Far away from Notre Dame’s sideline, Charlie Weis Jr. makes his own name (2024)

TAMPA, Fla. — Charlie Weis Jr. has nowhere else to be just yet, even if the University of South Florida football complex is mostly dark. February’s signing day, an afterthought for established programs but a foundational moment for rebooting ones like the Bulls, is barely 36 hours in the rearview. The office of first-year head coach Jeff Scott is closed. Same goes for his chief of staff and father Brad Scott, whose office is adjacent to the head coach’s.

Weis is still here, his space overlooking USF’s practice fields, at least one of them marked for the future site of an indoor facility. There are no shovels in the ground, just hopeful banners hanging in the entry to the Lee Roy Selmon Athletics Center. USF’s present is all about the future after it hired Jeff Scott away from Clemson in December.

Weis keeps a tidy office. Or he hasn’t had the chance to move in. Maybe both. There are USF accoutrements on the walls and a gleaming Bulls helmet atop a cabinet behind his desk. Two cell phones and bottled water are to Weis’ right. A box of business cards and his name plate are to his left. Weis doesn’t need these to get people to remember his last name, though. He needs this stuff to reintroduce it.

To be Charlie Weis Jr. a decade ago was something entirely different, holding up personnel cards on Notre Dame’s sidelines as his father’s bombastic five-year tenure fell apart under the weight of mounting losses and vitriol. Weis Jr. was a doughy kid at the old Saint Joseph High School back then. He spent autumn afternoons watching VHS tapes as a student assistant, scouting tendencies for a high school team he didn’t play on. Then he’d wander over to Notre Dame’s football offices to learn as much as he could.

Weis knew he wanted to be a coach, even back then. He knew he had the last name for it. And in the past 10 years, he hasn’t had to outrun that name as much as he’s had to show he’s more than the name, over and over again. When USF opens this fall at Texas, another national audience will get to see what the Bulls’ 26-year-old offensive coordinator can do. Nick Saban, Steve Sarkisian, Lane Kiffin and Mario Cristobal already know.

“You’re always gonna have that, that people are gonna bring up the last name,” Weis said. “My dad opened several doors for me, even just allowing me that opportunity to be a student coach. I was definitely given several opportunities because of that, and I’m extremely grateful for it. But in terms of the jobs I’ve gotten, my dad has not had a connection to anybody.

“I’ve never really felt like I’ve ever gotten a job because of him, this one even more so. That’s part of what makes me excited to be here, to be on my own.”

Meet the new Charlie Weis. You probably won’t recognize him. That overweight high school kid who became a digital target for some Notre Dame fans is now a fit 20-something, married to a former figure skater. The barbed wire of his father’s New Jersey personality has been replaced by Midwest nice. When asked where he’s from, Weis will say he’s from everywhere like most coaches’ kids, then self-identify as being from South Bend.

His five years around Notre Dame were instructional and formative, an early sampling of the best and worst of this profession. That has stayed with him, from a relocation to Kansas City as a high school senior to a freshman semester at Florida to a transfer to Kansas. The experiences stuck through seasons at Alabama and with the Atlanta Falcons, then during two years as offensive coordinator under Kiffin at Florida Atlantic, calling plays for a different head coach who trafficked in his reputation as an offensive genius.

It has all landed Weis in this spacious office at USF, ready to help Scott undertake a rebuild. But that’s not why Weis is here the day after signing day when almost nobody else is. He’s just settling in before flying out to Atlanta that night to present at a coaching clinic, with another one in Kansas City the next day. In an ideal world, Weis would take a minute to recharge before jumping into offensive installs, player meetings and recruiting lists.

Weis doesn’t have everything figured out quite yet, but he’s got a lot of it down after growing up in the Notre Dame spotlight, watching his father get publicly dragged and having the whole experience fortify his desire to coach. There is nothing normal about any of that. And that’s another part of the reason why Charlie Weis Jr. is here.

Jeff Scott, Brad Scott and USF’s athletics director Michael Kelly flew south to Boca Raton last December for back-to-back-to-back interviews, wondering if FAU’s staff uncertainty after Kiffin left for Ole Miss could work to their benefit. They rented space in a local hotel to figure it all out.

Owls defensive coordinator Glenn Spencer went first, a familiar face to the Scotts for both his work around the ACC region and his wife, former ESPN reporter Jeannine Edwards, who spent years covering Clemson. There wasn’t much doubt where Jeff Scott wanted to go with that first hire, nor did he need to do much convincing Spencer. Thirty years of college coaching experience has a way of earning candidates the benefit of the doubt.

Weis was up next. Brad Scott was asked to fetch him from the hotel lobby.

“I’d never met him and I see this real youngster, didn’t know if he was waiting to play video games or if that was Charlie Weis Jr.,” Brad Scott said. “These young guys, they know what they want. They’ve prepared themselves for these kinds of days. And his references were quite impressive.”

Jeff Scott’s connection to Weis wasn’t much deeper than Brad Scott’s introduction. Weis had cold-called Jeff Scott last season to compare notes on an opponent, swapping X’s and O’s. When that introductory text first came in, Scott thought it was from the former Notre Dame coach. They talked for about 20 minutes, enough to make an impression on Scott, who had been keeping a list of potential assistant hires he’d make if he ever left Clemson for a head coaching job.

Still, that call wasn’t enough to put Weis atop Scott’s list on its own. That took another father-son connection, this one from Middle Tennessee by way of Clemson. When Scott had played receiver at Clemson, his position coach was Rick Stockstill, who is now entering his 15th season as head coach at Middle Tennessee.

During that run, Stockstill has coached his son Brent, a four-year starter at quarterback for the Blue Raiders who jumped into his own coaching career last season as a quality control coach at FAU. So Scott doubled-checked with the son of his former position coach, making sure he was reading Weis correctly. Brent Stockstill assured him he was. Scott even brought the younger Stockstill to USF in a supporting capacity. Still, hiring a 26-year-old offensive coordinator is not without risk, even if the perception outpaces the reality.

Ten minutes into the interview, Scott knew Weis would be his pick. He liked the way Weis taught offense and the way he called plays, which he will do at USF after two seasons of doing the same at FAU. Scott just needed to get similar feedback from his dad and his boss. He let his dad quiz Weis on how to block multiple fronts. Not only did Weis have the answers, he had a pedagogical approach to make sure his players could understand those answers.

When the interview ended and Weis exited, Jeff Scott kept quiet. He wanted somebody else to talk.

“Then Michael Kelly looked at me and said, ‘I think if we didn’t hire him, we’d all regret it the rest of our lives. I think 10 to 15 years from now we’re gonna tell people we flew to Boca and didn’t hire a guy who just won the Super Bowl as a head coach,’ ” Scott remembers. “It felt like we were interviewing a 26-year-old Sean McVay.”

USF offered. Weis accepted. He later turned down interest from Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal to interview for the Ducks’ offensive coordinator position, a post Notre Dame offensive coordinator Tommy Rees interviewed for, too.

Weis’ profile only grew after the interview, leading FAU’s offense in the Boca Raton Bowl on Dec. 21. Already playing without Kiffin, FAU was also missing Mackey Award-winning tight end Harrison Bryant, plus three frontline receivers and its top two running backs. Weis had been calling plays all season, but this would be the first game without Kiffin’s oversight, and Weis would be working without a full deck.

FAU put up 521 yards of total offense and blew out SMU, 52-28.

“It was one of the most important moments in my career so far,” Weis said. “Everyone doubting us, questioning our players, who’s gonna step up. By the time the game kicked off, we had no doubt we were gonna win, in my opinion. The way that it played out was surreal. In the fourth quarter when I got to go down onto the sidelines, it was very, very special moment.”

About 30 miles north of Boca Raton, Charlie Weis Sr. followed from his home in Wellington with his wife, Maura. They high-fived from the couch during what turned into a four-hour ESPN infomercial for their son. The former Patriots offensive coordinator who won multiple Super Bowl rings in New England and then was hired, fired and paid by both Notre Dame and Kansas watched the latest triumph of his son’s college football coaching path, along which he has served as father, mentor and sounding board.

Charlie Weis Sr. spent last week in Indianapolis around the NFL combine doing his morning radio show, lighter work for a retired coach removed from a career of heavy lifting. He had dinner with former quarterback Brady Quinn. He connected with Bryant, the former FAU tight end in town for the NFL combine. He had Super Bowl champion head coach Andy Reid on his radio show. Reid said Weis Jr. was already on his short list of future coordinators.

“Every question I get, it’s, ‘Tell me about your son,’ ” Weis Sr. said. “He’s not that little kid anymore. I’m very proud of him. I try as best I can just to be Charlie’s dad, if you know what I’m saying.”

A father’s work raising a son is never complete, but the hard parts are done here. Weis Sr. spent time around FAU the last two seasons, sometimes checking out practices, often attending home games and rarely offering much advice. Before the Boca Raton Bowl, Weis Jr. called his dad and asked for pointers on a game plan that didn’t have a safety net. Father reminded son to get the ball out quickly. That was about it. Weis Jr. remembered the advice during the game, even as he wasn’t sure why everything was going so well.

It was all a long way from Weis Jr.’s time on the Irish sideline. With his father usually just a few yards away, Weis Jr. would get instructions from the defensive staff in the press box to hold up cards to help Notre Dame’s defense, signaling 21 (two backs, one tight end), 12 (one back, two tight ends) or 11 (one back, one tight end) sets. It was basically the data entry of coaching. It was also the kind of experience high school kids can’t get, never mind the hours spent in the locker room of St. Joe charting opponents.

The sideline visibility opened the younger Weis to inhuman scrutiny, the kind awkward teenagers struggle with in quiet moments, never mind on NBC. When the feedback turned vicious, Charlie Sr. and Maura worried for their son’s mental health. They encouraged him to find a different career track. When Notre Dame fired Weis, fat jokes not only came to the family home for the dad, they came for the son, too.

“Highest of highs, lowest of lows, but for a high school kid, it’s exaggerated,” Weis Jr. said. “From the bad parts, you get to see who’s really there for you. You learn a lot about people’s character. It tested me spirituality as a Catholic, as a Christian with God. That really helped as well. There’s so much more to life than football.

“God’s not up there in heaven saying, I want Notre Dame to win or lose.”

These moments set Weis Jr.’s career path in stone, not because of the scars but because of the inspiration they provided. What he remembers about rock bottom, the double overtime loss to Connecticut that made his father’s firing inevitable, was how that Saturday began. Before the game, players locked arms with Weis Sr. while taking the field, offensive lineman Eric Olsen and quarterback Jimmy Clausen to his right, safety Kyle McCarthy and linebacker Scott Smith to his left.

The moment was organic, and Weis Sr. was confused about what was happening. When the players told him, the head coach fought back tears.

“It’s almost a make-or-break moment for you in your life, what path are you going to go down?” Weis Jr. said. “I thought it was so cool to see those relationships that transcended wins and losses and points scored. I feel like coaching is more of a calling than a profession.”

That offseason Weis Jr. could have stayed in South Bend to graduate high school. Maura offered to stay behind. Instead, he bolted to Kansas City, where Weis Sr. was the offensive coordinator for the Chiefs. Weis Jr. decided to lose weight and play football his senior year at St. Pius X. He caught a touchdown and recovered an onside kick. He met his future wife. The experience changed his perspective on football and on himself.

“Obviously I was not a good player at all,” Weis Jr. said. “I think I just wanted to do something on my own. I’d been around my dad all those years at Notre Dame. Then that summer I dropped a bunch of weight because I was overweight, and it felt good. I wanted to keep going.”

Not all the history between the Weis family and Notre Dame has since become water under the bridge, but enough has. Weis Jr. thinks a lot of his counterpart in South Bend, remembering new offensive coordinator Tommy Rees as a skinny quarterback prospect from Chicagoland. He’s impressed by the job Brian Kelly has done stabilizing Notre Dame football.

“I love South Bend. I love Notre Dame and everything that it did for me and my life,” Weis Jr. said. “Obviously it didn’t end well, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t some great moments.”

Next week, Weis will coach his first spring practice at USF, trying to help revive a program that lost its final six games two years ago, then got even worse. The Bulls endured a 4-8 slog last fall that led to Charlie Strong’s dismissal and Jeff Scott’s hiring. This is a place Scott can win, which means it’s a place Weis can win, too. USF feels like a Power 5 job with a Group of 5 address. There’s local talent, soon-to-be-improved facilities and a first-time head coach who understands the best practices of culture building.

For two coaches who have never worked together, the Scott-Weis pairing feels like an idyllic match of backgrounds. Weis’ playbook is a mixture of Alabama and early-2010s Baylor. Scott’s is all Clemson. These schemes have scored many, many points.

Scott, whose father’s resume includes nine years as a Florida State assistant (1985-93) at Bobby Bowden’s peak before a difficult run as South Carolina’s head coach (1994-98) and a long tenure as an assistant for Tommy Bowden and Dabo Swinney at Clemson (1999-2011), knows the value of proximity to the game, too. When Brad Scott was the head coach of the Gameco*cks, most game-day pictures showed Jeff in the background holding the wires connecting his dad’s headset.

“That was fine until he got older and he started wanting to recommend plays,” Brad said. “Then he had to back up a bit.”

Jeff Scott could have started his coaching career at Clemson where he played but took the advice to begin at the high school level. At 25, he won a state championship in his only season at Blythewood in South Carolina. One year coaching receivers at Presbyterian followed. From there, Scott became a graduate assistant at Clemson, working for the son of his dad’s old boss. When Tommy Bowden was let go midseason and Swinney took over, Scott got the receivers coach job Swinney vacated.

“The first 27 years of my life I was referred to as Coach Scott’s son. The last few years, he’s Coach Scott’s dad,” Jeff Scott said. “It’s kind of funny to see the roles reversed.”

That moment is coming for Weis, working under a boss who understands his career even without sharing branches of his coaching tree. Both are devout Christians, working faith into their football. An hour spent with Weis comes with a half dozen references to his religious foundation. In many ways, Weis feels like an assistant coach who’d fit into the empire built by Swinney at Clemson.

For now, though, he’s here at USF, ready to turn the lights back on.

And few would bet against Charlie Weis Jr. helping his new program find the switch.

(Top photo courtesy of USF Athletics)