UPDATE: Controversial billboard blasts Weis

By DIANE DANIELS, WSBT-TV Reporter

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Linebacker billboard

This billboard sits above the Linebacker Inn on Edison Road and State Road 23. (Tribune photo/SANTIAGO FLORES)

By Beth Boehne

Story Created: Sep 1, 2009 at 1:28 PM EST

Story Updated: Sep 1, 2009 at 4:50 PM EST

SOUTH BEND — A controversial billboard-sized jab at Notre Dame head football coach Charlie Weis has drivers doing a double-take in the shadow of the Golden Dome.

Coach Weis is trying to make light of the situation; but for the Irish faithful, the message on the billboard is nothing short of blasphemy.

The billboard, which went up earlier this week, is located essentially right above the Linebacker Inn near campus at the intersection of Edison Road and State Road 23. It’s become not only a source of curiosity, but a lightning rod for controversy.

The billboard reads, “Best wishes to Charlie Weis in the 5th year of his college coaching internship. -- Linebacker Alumni."

“Well, it’s just as much of a surprise to us as it was to everyone else,” said Greg Delinski, General Manager of Linebacker Inn.

Delinski says his establishment had nothing to do with the billboard; but it sure is generating a lot of comments on the street.

“And now they put this up on this end of the campus with the home opener coming up and you have recruits coming in and the team is trying to get motivated,” one fan told WSBT News.

“It doesn’t sound like a very good billboard for Charlie Weis; but that’s how this town is obviously,” Jimmy Fogarty of Mishawaka countered. “We’re a Notre Dame town and we expect the best and if we don’t get the best you’re going to get the negative.”

So what does Coach Weis have to say about it?

“I’m the head coach at Notre Dame — I mean, welcome to my world,” he told WSBT News at his pre-game press conference Tuesday. “Tell ‘em thanks a lot for wishing me best wishes. I heard about it, I haven’t seen it and we’ll just leave it at that.”

But a lot of ND fans aren't willing to leave it at that. They want to know who is behind the billboard.

We wanted to know, too. We tried to contact Burkhart Advertising, which owns the billboard space, but our calls were not returned.

So the exact source of the billboard remains a mystery.

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