Charlie Weis Brings On Dave Campo To Solve Kansas’ Defense

Does a three-year stand at Syracuse in the ‘80s prepare one to scheme against Oklahoma State and West Virginia? We’ll just have to see about that.

For more on the Jayhawks, visit Kansas blog Rock Chalk Talk.

Don’t feel too bad for Turner Gill, new Liberty Flames head coach. Boasting four recent Big South titles and two all-time wins over FBS schools, Liberty might actually be a better gig than Gill’s pre-Kansas job, Buffalo, was. The Flames drew more in attendance this year than the Bulls did, matter of fact.

In the world of college football, five years is actually a reasonably long time. Many coaches are fired or leave on their own well before their initial contract is up. But rarely do you hear coaches essentially put their own expiration date on their tenure.

Just in case you thought Weis’ plan was going to be made possible by a fast start, he also made sure to point out that he’ll need a “full recruiting cycle” before he can get the program up and running to his specifications. In other words, he would prefer not to be judged until he’s been in Kansas for four years. It’s a nice thought, to be sure, but keep in mind that Weis went 19-6 and made two BCS bowl games his first two years at Notre Dame before finishing off his five-year stay there by going 16-21 and playing in just one bowl game his final three seasons.

* There’s no reason to believe they did. I’m just saying.

It was quality over quantity this week with the mailbag questions.

Now, I’m going to eschew the last part -- in the current sports climate, there’s no way anybody would accept naming a national champion before the post-season, no matter who they may have played and no matter how good they may have looked. That part aside, however, I love this email because it gets at something that was briefly discussed in the comments section of my Monday “Pick Your Playoff” column: the number of “deserving” title teams changes drastically from year to year, and a playoff of any kind isn’t going to perfectly address that. In a year like 2005, it was easy -- two teams were head-and-shoulders above everybody else, and they played for the national title. It was the same in 2002. But usually there are more than two teams with a case (2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010), and occasionally there are just one (2006, 2011). (And in some years -- 2007 -- there are none.)

To say this hire is being mocked would be an understatement. Kansas newspapers are calling it desperate, the most sober and considered college football bloggers are about as taken aback as they get, and Florida fans are thrilled. Like, really pretty happy. When the news broke, Twitter exploded in jokes and Notre Dame writers put us all in danger:

It takes a lot to be the strangest coaching hire in a season that includes Bob Davie landing a job, but here we are. Oh, and Missouri Tigers fans are pretty happy too. The rest of the Big 12 is pretty amused as well.

What kind of recruiter is Kansas getting in Charlie Weis? A successful one. Weis has had recruiting success at both Notre Dame and Florida. How much of that is due to to the inherent advantages at Notre Dame and Florida? It’s tough to tell.

Weis will need to flash his Super Bowl rings quite often, because the advantages he had in South Bend and Gainesville are nowhere to be found in Lawrence, Kansas.

There’s absolutely no context that comes with this quote, but I’m not sure it’s needed. Just admire the quote for what it is: Bobby Bowden taking a not-even-subtle dig at Charlie Weis. There was no polite jab here, it was a full-on haymaker to the gut, followed by an upper cut.

↵FINISH HIM, Bobby (via Jason Lieser)!

Questions immediately arose regarding how Florida would handle the recruiting weekend without its offensive coordinator, perhaps without its offensive line coach, and with the rest of the offensive staff in limbo:

It could be a hugely detrimental move on Weis’ part given that Florida has a big list of offensive recruits visiting campus this weekend. Specifically, No. 1-rated athlete Nelson Agholor (Tampa, FL) is scheduled to visit UF, where he is believed to be leaning. Agholor wants to play receiver at the next level. Without an offensive coordinator, it will be difficult for UF to showcase how it plans to use Agholor. And none of the offensive assistants can be sure that they will be at UF next year, either.As for Agholor, he appears to be conflicted:

It sounded like the perfect scenario:

And shame on you for even questioning whether or not Weis would be back at Florida next season.

Recruits are beginning to react to Charlie Weis’ abrupt departure from Gainesville. Weis apparently gave no indication to UF or prospective recruits.

Brian Holt, a Gators recruiting analyst, spoke with Jessamen Dunker, who conveyed his thoughts as well as the thoughts of two other recruits, as well:

According to the Palm Beach Post’s Jason Lieser, Muschamp and Weis had indeed discussed the position in the days leading up to the move, refuting an earlier report.

Muschamp told reporters that RB coach Brian White will work as the offensive coordinator for the Gator Bowl.

Schad also passed along that “Kansas believes Weis is a football mind with success at the highest level” and mentions that Kansas officials visited Weis in Ocala, FL in order to get the deal done quickly.

The move might sound good on paper given Weis’ pedigree, history and the names of the programs he’s worked with. However, Weis’ tenure at Notre Dame isn’t looked at in glowing terms and the 2011 Florida offense was considered one of the weakest in years. Weis is trading more on former glories than with recent success and Kansas is rolling the dice on that as well.

Edit: Or maybe he did (via Jason Lieser).

According to a source, Weis’ contract with Kansas is likely to reward the four-time Super Bowl champion coach richly, perhaps in excess of the over $3 million per year Will Muschamp is making as Florida’s head coach.

Weis will replace Turner Gill, who was fired after going 5-19 record in his two seasons with the Jayhawks.

For more on the hiring and Kansas football, visit Rock Chalk Talk. And keep an eye on the 2011 Coaching Carousel Tracker.

And, yeah, there are also those Charlie Weis rumors.

If Malzahn is to leave this offseason, that’ll leave Gene Chizik with the task of replacing both Ted Roof as defensive coordinator and Malzahn. Malzahn may be somewhat tougher to effectively replace.

There are clear pros and cons to both of those jobs. UNC offers large-school resources and solid recruiting opportunities in a winnable conference, but the NCAA is still about to come crashing down on the Heels. KU would mean the chance to completely re-do a BCS program in the image of Malzahn, but support for football isn’t anywhere near as great a priority in Lawrence as it is elsewhere in the Big 12.

If he turned down the Vanderbilt job, what would make the Kansas gig different?

Mike Leach did not fly into Lawrence, Kansas on Sunday. Turner Gill was fired as head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks, but Leach did not descend from the heavens, or Key West, shortly thereafter. The Leach signal was not put up and he certainly did not perk up as if there was a disturbance in the force, as far as we know.

But something funny did happen in Lawrence late Sunday night. Because the local reporters probably did what pretty much every crazed fan following a team’s coaching search does, some unsuspecting family ran into a swarm of cameras at the airport. In all likelihood those who showed up to the airport checked FlightAware.

Turner Gill’s tenure as Kansas’ head coach will reportedly end after just two years at the helm in Lawrence. Matt Tait of the Lawrence Journal-World reported that sources said Gill had been fired as Kansas’ coach after the Jayhawks’ 2-10 season, and Kansas announced the news on its official site Sunday afternoon. Recruiting coordinator Reggie Mitchell will serve as Kansas’ interim head coach.

Gill is owed $6 million over the remaining three years of his contract. Kansas athletic director Sheahon Zenger announced that Kansas will fulfill the terms of that contract in a statement.

Just two weeks ago, we checked in on the temperatures of quite a few FBS coaches’ seats. Time to update the list. And even though we are legally required to mention Mark Richt here, we’re not going to. Take that, laws.

Houston Nutt, Ole Miss. He experienced a two-year surge, mostly with Ed Orgeron’s leftovers, but the more the program became truly his, the worse Ole Miss began to perform. The search for his replacement could impact quite a few others, but with Athletic Director Pete Boone also stepping down (sort of -- he’s staying on for a while but won’t take part in the search, which is all sorts of awkward), it is hard to get a feel for how long it will last or which direction it will take.

If he wasn’t already on the hot seat, athletic director Sheahon Zenger’s comments after the K-State loss squarely placed him on the burner. Zenger said, “We will get this thing fixed,” and added:

For his part, Gill believes the Jayhawks can get this thing turned around: