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With the Browns parting ways with Kyle Shanahan on Thursday morning, I thought it'd be best if we got to know our early candidates. (Ed. note: most of the ‘candidates' are names of coaches floated by various media members. I'm running with them as ‘candidates' until further evidence is presented to the contrary.)
Next on our list of candidates is, the big guy, Charlie Weis!
The skinny (not a weight joke, swear):
- Born March 30, 1956 (age 58)
- From New Jersey, graduated from Notre Dame in 1978.
- Began coaching career in 1979, coaching HS football in NJ.
- After starting collegiate coaching in 1985, broke into the NFL in 1990.
- Held various assistant positions before being named OC for the New York Jets in 1997 - Jets finished 4th in total offense his second year.
- Served as Bill Belichick's OC for the New England Patriots from 2000-2004 - won 3 Super Bowls.
- Named HC at his alma mater, Notre Dame, in December 2004 - time at ND started great (berths to the Fiesta Bowl, and the Sugar Bowl in his first two seasons - finishes 15-21 his last three seasons.)
- Career gets weird. Stops as OC for the Kansas City Chiefs, OC for Florida, and was the HC at the University of Kansas from 2012-2014 - fired from KU in September 2014.
As reported earlier this week, look for Charlie Weis to be among the possibilities to replace Shanahan in CLE
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) January 8, 2015
Why he makes sense:
When Weis was brought into New England, he and Bill Belichick installed the Erhardt-Perkins offensive system with the Patriots. There's a good read, here, on some basics of that system. The aforementioned system Weis and Belichick installed has had just a little bit of success in NE...
Weis won three Super Bowls coaching with Belichick in New England. Granted, coaching under Bill Belichick can make a lot of people look like better coaches than they actually may be (Weis may be a victim of that, Josh McDaniels, etc.).
Weis has proven throughout his career to be a solid offensive mind. His first two seasons at Notre Dame he was 19-6, with berths to two BCS bowls. The end of his time in South Bend was not good, I'll concede that.
When Weis returned to the pros in 2010, he took over as the OC for the Chiefs and turned that offense around. That was even with Todd Haley as the head coach and Matt Cassel at QB. Hell, Cassel was a Pro-Bowler that year!
The Chiefs were 4-12 in 2009, the year before Weis was there, and they finished 10-6 with Weis as OC in 2010. Obviously the one-year success in KC wasn't all on Weis, but that offense in 2010 was an impressive improvement job.
Charlie may have made a living under Bill Belichick's shadow, but he's proven to be an adequate offensive mind. His time in New England is hard to gauge since it was under Belichick, arguably the greatest coach of all time. He's had high marks in Kansas City as well.
Why he makes NO sense:
Okay, this is where things get ugly.
His time at the University of Florida was odd. That marriage never made sense to me. Florida had one of the worst offenses in the nation his one year in the Swamp. They averaged a blistering 334 yards per game on offense, good for 102nd in the nation.
Then comes the Kansas experiment. Thought the Florida experiment was strange? Think again!
Weis was fired not even three years on the job in Kansas. Over those 2+ seasons he compiled 6 wins. Six! He was fired four games into the 2014 season. To say that didn't go well, would be an understatement.
And while Weis had a great run in New England, he hasn't been in the pros since 2010, and that was one year. You have to go back to 2004 for his last full season in the NFL. The game has just changed too much for Charlie.
Recap:
Must Reads
The first candidate I took a look at was Marc Trestman. I was lukewarm on him, but wouldn't be too upset if he were offered the Browns OC job.
Let me be very clear on this one, I do NOT want Charlie Weis as the next Browns offensive coordinator.
I get that he's had success at various spots. I also think he's probably a product of Bill Belicheck. He very well may be a good coordinator, but let him do it elsewhere.
The Belichick shadow, best success came with Tom Brady at QB, lack of success at the college level, etc. It's all just too much for me to have enough faith in Charlie Weis at this point.
I'm not on board for Charlie Weis. What about you all?