Kansas Jayhawks: Where Did Charlie Weis Go Wrong

Last week, the Kansas Jayhawks fired their Head Coach, Charlie Weis, after just 28 games. Weis was only able to produce six wins, and only one in Big 12 Conference play.

So where do Charlie Weis go wrong?

Quite simply, he was supposedly an offensive and quarterback guru, yet his teams were unable to score points, and his hand picked quarterbacks couldn’t complete passes.

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Admittedly, I was thrilled with the Weis hire at the time. He was probably the biggest name a school like Kansas could possibly hope to attract. His football pedigree was undeniable, and his hire certainly brought attention to the program.

Alas, it didn’t seem to ever pay off.

Weis’ teams only scored 16.6 points a game under his tutelage. In only seven of his 28 games did the Jayhawks score more than 20 points. Five of his wins were against Southeast Missouri, Central Michigan, South Dakota, Louisiana Tech, and South Dakota State. (Stats from ESPN)

Some of his losses included one to Northern Illinois, and two to Rice. After breaking Kansas’ 27-game Big 12 losing streak last year, the Jayhawks fell on the faces the last two games of the season losing by a combined score of 65-10 to Iowa State and Kansas State to finish off the 2013 season.

This season, Kansas was outscored 64-3 to Duke and Texas. So, to wrap up, in Kansas’ last 4 losses under Weis, the Jayhawks were outscored 129-13. Wins over Southeast Missouri and Central Michigan mixed in with these routs could not cover the warts of an ineffective offense against real competition.

Weis’ real failure was his inability to find a quarterback. He brought in transfers Dayne Crist and Jake Heaps, with horrible results. He gave snaps to Michael Cummings and Montell Cozart, neither of whom to seem to be able to pass accurately.

In his 28 games at the helm, the Jayhawks completed 362 passes out of 761 attempts – good for just 47.6%. Kansas had 21 passing touchdowns and 32 interceptions in under Weis’ expert guidance.

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Through the Phog

Despite working miracles with Matt Cassel in 2010 with the Kansas City Chiefs (262 completions out of 450 attempts, 27 touchdowns, 7 interceptions, and a Pro Bowl appearance – easily his best season), Weis’ main claim to fame seems to be winning Super Bowl rings with Tom Brady as his quarterback.

Let’s face it, Tom Brady probably enhanced the reputations of many coaches over the years.

Charlie Weis proved he is no offensive genius, or a great maker of quarterbacks. At Kansas, he went after quarterbacks he wanted – and couldn’t get them even to be average.

To be fair to Weis, he had to kick off 29 players from the Turner Gill Era that were not offering positive contributions to the program. That is more than a third of the scholarship players. He worked to improve the quality of young men in the program. Losing that many players is almost impossible to overcome immediately.

Weis tried to replace them by recruiting heavily for junior colleges, trying to bring in players that could play immediately. That strategy just didn’t seem to pay off the way Weis hoped. Either the players didn’t fit well in the program or they just didn’t perform as well as hoped.

Regardless, it all goes back to Kansas’ inability to score or produce even an average college quarterback. Ultimately, this is what caused Weis’ downfall at Kansas.

Teams are not going to win at this level if they can’t score and have consistently awful quarterback play. It’s not rocket science. Anyone who follows college football even casually knows this.

Weis� failed miserably in the areas he was supposedly an expert. Now he is gone.

Clint Bowen is going to have a nearly� impossible task to impress boosters and the school administration in just eight (now seven) games with the quarterbacks Weis left behind. This stinks for Bowen, but a new coach will be in charge after the season, and that person will need to find a quarterback that can play in the Big 12.

Give Charlie Weis credit for one thing – he finally got the Jayhawk back on the helmet, where it belongs.