Charlie Weiss should look at USC, not the NFL

When Charlie Weiss was fired this week, it was immediately reported that six NFL teams had already contacted him.  It would seem natural for him to return to the pro league considering his previous success, but before doing anything hasty, consider the following.  Yes, Weiss failed as a head coach at Notre Dame, though I would argue that he maintained the status quo, but why split hairs.  Botton line is that he is out and as he considers his next gig, he should consider staying in college.

Returning to the NFL at this stage in his career would be a giant step backwards.  With his Superbowl pedigree, he still could not get a head coaching position in the NFL.  You can speculate why, maybe because he had Tom Brady right under his nose and did not recognize the greatness until Bledsoe got injured.  Maybe the NFL is more focused on affirmative action for head coaches or maybe he simply has Norm Chow disease.  Whatever the reason, a return to the NFL would be to tread water for the rest of his career as a Coordinator with the possibility of landing a head coaching position in a no win situation like Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis, Buffalo or Tampa.  Rather than pursuing that bad dream, I think Weiss should consider USC and USC should do like wise.  It would be a great fit for him as the Offensive Coordinator for the following reasons:

• USC already runs a pro-style offense, so Weiss’ knowledge would be valuable and easy to adapt.
• Weiss would have the opportunity to be mentored by Pete Carroll and truly learn the nuances of being a successful head coach in college without being under the microscope, something he won’t get in the NFL.
• Many USC Coordinators go on to be successful head coaches at other major universities
• Though Weiss did not win a lot of games, he demonstrated that his offense can put up a lot of points, something that USC lacked this year.
• USC recruits the top skilled players in the country and many of them go to USC because it is their best route to the NFL.  Weiss and Carroll together would create a win-win-win for the players, the coaches and the teams.
• Weiss has already achieved success in the NFL, but not leaving college on his own terms is something that he may regret for years to come.

Now I realize that USC has not expressed any public interest in Charlie Weiss and Jeremy Bates is officially still the coordinator, but sometimes in life you have to recognize opportunity, put away your pride and seize the moment.  USC has not been invited to the National Championship game since 2005 and has not won since 2004.  Though you can make a great argument that they should have been there a few more times, the reality is that the BCS is set up in such a way that USC (or any Pac-10 team) must be undefeated and dominate on the scoreboard to surpass the marketing of the SEC.  The BCS doesn’t care about cupcake schedules or excessive home games or the fact that USC logged more miles on their trip to Ohio State than Florida did in their 4 road games.  If USC wants to assume their rightlful position as the dominate program in the country, they need to continue to bring in the best atheletes and let them flourish under the football brain power of Weiss on Offense and Carroll on defense.  If Charlie Weiss wants to restore his reputation as an offensive genius, he should conside this – USC has the thoroughbreds to make Weiss’ offense shine and the defense to hold the leads and get the ball for him.  I think it is time that Mike Garrett make a phone call!