Charlie Weis Has Lots Of Important Friends

And don't forget it

By EAMONN BRENNAN

Updated 12:38 PM CDT, Tue, Mar 24, 2009

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Hey, remember Charlie Weis? You might have forgotten him, what with all the college basketball and NBA and NFL draft and baseball and soccer and golf and NASCAR and cricket going on right now, but he's back this week, giving interviews and taking names. Get hyped.

As your cricket-infused brian may recall, Weis was nearly fired last season at Notre Dame after yet another year filled to the brim with mediocrity. In the end, it was probably only his huge buyout that saved him. Now Weis has to do damage control. He has to explain why he coached so poorly last season. He has to ... drop all the names of all of the important people he knows, because then you'll think he's important too. (Via Every Day Should Be Satuday.)

"My intent is to coach the game from the field," he said. "That is my intent. Okay? As (Bill) Parcells said years ago, I reserve the right to change my mind, but that is my intent. I talked to people at the collegiate level and pro level, from Andy Reid right on down. By a very, very large majority, almost everyone I talked to were overwhelming thinking I was thinking way outside the box."

Yes, somehow, after a question about whether he would coach on the field, Weis was able to drop both Bill Parcells -- a favorite of coach name-droppers everywhere -- and Andy Reid, yet another fellow portly man fond of colored charts and oversized headsets. You see, because Charlie Weis coached in the pros, people. He has a wealth of resources you could never imagine with your tiny pea-sized college brains and your dorm parties and your parietals and your Touchdown Jesuses and your inane demands that your football team, one of the most proud programs in the history of the sport, be actually good from time to time.

You just don't get it, do you? Charlie Weis has got this. Now sit down, shut up, and take notes. Charlie needs to meditate outside the box.

Eamonn Brennan is a Chicago-based writer, editor and blogger whose favorite part of football season is Charlie Weis' press conferences. You can also read him at Yahoo! Sports, FanHouse, Mouthpiece Sports Blog, and Inside The Hall, or at his personal site, eamonnbrennan.com. Follow him on Twitter.