I have and always will loathe EVERYTHING that is Notre Dame football, except for the movie Rudy. My hatred really came into fruition during the Charlie Weis/Brady Quinn era. Every week college football fans had to hear about how the Irish of old were back, how Brady Quinn and Weis were saviors, blah, blah, blah. Then it was discovered that they were beating crap teams and played one good game against USC.

Now the tables have turned. Irish nation is clamoring for the firing of Coach Weis, yet I find myself feeling for the guy.

Yes, unjustifiable expectations come with the job when you coach an elite program, but that doesn’t mean it’s right. Coach Weis received an insane contract extension after winning only a handful of games. The Catholic school in South Bend acted as if their messiah had returned in the form of a Belichick assistant. A few years and sub-par seasons later, Weis is no better than Judas in the minds of Irish fans.

Granted I’m not a coach, so my sympathy could be unwarranted. Perhaps he is a terrible coach. But the people calling for his firing aren’t coaches either, so their criticism is as valid as my support, in that it shouldn’t really matter.

Fans always seem to forget that college football is COLLEGE. School should be priority (keep your laughter to a minimum, please), so if he’s producing successful student-athletes, then that’s his job. Football is, whether we like to admit it or not, just a game. Much of his criticism stems from a supposedly stellar recruiting class and quarterback. They’re just projections. Projections are generally crap. Look at weather.com. Stupid website tells me it’s going to be clear skies, only to be pouring in rain an hour later.

So while you Irish fans out there might be a bit disappointed right now, I remind you that football is just a game, Charlie Weis is a person and to keep the weight jokes at a minimum before you log onto your anonymous screen names and call for his head. He knows he needs to do better.

But seriously, as good a school as Notre Dame is supposed to be, I’d think they could be a bit more creative than make fun of a football coach’s weight.