For the first time since 2006, Notre Dame is actually expected to do something this season. The Irish are ranked No. 23 in the AP’s Top 25 poll heading into the season, and Lou Holtz thinks they’re going to play in the BCS Title game.

So, one would think after two abysmal seasons, there would be some optimism, some good feelings around the team heading into this season, no?

In some circles, yes. But not the culprits behind this billboard in South Bend:

In yo face.

Now, at first, no one was quite sure who was behind this sarcastic slap at Weis; a bar directly below the billboard at Edison Road and South Bend Avenue coincidentally named “Linebacker Lounge” claimed they had nothing to do with it.

Turns out they were telling the truth. The “Linebacker Alumni” are actually linebacker alumni from previous Notre Dame teams, spearheaded by Tom Reynolds who lettered in 1967. From the South Bend Tribune:

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Urban Meyer has a pretty cushy gig as head coach of the Florida Gators. He’s won a national title, his teams are always competitive, he owns recruiting and as the man who pulled the school out of the Ron Zook era, he’s basically deity-like in Gainsville.

In other words, not only is he the total opposite of Charlie Weis, but you would think he’d be set for life. You might be thinking wrong, according to a recent interview he did with 560 WQAM in Florida.

“Notre Dame is still my dream job.  That hasn’t changed.”

[...]“I recruited there for six years and I spent every night in a hotel in an airport,” Meyer says of his 1996-2000 run as a Notre Dame assistant, “and I’m going to be a good father first.”

[...]“Once my kids are done, you know,  maybe someday I’ll go coach (there).  I don’t know.  That’s way down the road,” Meyer says.  “Being a father and being able to recruit the best athletes in America within a 5-hour radius of my home, that’s why I came to Florida.”

Um, well, considering that Meyer’s youngest daughter just got into college, I would say it’s reasonable for every Gator fan out there to be totally terrified. He’s shown an ability to resurrect a program — obviously — and with Chuckles hanging around for a few more years (based on contract costs), there probably won’t be an opening in South Bend until right about the time that Meyer’s kids have all left the roost.

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I was utterly shocked to read (and then respond) about Nick Saban questioning whether or not it was OK for Auburn to get rid of Tommy Tuberville. After all, we’re talking about the guy who appears, for all intents and purposes, perfectly willing to leave a program (looking your way, South Beach!) in the lurch if it behooves his career.

And then today, I hop on my RSS reader and head over to LB’s page … and lo and freaking behold, but there are two – two I say! — different articles sitting there with two different coaches complaining about how hard it is these days.

Yes, that’s right. Both Ty Willingham and Houston Nutt discussed the fact that college coaches were dealing with a rough job market; in fairness, Nutt was prompted while Ty, I believe, spoke out on is own. (And in even more fairness, I’d be speaking out if I was Willingham too. Heeeeeeeelllllo, Charlie Weis.)

And you know what? It’s not a totally crazy notion — personally, I was shocked that Philip Fulmer and Tommy T got fired too. But you know what else, gentlemen? WELCOME TO FREAKING AMERICA.

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According to a bunch of unanimous people speaking to other people that write for publications, Charlie Weis is not going to get canned at Notre Dame. There’s supposedly even a presser today to announce such a fact.

To be honest, this isn’t worst move. The Fighting Irish clearly improved from last year’s abysmal 3-9 mark. Sure, 6-6 isn’t going to cut it at Notre Dame, but three more wins from a year before in a sport where not many games are played is a marked improvement.

Jimmy Clausen will be another year older, and taking a peek at Notre Dame’s depth chart, they aren’t going to be hit too hard for next year. If Weis can get this team a couple game over .500 (say, 8-4) and at least show they can be competitive against some of the top teams in the country — unlike the last few years — I don’t see why he wouldn’t keep steering the bus on his 10-year contract.

If he can’t, and this team flounders in mediocrity again, it might be curtains for him. But hey: Looks like Charlie was telling the recruits the truth after all. Hooray.

Following the Charlie Weis saga in the immediate future is going to be fun, because if they let him go, recruits are going to quickly scurry — oh, how they’ll long for his Super Bowl rings — and transfers are going to run rampant, and they’ll be in an even deeper hole. Cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame.

Howeva, if Weis does stay, things may keep in line with how he’s done as of late, and the hole will stay about the same — somewhere just below the surface. As Bart Simpson once said: “You’re damned if you do, you’re damned if you don’t.”

There aren’t many programs I actively root against, but Notre Dame football is one of them. So like I said: This should be fun. (Also, Notre Dame football this decade sort of reminds me of another storied program in the state of Indiana that’s trying to get it right.)

Anyways, if Shaquelle O’Neal Evans is to be believed, Charlie Weis seems pretty confident he’ll be back next year (via the Trib).

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It’s of no stretch, no hyperbole-laden rant to unequivocally state this: Charlie Weis has sort of sucked at Notre Dame. Sure, he had his moment in the sun with all of Ty Willingham’s recruits, but now that they’re gone and he’s left with what he’s brought in, it’s been a pretty mediocre state of affairs. When the bar is set high at a program like ND, and you don’t reach that bar, it’s time to either produce or get the hell out.

Problem being, everyone’s thought Weis’ buyout was for some serious scrilla, to the point where it would really set the university, and the donors, and the alumni back. Well, if the anonymous Irish backers who decided to whine about Charlie Weis to the Trib’s Teddy Greenstein are to be believed, it might not actually be that much money at all — relatively speaking.

The common perception of Weis’ buyout is not accurate. Multiple sources have told the Tribune the buyout, far smaller than believed, will not affect whether Notre Dame decides to fire Weis after Saturday’s game at USC. One prominent alumnus called the amount “loose change.”

One source familiar with the contracts of Division I football coaches said the typical buyout would be Weis’ base salary times the number of years remaining on his deal.

Weis’ base salary from July 2006-June 2007 was $598,000, according to the Ft. Wayne (Ind.) Journal Gazette. The newspaper cited figures from Notre Dame’s federal 990 tax form, which requires the school to list its five highest-paid employees.

Weis’ contract likely calls for annual increases to his base salary. If that average rises to $650,000, the seven-year buyout would be about $4.5 million.

$4.5 million? Gee golly, Weis could buy a whole lot of polish for his Super Bowl rings with that.

Charlie Weis is an arrogant guy. Well, duh. Arrogance practically seeps from him. Get close enough and you can smell it, see it dripping from his pores. Though that might just be the bacon fat. It’s hard to tell, really.

So we all know Weis is a big doo-doo-head, and on top of it he’s not a very good collegiate football coach, but rarely do we get such explicit proof. Days like these, we have to sit back and take in the moment. They don’t come often enough (hat tip: The Sporting Blog):

When Reitz told Weis that Pryor might attend a USC quarterbacks camp, he remembers Weis replying: “Why send him there? If he’s with me for one day he’ll be good, two days he’ll be great and three days he’ll be incredible.” Later, unprompted, Weis asked the Jeannette coaches if they wanted to take a picture of his Super Bowl ring. “I did it, just to be polite, and then gave [the picture] to one of the kids,” Reitz recalled.

Reitz later described Weis, on the record to Teddy Greenstein, as “arrogant as hell.” Greenstein goes on to write that few are so willing to openly criticize the large man with the big ego, because Notre Dame is so provincial and losing one’s football tickets is a fate worse than death. But basically, no one likes Charlie Weis, least of all 2008 uber-recruit Terrelle Pryor. But seriously, Charlie. Keep up the good work.