a bit out of the loop newswise. Did you post this at DomerDomain? Again great reading.
SJ

wsmitheGH said...

Weis needs more support I think he has a ton of heart and his time is coming.

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