Is it possible that Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel were hired under false pretenses?

Question

Each were coordinators for the Patriots, and were considered among the best at their jobs. Since leaving for Notre Dame and Cleveland, Weis has only succeeded using Ty Willingham's players, and Crennel has spun his wheels in the mud for a few years now.

With the cheating scandal hanging over the New England franchise, is it entirely possible that neither Weis nor Crennel are as brilliant as advertised, and that they only succeeded because of the stealth videotaping?

Sure, this idea is a stretch, but I find it interesting nonetheless.

Answer 1

Weiss has no talent on his team. And Belichick called most of the defensive plays Romeo just got credit for them.

Answer 2

2 years. Maybe less if Tom Brady Jr. stays healthy. With Scott Pioli as the GM the only thing the Cheifs need to be the old Patriots is a grumpy Belichick pacing the sidelines in a nasty old hoodie. I think the decline we're seeing in New England is a direct result of losing the same guys who the Chiefs have hired in the last year or so.

Answer 3

Willingham absolutle sucked as a coach. He was the Irish's 3rd option - and they couldn't wait to get rid of him. All Weis has done is take Notre Dame to 2 BCS games in his first 2 years with little talent. I didn't see alot of those Ty recruits going to the NFL. I would say Charlie did alright.
Crennel - haven't paid enough attention to say.
Other head coaches in the NFL or college include (that were assistants under Belicheat) - New York Jets' Eric Mangini, Alabama's Nick Saban, Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, Fresno State's Pat Hill and Virginia's Al Groh. Not a bad list.
I hate the Pats as much as the next guy - but it's not because they cheat. It's because they're damn good.

Answer 4

Some coaches are fantastic coordinators but can't head coach for nothing. Weis and Crennel, Norv Turner, Gunther Cunningham and many, many others reside in this category.

The video tape line is a bunch of BS. The Pats were just the first of 32 teams in the league that got caught doing this. Stealing signs and signals are part of the game, anything to get an edge. Now all 32 teams will go back to binoculars to watch coaching signals and reading lips of coaches and players to get an edge.

Answer 5

weis has 1-AA talent this year, what can you expect. and patsfan is right, belicheck calls the show in new england, crennel was less in charge than everyone thought.

lots of coordinators flop as head coaches. there are only a few guys with tony dungy abilities (going from coordinator to head coach).

Answer 6

I think it's a stretch. They have other weaknesses to pinpoint the team's problems on...

I'm not a Charlie Weis fan, but he does deserve a little credit for getting Notre Dame to a BCS Bowl in his first two seasons (yes, his team lost 2 games each regular season but it's still an accomplishment). That's a lot of money that ND earned. Willingham didn't get ND to a BCS Bowl in his 3 seasons.

I know Ty Willingham's firing was not justified, but Notre Dame spent a whole bunch of money on renewing Weis' contract. Their monetary commitment should give Weis at least another two seasons after this one. At least to prove whether he's any good at recruiting high school players. So far, it's not looking good... Soon we might hear Weis say how tough the ND academic standards are, and that it hurts his recruiting.

As for Romeo Crennel, there were questions on whether he really was calling defensive plays (or was it Belicheck) for the Pats. But I think it has been a matter of how good his players and assistant coaches have been. The players have not been very talented so I can't blame Crennel for the GM's mistakes.

But picking poor assistant coaches can be pinned on Crennel. Clearly he made a mistake when he hired Maurice Carthon as offensive coordinator. Carthon never called plays before and Crennel's background was on defense so it never worked out. You're only as good as the people around you...

Answer 7

I can't believe you've got enough free time to come up with this nonsense. The bottom line as to why Romeo and Charlie aren't succeeding... They were just two more pawns who were made to perform beyond their own means by Bill Belichik. The filming of defenses and using the film to decifer defensive tendencies for future games is done all over the league. Bill just got caught doing what everyone else does. How did John Madden put it last night? "This information isn't even THAT valueable."

Answer 8

I think it's interesting. I don't think so personally, but it is an interesting train of thought. One thing to keep in mind though is that great coordinators aren't always great head coaches. Look at Norv Turner, classic example. He's a great offensive coordinator, but an awful head coach. I think the video taping scandal is cheating, and I think it really does affect the game, but I also think it doesn't make all of their accomplishments fraudulent.
They're still great minds and I would be more likely to think that they are just not necessarily meant to entirely pull the reigns.

Answer 9

I think I'd rather be castrated with cheese grater than have to coach the Browns. Norte Dame has no talent this year.

Answer 10

you forgot to mention that whinning,cheating,hypocrit,fraud head coach of the new york jets in your question.he got the jet job because the jet brass thought he was a great coordinator but come to find out he had to cheat to get the success.success that is undeserved and therefore makes his qualifcations fraudulent.he is also a hypocrit for flipping on the team that got him this job.he should resign as head coach