Weis understands if change coming

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Charlie Weis wouldn’t blame Notre Dame for firing him.

“If they decide to make a change, I’d have to say I’d have a tough time arguing with that. If they decide to make a change, I’d have a tough time arguing that because 6-5 is not good enough,” the Fighting Irish coach said Sunday. “Especially when you’ve lost five games by a touchdown or less and several three-point games that went right down to the wire.

“My intent is to be here. But if that were the rationale, I mean it would be tough for me to argue with that point,” he said.

Notre Dame lost its third straight game and fell to 6-5 on Saturday with a 33-30 loss in double overtime to Connecticut on senior day in South Bend.

He made the comments after being asked about his quote when he was hired five years ago after Tyrone Willingham was fired with a 6-5 record.

At the time, Weis said: “You are what you are, folks, and right now you’re a 6-5 football team. And guess what? That’s just not good enough. That’s not good enough for you, and it’s certainly not going to be good enough for me.”

Weis’ 35-26 record gives him a .573 winning percentage. That’s worse than the .583 winning percentage that got Notre Dame’s two previous coaches, Willingham and Bob Davie, fired.

Weis declined to answer most questions about how the Irish have done in his five years, saying he’s too busy getting ready for Stanford (7-4) to think about that. He said he’ll answer those questions in the future.

“I’m going to need significant time to get to that point,” he said.

Athletic director Jack Swarbrick said again Sunday, after Weis spoke, that he will decide on Weis’ future after Saturday’s game at Stanford, saying nothing Weis said had changed that.

“It’s still status quo. That’s not to say something couldn’t happen, but I don’t foresee it,” he said.

When asked to characterize his relationship with Swarbrick, who was hired in July 2008, Weis said it has been “fair and cordial the whole time we’ve worked together.”

Weis, who has a contract that runs through the 2015 season, said he couldn’t envision any scenario where he would resign.

“No, that’s not happening,” he said.

Weis conceded that he’s responsible for any shortcomings of the program.

“Who else is responsible? Now, I could sit there and try to blame everybody else, but ultimately, it falls on my shoulders,” he said.