Weis to coach from field

By BOB WIENEKE, Tribune Staff Writer

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Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis watches from the sidelines on crutches as his team plays Michigan in the third quarter of NCAA college football action in South Bend, Ind., Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008. Weis was injured when he was hit by a player in the second quarter. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

By Beth Boehne

Story Created: Mar 20, 2009 at 12:30 PM EST

Story Updated: Mar 20, 2009 at 12:30 PM EST

SOUTH BEND – And the answer is …

Down.

Notre Dame football coach Charlie Weis said Friday that he will coach from the field after pondering a move to the pressbox.

“My intent is to coach the game from the field. That’s my intent,” Weis said during his spring football opening press conference, although he did leave open the possibility of coaching from upstairs if health reasons dictated.

Weis said he consulted with a number of sources about the decision.

“By a very, very large majority, almost everyone I talked to were overwhelmingly were thinking I was thinking way out of the box,” Weis said.

Because of knee problems, Weis coached from the pressbox in the Dec. 24 Hawaii Bowl, a 49-21 rout of Hawaii. In that game, Jimmy Clausen threw for 406 yards and five touchdowns, completing 22 of 26 passes.

The 478 yards of total offense against the Warriors were the most ND has amassed since exploding for 663 against Stanford in the final game of the 2005 regular season.

Prior to the Hawaii Bowl, Weis last coached from the pressbox in 2001 when he was offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots. His move to the sideline came after starter Drew Bledsoe was hurt and Tom Brady was inserted into the starting lineup.

“It’s 10-times easier. It’s night-and-day easier,” Weis said after the bowl game. “You don’t want to do that long-term, but calling a game from up there is pretty sweet. As a head coach, you want to be on the sideline.”

Weis identified four spring objectives: Integrate the new coaches into the staff, self-scout and analyze all three components (offense, defense and special teams) of the team, see more competition and improve maturity. A 3-9 season in 2007 was followed by a 7-6 record last year as the Irish rebuilt from the post-Brady Quinn Era. Youth was often thrown out as a reason.

“For the last couple years you could validate some of that,” Weis said. “But the bottom line is we’re not that young anymore.”

Weis announced Friday that former players Justin Tuck (New York Giants) and Bertrand Berry (Arizona) will serve as the honorary defensive coaches for the April 18 Blue-Gold Game and that Jeff Faine (Tampa Bay) and Reggie Brooks (now in the ND athletic department) will coach the offense.

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