Turner Gill was fired from his head coaching job at the University of Kansas on November 28th. Rumors started circulating about how would replace him. Mike Leach was rumored until he took the job at Washington State. Nobody was really sure who Kansas would get, but no one really thought it would be a big-name guy. And when Kansas announced its decision today, no one thought it would be Charlie Weis.
Before the end of the 2010 season, Weis decided to accept the offensive coordinator position at the University of Florida. "This opportunity is one of those unique situations where I can go to a great institution ... and be able to spend the next bunch of years watching my son grow." This is what Weis said after taking the job, right before the Chiefs began its playoff run.
The timing couldn't have come at a worse time for the Chiefs, whether it was related or not. The Chiefs were blown out in the two games after Weis announced his decision, and Matt Cassel played, by far, his worst football of the 2010 season. The offense sputtered, and the Chiefs were eliminated at home in their first playoff game since the 2006 season.
It didn't take long after it was revealed Weis was leaving for speculation to arise about why he was leaving to surface. Why would he make a lateral move to a college team? Was it really just to help his son enter the coaching field? Many fans accepted Weis' reasoning, but some still questioned.
It wasn't a secret that Todd Haley and Weis argued. Haley argues with most, if not all, of his coaches. That's Haley's personality, and he claims that it brings about dialogue and makes the coaching staff, as a whole, better. Many sports personalities speculated that these arguments Haley and Weis had were the cause for Weis's departure. A break up after a dysfunctional relationship if you will.
This move, however, makes a few things a lot clearer. Charlie Weis didn't leave the Chiefs just because he wanted to be closer to his son. Charlie Weis left the Chiefs because of his own agenda.
The Chiefs are a tight-lipped organization, but even they seemed surprised when reporters asked them about Weis leaving for Florida the day the rumor began to circulate. And similar things can be said about Florida and their reaction to learning that Weis was leaving. "Blown away," is how one Florida official phrased it. Apparently he didn't tell them he was interviewing for another job either.
Now the reports of Haley being hard to work for and that's why it lead to Weis's departure have reversed. Now Weis is the hard one to work for. One year in Kansas City, one year in Florida, all while end-gaming to his goal to be college head coach again.
Is there anything wrong with that? No, to an extent. If a coach wants to advance through the ranks, then more power to him, but to do it in the fashion Weis has while giving hypocritical reasons for leaving in each stop doesn't paint Weis in a positive light. This is a risk by Kansas, in my opinion, to give Weis the head coaching gig after such short stints in the two previous years.
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