Going into Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, UConn was a middling Big East team with a 4-5 record. Notre Dame was 6-4 with a chance to salvage the season with a Gator Bowl bid versus Miami. Irish head coach Charlie Weis needed a win to save his job. Sixty playing minutes later, the Huskies are a win away from being bowl eligible, Notre Dame is looking down the barrel of a .500 regular season and Weis is as good as gone.

It could just as easily be the other way around. Because the BCS has an out for the Irish, it was possible Weis could pull the turnaround and get the team in a major bowl this year. A few bounces of the ball, and it still might be possible. Notre Dame has gone 2-4 in its last six games. In those four losses, Weis’ ballclub has lost by an average of 4.25 points. Versus UConn it was three points, against Navy it was two. Score one more touchdown, give up one less turnover, and the Irish could be 9-2 with a chance to go 10-2 and slide in to a BCS bowl (or 11-1, if you think Southern Cal could have been taken out). But, the old saying is that football is a game of inches, and Notre Dame has been losing those inches in the second half of the season.

Wha’ happen’? Your guess is as good as ours. Weis started out strong, in this season and at the helm in South Bend.

2005: 9-3 (Fiesta Bowl v. Ohio State, L, 34-20)
2006: 10-3 (Sugar Bowl v. LSU, L, 41-14)
2007: 3-9
2008: 7-6 (Hawai’i Bowl v. Hawai’i, W, 49-21)
2009: 6-5

That’s 35-26 through Saturday’s game, a winning percentage of 57.3. That just isn’t good enough, particularly in the light of this season and a supposed Heisman Trophy contender at quarterback and one of the best wide receivers in the country in Golden Tate. Frankly, it’s not just Weis’ fault, though. There’s something institutionally wrong at the university.

Notre Dame, like Alabama, lost its last coach to win a national championship in 1996. Unlike Alabama, Notre Dame did not face two rounds of debilitating major sanctions from the NCAA. It’s all the more reason to wonder why the troika of Bob Davie, Ty Willingham and Charlie Weis haven’t been able to develop a consistent winner. Between 1997 and 2008, the Irish have seen four losing seasons and one 6-6 year. Each of the three post-Lou Holtz coaches has posted a losing season. Davie had two.

Some people point at academic standards. That hasn’t hurt Notre Dame in the past. It isn’t hurting Stanford this year, as coach Jim Harbaugh is developing a winning program. The high-level potentates of Irish athletics need to circle the wagons and look beyond at whom to which to throw a few million. They need to figure out what the program needs, and where the problems have been in over a decade. Because, three men struggling to return a big-name program to the top isn’t an aberration, it’s a trend.

We’re a little surprised that this sort of thing hasn’t happened in Columbia yet, considering head coach Steve Spurrier’s inability to get Carolina to a successful run — though averaging seven wins per season appears to count as success for Gamecock football.

Charlie Weis is entering into his fifth year at the helm of Notre Dame, which is usually the limit as to being successful in South Bend. If he doesn’t turn it around this year with a favorable schedule and make it to yet another blowout loss in a major bowl, the Irish may be shopping for another coach. First, there were the jokes of whimsy:

Then came the jokes of a more threatening nature:

The identity of who bought the board was initially unknown. The bar located below the billboard, the Linebacker Inn, denied responsibility. Weis shrugged it off, telling news station WSBT, “I’m the head coach at Notre Dame — I mean, welcome to my world. Tell ‘em thanks a lot for wishing me best wishes. I heard about it, I haven’t seen it and we’ll just leave it at that.”

Turns out it was a retired professor and former Notre Dame player, who said he got a “good deal” on the ad.

[Tom] Reynolds, a retired college marketing professor who lettered for the Irish in 1967, claims to represent roughly 50 former Irish football players, mostly from his era and like-minded in their opinion of Weis’ 29-21 bottom line after four seasons.

“By definition, a good football coach does not lose games when he has superior talent on the field, and at least splits the games where the talent is approximately equal,” Reynolds read from an e-mail.

They’re not letting up, either, wearing T-shirts with the message to Notre Dame’s opener with Nevada on Saturday. Irish athletic director Tom Swarbick isn’t happy, though, telling the South Bend Tribune, “It doesn’t support the program. It doesn’t demonstrate care for it. There are people who express all kinds of views about the program, but they don’t choose to do it the way this was done. I think it’s inappropriate in terms of the message. I think it’s inappropriate in terms of the location. But I couldn’t be more comfortable that the team will offer the most effective response.”

But, those great repositories of knowledge Lou Holtz and Beano Cook have Notre Dame playing Florida for the national championship, so apparently not everyone has lost hope. Yet.

The salaries of all Football Bowl Subdivision coaches went out, and, it may shock you, but Alabama head coach Nick Saban was not No. 1. Yeah, it surprises us too, considering that the sky fell on the Bama administration when it was announced that Saban would pull nearly $4 million a year when he was hired. Supply and demand, fellas. How many people can recruit top talent and win national championships at the college level? Precious few. Hence.

You may not realize it, but the Armani Bear is fourth among FBS coaches in salary. He isn’t even tops among SEC coaches. Florida coach Urban Meyer, who earned his long green by winning two national titles in four years and having a Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback is No. 3 in the country, officially getting $100,000 more than the next guy to get bronzed in the plaza in front of Bryant-Denny Stadium. Southern Cal coach Pete Carroll is taking the most bank, with waste-of-space Charlie Weis of Notre Dame at No. 2.

It’s not surprising that the two most well-known football teams among private universities lay out the most cash. Carroll has earned it, in spades. Weis, not so much. Even though Alabama has Knute Rockne to thank for Frank Thomas, the Notre Dame Box and three national championships, we’re pretty thrilled at the tarnished dome sending multi-millions toward yet another coach that will try to get the Irish to its fourth 10-win season in 15 years.

Somewhere, Beano Cook is crying.

FBS Coaches’ Salaries
1. Pete Carroll, USC Pac-10 $4,400,000
2. Charlie Weis, Notre Dame Ind. $4,200,000
3. Urban Meyer, Florida SEC $4,000,000
4. Nick Saban, Alabama SEC $3,900,000
5. Bob Stoops, Oklahoma Big 12 $3,800,000
6. Les Miles, LSU SEC $3,800,000
7. Jim Tressel, Ohio State Big Ten $3,500,000
8. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa Big Ten $3,030,000
9. Mack Brown, Texas Big 12 $2,910,000
10. Bobby Petrino, Arkansas SEC $2,900,000
11. Mark Richt, Georgia SEC $2,900,000
T12. Rich Rodriguez, Michigan Big Ten $2,500,000
T12. Bobby Bowden, Florida State ACC $2,500,000
T12. Gary Pinkel, Missouri Big 12 $2,500,000
T12. Houston Nutt, Ole Miss SEC $2,500,000
T16. Mark Mangino, Kansas Big 12 $2,300,000
T16. Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech ACC $2,300,000
18. Greg Schiano, Rutgers Big East $2,250,000
T19. Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech ACC $2,100,000
T19. Butch Davis, North Carolina ACC $2,100,000
T21. June Jones, SMU C-USA $2,000,000
T21. Lane Kiffin, Tennessee SEC $2,000,000
T21. Gene Chizik, Auburn SEC $2,000,000
24. Al Groh, Virginia ACC $1,875,000
25. Bo Pelini, Nebraska Big 12 $1,851,000
T26. Jeff Tedford, California Pac-10 $1,850,000
T26. Steve Sarkisian, Washington Pac-10 $1,850,000
T28. Mike Sherman, Texas A&M Big 12 $1,800,000
T28. Art Briles, Baylor Big 12 $1,800,000
T28. Steve Spurrier, South Carolina SEC $1,800,000
T28. Mark Dantonio, Michigan State Big Ten $1,800,000
T32. Ralph Friedgen, Maryland ACC $1,750,000
T32. Mike Leach, Texas Tech Big 12 $1,750,000
T34. Chip Kelly, Oregon Pac-10 $1,500,000
T34. Joe Paterno, Penn State Big Ten $1,500,000
T34. Randy Edsall, Connecticut Big East $1,500,000
T34. David Cutcliffe, Duke ACC $1,500,000
T34. Randy Shannon, Miami ACC $1,500,000
T34. Jim Leavitt, USF Big East $1,500,000
40. Steve Kragthorpe, Louisville Big East $1,450,000
41. Bret Bielema, Wisconsin Big Ten $1,400,000
42. Ron Zook, Illinois Big Ten $1,350,000
T43. Dave Wannstedt, Pitt Big East $1,300,000
T43. Gary Patterson, TCU MWC $1,300,000
T45. Danny Hope, Purdue Big Ten $1,250,000
T45. Rick Neuheisel, UCLA Pac-10 $1,250,000
T45. Pat Hill, Fresno State WAC $1,250,000
T45. Rich Brooks, Kentucky SEC $1,250,000
T49. Brian Kelly, Cincinnati Big East $1,200,000
T49. Jim Grobe, Wake Forest ACC $1,200,000
T49. Dan Mullen, Mississippi State SEC $1,200,000
52. Skip Holtz, East Carolina C-USA $1,160,000
T53. George O’Leary, UCF C-USA $1,150,000
T53. Paul Rhoads, Iowa State Big 12 $1,150,000
T55. Dennis Erickson, Arizona State Pac-10 $1,100,000
T55. Todd Graham, Tulsa C-USA $1,100,000
T55. Tom O’Brien, N.C. State ACC $1,100,000
T55. Greg McMackin, Hawaii WAC $1,100,000
T55. Dan Hawkins, Colorado Big 12 $1,100,000
T55. Mike Riley, Oregon State Pac-10 $1,100,000
T55. Bill Snyder, Kansas State Big 12 $1,100,000
T55. Doug Marrone, Syracuse Big East $1,100,000
T55. Bobby Johnson, Vanderbilt SEC $1,100,000
64. Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State Big 12 $1,050,000
65. Mike Stoops, Arizona Pac-10 $1,025,000
T66. Frank Spaziani, Boston College ACC $1,000,000
T66. Dabo Swinney, Clemson ACC $1,000,000
T66. Tim Brewster, Minnesota Big Ten $1,000,000
T66. Jim Harbaugh, Stanford Pac-10 $1,000,000
70. Tommy West, Memphis C-USA $950,000
71. Chris Petersen, Boise State WAC $900,000
T72. Bill Stewart, West Virginia Big East $800,000
T72. Larry Fedora, Southern Miss C-USA $800,000
T72. Steve Fairchild, Colorado State MWC $800,000
T72. Brady Hoke, San Diego State MWC $800,000
T76. Dave Christensen, Wyoming MWC $750,000
T76. Ken Niumatalolo, Navy Ind. $750,000
T76. Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern Big Ten $750,000
T76. Mike Locksley, New Mexico MWC $750,000
T80. Kevin Sumlin, Houston C-USA $700,000
T80. Kyle Whittingham, Utah MWC $700,000
T82. Bronco Mendenhall, BYU MWC $650,000
T82. Stan Brock, Army Ind. $650,000
T82. Bill Lynch, Indiana Big Ten $650,000
T85. Paul Wulff, Washington State Pac-10 $600,000
T85. Bob Toledo, Tulane C-USA $600,000
T85. Troy Calhoun, Air Force MWC $600,000
88. Al Golden, Temple MAC $575,000
89. Mark Snyder, Marshall C-USA $500,000
90. Mike Price, UTEP C-USA $475,000
91. Dick Tomey, San Jose State WAC $460,000
T92. Mike Sanford, UNLV MWC $450,000
T92. Tim Beckman, Toledo MAC $450,000
T94. David Bailiff, Rice CUSA 2 $400,000
T94. Frank Solich, Ohio MAC $400,000
T94. Derek Dooley, La. Tech WAC $400,000
T94. Gary Andersen, Utah State WAC $400,000
T94. DeWayne Walker, New Mexico State WAC $400,000
99. Mario Cristobal, FIU Sun Belt $390,000
T100. Chris Ault, Nevada WAC $375,000
T100. Howard Schnellenberger, FAU Sun Belt $375,000
102. Neil Callaway, UAB C-USA $360,000
T103. Jerry Kill, Northern Illinois MAC $300,000
T103. Larry Blakeney, Troy Sun Belt $300,000
T103. Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee Sun Belt $300,000
T103. Dave Clawson, Bowling Green MAC $300,000
T107. Butch Jones, Central Michigan MAC $275,000
T107. Bill Cubit, Western Michigan MAC $275,000
T107. Todd Dodge North Texas Sun Belt $275,000
110. Turner Gill, Buffalo MAC $265,000
T111. Stan Parrish, Ball State MAC $250,000
T111. Robb Akey, Idaho WAC $250,000
T111. Ron English, Eastern Michigan MAC $250,000
114. J.D. Brookhart, Akron MAC $245,000
115. Charlie Weatherbie, La.-Monroe Sun Belt $205,000
T116. Rickey Bustle, La.-Lafayette Sun Belt $200,000
T116. Steve Roberts, Arkansas State Sun Belt $200,000
T116. David Elson, Western Kentucky Sun Belt $200,000
T116. Mike Haywood, Miami (OH) MAC $200,000
120. Doug Martin, Kent State MAC $170,000