Joe Theismann says he’s “disappointed” with Notre Dame’s performance this year, but is glad that head coach Charlie Weis is returning.
“I’ve spent a lot of time in conversation, both talking to Charlie and people at the University and we’re all disappointed,” Theismann, the former Irish QB who led the Washington Redskins to victory in Super Bowl XVII, said on a recent conference call. “We expected more this year. Certainly it’s an improvement over last year, but not the leap that they made.”
Notre Dame is 6-6 and will play Hawaii in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl Dec. 24. The Irish lost their last two games, to lowly Syracuse of the Big East, 24-23, and to USC, 38-3.
“I don’t think [QB] Jimmy Clausen had a very good year at all,” Theismann said. “Decision-wise, I think he made some poor decisions in some close football games that basically didn’t give the Irish the chance to be able to be successful.”
Theismann said he supported Weis but wasn’t blindly committed to him.
“I’m not blind to what I see, either,” Theismann said. “There isn’t this blind commitment that no matter what Charlie does, no matter how it turns out. Charlie is Charlie. He’s always going to be himself….I believe he’s trying hard and of course this year was disappointing to us.”
