Weis won’t let Notre Dame get overconfident

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Weis won’t let Notre Dame get overconfident

By TEDDY GREENSTEIN

06/14/2006 tgreenstein@...

Chicago Tribune

A year ago Notre Dame football was in tatters, desperate to recover from two dreadful seasons and the controversial firing of Ty Willingham.

Now Notre Dame’s only serious threat is overconfidence. And coach Charlie Weis knows it.

“Come August 6 when (the players) come back, don’t worry about them reading the magazines,” he said Tuesday. “Don’t worry about them trying to live up to the hype. Because I will be unmerciful.

“Every time there’s mistake I’ll say: ‘I guess you’re reading the papers again, huh? That’s right, you’re an All-American, you’re an up-and-coming Heisman Trophy winner, you don’t need to listen to me.’ It’s going to be a bad training camp. It’s going to be good for me, but bad for them.”

That was vintage Weis. As he embarks on Season 2 in South Bend, he remains full of bluster and bravado. And an occasional touch of self-deprecation.

“It’s kind of funny when people look at some pudge-ball head coach, they always worry about how much energy you have,” he said. “I have plenty, OK, and I always will. I have a lot of gas in the tank.”

Weis, coming off a long recruiting trip, spoke Tuesday in Chicago to a pro-Notre Dame crowd at the annual Westwood One luncheon. The radio network formally introduced its new play-by-play man, Don Criqui, who will replace Tony .

But Weis’ presence overshadowed Criqui’s appearance even though the coach remained at his table during the reception, opting not to mingle.

As usual, Weis was all business.

“I believe that there’s only one person who should be speaking for Notre Dame football, and that’s me,” he said. “That’s my responsibility.

“When prognosticators say: ‘How are you going to do this year?’ Well, I’m not stupid enough to give that answer. Every time we play, my goal is to win that game. And I’m very short-sighted. . . . I’m only worried about Georgia Tech on September 2 at 8:08 (Eastern time). So if you’re down there, time your drinking accordingly.”

Weis expects his players to report to South Bend on June 18 for summer school.

“With one exception,” he said. “We have some long-haired pitcher for the Cubs who I think is going to be shipped out to Boise for about a month, get himself a few dollars and then come on back to training camp.”

The Cubs drafted right-hander Jeff Samardzija in the fifth round and are said to be close to signing him.

Samardzija set several school records as an Irish wide receiver. Weis said he didn’t know enough to talk about Samardzija’s baseball prospects, “but I know he’s a first-round draft choice in the NFL. If we don’t mess it up, he’ll be a high pick. I get a lot of phone calls about him.”

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