Charlie Weis turned Patriots success into crazy money
By Matt Conner
Former Kansas City Chiefs coach Charlie Weis has the last laugh on everyone when tallying up the massive amounts paid to the coach over time.
When recent news broke via the Indy Star that Notre Dame had paid former head coach Charlie Weis an incredible sum of $18,967,960 to buy out his contract, it provided some incredible perspective on just how hot Weis’ name was at one point and how even the Kansas City Chiefs got swept up in the hype. ESPN’s Darren Rovell did the math for everyone and came up with the astonishing total.
With Notre Dame buyout complete, Charlie Weis, including Kansas buyout, got paid $64.5 million for a head coaching record of 41-49.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) May 15, 2017
From 2005 to 2009, Weis captained the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to a 35-27 record, a much better record than what it should read given that Weis couldn’t recruit any of his own guys. The leftover talent helped Weis go 19-6 in his first two seasons, but his last three years in South Bend, Weis went 16-21 with a single bowl appearance in the Hawaii Bowl.
Immediately after being fired by Notre Dame, Weis joined the Chiefs staff as the team’s offensive coordinator under head coach Todd Haley. It was the only positive season in Haley’s tenure as the Chiefs offense exploded under Weis’ command. Who deserves credit is anyone’s guess, but Weis can point to a league-leading rushing attack with Jamaal Charles and Thomas Jones and the fact that Dwayne Bowe led the NFL in receiving touchdowns as key points that he was effective as an offensive coordinator.
For Weis, the success largely ended there in Kansas City. His return to the college coaching ranks, both as an assistant at Florida and head coach at Kansas ended up as failures at both stops. At Florida, the offense stalled and didn’t even finish in the top 100 nationally in yards/game and his tenure at Kansas included a final record of 6-22, including a single Big 12 conference win in those three seasons.
Weis has proven his effectiveness at the pro level with the New England Patriots and Chiefs but colleges should have learned their lessons by now. For Weis, however, it’s likely too late. With the incredible amount of money he’s made in his coaching career, Weis can afford to raise a glass to all of the aforementioned institutions and never think about them ever again. It turns out that being associated with New England continues to pay off time after time for some.