Eric Hansen

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - For those who hoped to get a peek at Charlie Weis’ Christmas wish list, the Irish coach's belated season-wrap/spin-forward press conference proved to be about as satisfying as Notre Dame’s 33-3 season-opening loss to Georgia Tech.

But more promising.

The Irish head football coach seized the day to jabber about everything but the burning question: What will his offseason coaching makeover really look like?

“I have several things in mind,” he said cryptically. “Right now, they’re just ideas.”

It’s probably not a bad strategy to be a little cagey right now. How many times can the guy say he miscalculated, misjudged, misconstrued? Once is enough if he means it.

He wasn’t ready to hint at coaching staff changes, though he did confirm offensive coordinator Mike Haywood may parachute out to become the head football coach at the University of Houston and is considered a front-runner to do so. Weis also did say the gang-of-nine approach to coaching special teams was somewhat of a train wreck.

“It has to be changed,” Weis said. “I was not pleased with the way it went.”

Meaning one person will be in charge in the future?

“If it were the right person,” he replied.

Hmmmmm.

Recruiting took center stage during the gabfest, and why not? With 21 solid commitments and room for possibly as many as six more (with early enrollments), Weis has the Irish poised for perhaps their most memorable recruiting class ever, ironically, juxtaposed against its most forgettable season since Joe Kuharich was leading the program toward an apocalypse.

“This past week, we got into every home of every kid that's already said yes, and a bunch of others on top of it,” said Weis, who knows re-wooing is no longer an optional phase of the recruiting cycle, given the poaching and switching that has become almost commonplace in the stretch runs the past few years. “I think the message is they're going to be a part of something special. I think that's the way they feel.”

Weis went on to express how he felt:

About No. 1 and No. 2 in the BCS -- he voted for Ohio State and Georgia 1-2 in the coaches poll.

About what quarterback prodigy Jimmy Clausen’s offseason needs to look like: “He has a pretty good understanding about the basis of our system that we're going to be able to expand going into the spring,” Weis said. “But I think for him, more than mentally, I think that his biggest task is going to be to get himself fully healthy and physically ready to go and add some muscle. I think that for him that's as big a thing as everything else, in addition to becoming more of a leader.

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“I think that when you're a freshman, it's tough to be a leader or show leadership abilities because it's tough for a fifth-year senior in a huddle to look at a freshman and say, ‘OK, I'm going to listen to everything.’ ”

About what turned out to be a freshman class that made its presence felt: “Well, obviously our freshmen skill players, we were pleased at the progress,” Weis said. “We have a couple of guys on the horizon who really didn't get into the action, like (cornerback) Gary Gray and (safety) Harrison Smith. At the end of the year, these two guys looked like really, really good, solid players.

“We have four linemen who really didn't get any action this year, one on defense, in Emeka (Nwankwo), and three on offense. We really liked their progress as well. In addition to the guys playing, there were some guys that were on the cusp of being legitimate contenders on the depth chart going into the spring. I think it'll be interesting to see how they push their way up.”

But what the college football world is waiting for is to see how Weis pushes himself up. For him to do so it’ll take more than the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class, a trip to pick the brains of his former employers -- the New England Patriots -- more than talk, more than a healthier, more robust Clausen. And the good part is Weis knows it.

He just doesn’t know what it will look like just yet, beyond some chicken scratch on a legal pad. Whatever it looks like, one of the most intriguing offseasons in Notre Dame football’s 119-year history has begun. In the shadows. Without fanfare. But maybe with the wind at Weis’ back.

“Ultimately the responsibility of the success of the program falls on my shoulders, as well as the failures,” he said. “So the team goes 3-9. Humbled? I don't know if that's the correct word. Disappointing? OK. We've got a lot of work to do. I'd probably say driven more than anything else.”

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