Former Irish head coach Charlie Weis met with a few media members earlier today.  He spoke about his time at Notre Dame, his firing from Notre Dame, and his future.  Here is a partial transcript of that conversation.

Weis opened the interview with a statement.

Opening statement

“I think when people get let go, too many times they forget to thank the reason why they were here. So I want to remember the people that I want to give thanks. Father [John] Jenkins is a guy who before he was even hired had to find a coach. And I was the guy he picked along with [Director of Athletics] Kevin White for that. And for his support while I’ve been here, I’ll be forever thankful.

“I mentioned Kevin, but let’s go on to Jack Swarbrick. I will leave here with tremendous respect for Jack Swarbrick. There was no animosity between the two of us. He made a decision that he felt was in the best interest of the program. With that I have no ill will. Although I had the opportunity to continue, I understand why he did what he did. Based off of wins and losses, on the football field, I can’t argue why what he did what he did.

“There is an athletic director who is in between the head coach and the AD and in this case it was Bill Scholl. I couldn’t ask for a better confidant, sounding board, liaison between me and Swarbrick. Wonderful to work with. And really that was no different than working with Stan Wilcox or Bernard Muir. Those three guys were just godsends.

“I can’t tell you how many administrators and fellow coaches deserve thanks.”

Weis went on to thank a number of administrators, staff, coaches, friends and others from the South Bend community.

“Notre Dame will hire a top notch coach and it will be his deal then. And what I don’t want to be doing — I said this very clearly in a lot of my last conversations with Jack — I want to make sure I’m leaving Jack with all the information he needs to pass on to the next guy, so when he walks in the door, he knows where the landmines are. He knows about academics. He knows about where we are recruiting. Not that he can’t use his own ideas. I talked to separate kids and I can’t call in to the kids anymore because that would be illegal for me to call the kids. If they call me, I can talk to them. But I can’t really talk to them anymore because they’re still in school and I can’t pick up the phone and start to dialing people up.

“Even the kids down the stretch where I knew where this was heading, I did everything I could to objectively tell them why you go to Notre Dame. Last night when I spoke at the banquet, my message was, after I thanked a few people, my message was basically how a Notre Dame education set me up for success. How in my life, every time I went to interview for a job, it was, ‘Oh, you went to Notre Dame?’ And that was really the whole main message of my talk— was how important those things were in the grand scheme of things when these guys look back five, 10, 15 years from now. It won’t be about 6-6. It will be about how a Notre Dame education set them up to be successful in life. And really that was the gist of my conversation.

“It was not easy doing it last night. I actually wanted to tell the players last Saturday that Jack and Father John were officially going to rubber stamp this Saturday night or Sunday. But they asked me to not do it at that time. I told them earlier in the week that I wanted to do it Saturday night. And after Bill Scholl and I had a conversation, we thought that it would officially be best to let everything take place. I’ve always been one to follow protocol. There is a right and wrong way to do things, so I felt that was the right way of doing things.

“Just to clear the air on one issue, I had told Brian [Hardin] on Friday before the Stanford game that I would not be doing media on Saturday. I said if we won the game, I think it would be players in front of the microphones and they would have an opportunity to talk. But at the end of the football game, I didn’t want the media circus to continue. I told Jack, I told Bill. It was like, everyone knew. It’s not something that just snuck up on every one after the game: ‘Weis decides he’s not going to do media.’

“This was a very thought-out plan and I believe it was miscommunicated, misrepresented is really the word, but the way it came across to some people was that I wasn’t going to stand up to the microphone one last time, which has never been my problem. It’s never been my problem to face the music, fellas, as you know. But I clearly stated on Friday that this was not going to be a Weis circus. On Saturday, if we would have won, it was going to be about the players. If we lost it wasn’t going to be a continued media mess against Notre Dame. I just want to make sure that’s clearly understood. It wasn’t the way it was represented.

Do you now believe that Hardin misunderstood—

“I don’t think that Brian maliciously was trying to hang me out to dry. I don’t think that Brian would ever do that. He thought that I might have changed my mind. He knew that I had told him. But he thought that I would change my mind, but why in a million years would he think that I would change my mind?”

“Oh, there’s none. Residence Life is not close to second. I didn’t even know Residence Life existed when I went to school. I didn’t even know what Residence Life was. But I think if you took a poll of students at Notre Dame and asked what’s the biggest negative issue, I would bet at least 50 percent would say Residence Life.”

How so? From what perspective?

“Without getting into the names of the people who work at Residence, Not understanding all the principles of du Lac and everything else, college kids do what college kids do. So if you have a son in college and I’m going to have a son in college, I mean, there’s things that they do that I just don’t understand why they’re even issues.”

For example?

“Let’s say a kid is getting too loud because of alcohol. Why wouldn’t you just tell him to go to bed? Why would that be something that ends up in the hands of Residence Life?”

What is ResLife’s solution to that problem?

“I don’t know the answer. I’m just talking in rule of terms. I don’t know all the specifics, so I’d be talking out of terms. I just know that if you polled the University, the 84-hundred kids that went there, at least 50 percent of them woul say Residence Life.”

So you’re saying its difficult as a student-athlete to adapt and feel comfortable in the dorms at Notre Dame?

“I think that every student-athlete, if given their choice — let me take my time while I’m saying this — I think the dorms is a big part of going to Notre Dame. It’s a part that I treasure to this day.”

It’s magnified even more for an athlete?

“Because of the notoriety of where you are. I’m not saying that the student-athletes are more demanding in life. But let’s face it, everyone knows who those players are. Boys will be boys. I’m always defending them. We know that our kids are going to be in trouble during the course in their lifetimes. But there is just so many things that border on petty.”

How many times have you had to have those conversations in five years? 20? 40? 100?

“Tons. Let’s just say that.”

One thing that I wanted to ask, what are your thoughts on about how the media actually covers this?

“See, I think a lot of the media doesn’t really care about Notre Dame. They care more about their story than Notre Dame. For example, I really believe that you guys here care about Notre Dame. You do not wish ill will on Notre Dame. I don’t believe that’s the case with everyone. I think too many times, the media is more about the story. That’s to start with the local guys. But the national guys, then it’s about how much notoriety can their story get. It could be the same story, but it’s how you portray that story.

“There is guys that we all know that don’t even want to be following Notre Dame. But because that’s the assignment they have right now, they’re forced to do it. There are other guys that have been following Notre Dame for a long time. They’re sour because they’re not the man anymore. You go to this person when I answer a question. But instead, they’re going to you guys. That really sours them on that. That is not any specific name. I’m just saying that they have an agenda and it just doesn’t necessarily have to be about Charlie Weis and Notre Dame. It’s the negativity. And you want to know something, I’ve been able to fight through the negativity. It’s those 18-22 year old kids, it’s tough for them to not feel like this black cloud is hanging over them all the time because even when things are going good, the first time you lose a game, and boom, it’s back again. Or we could win a game but one guy could play crummy and boom, they’re still coming at him anyway.”

How much have they talked to you about that? How much do they say ‘These interviews are difficult’?

“I have a lot of counseling sessions with these guys to a different extent. I try and not tell them what to say. I try to tell them what the red flags are or the bullet points. But at the end of the day, the most popular players are going to be requested the most. You have to trust with their media training that they’ve had during their careers and with growing up into the system. That they’ll handle themselves appropriately.”

How did Jimmy [Clausen] get so good with the media from one year to the next? Because he probably improved as much as any guy that I have been around in 28 years.

“Practice.”

I was curious, the role of the Board of Trustees with you.

“I’ve met some of them. Not many of them. I’ve met some of them and with the exception of three years ago, where I found out some of the problems that existed the first couple of years, but going back to that 2007 year, around this time, I met with a bunch of people and some of them were members of the Board of Trustees. I let them speak freely and took my beating to find out the issues as they perceived them to be.

“I don’t know to this date how much they influence everything, I just know there is a zillion of them. I just don’t know how you can have that many people have a big voice of the University. There’s 60 people on the Board of Trustees. How can all 60 of those people really know what the issues are? I don’t know that. It’s a rhetorical question. But I’m asking, because I don’t really know the answer. But I can tell you if things are going good, you see them and when things are going bad, you don’t.”

Did they have a voice in your firing?

“I think that’s a question to ask Jack or Father John because I believe that Jack and Father John made the call, and they made the call based on production. I just know that there is so many of them, that I don’t know how the Board of Trustees is picked. As an alum of this school, I don’t know the criteria used to be on the Board of Trustees. I don’t know how much they say, or the voice they have, but to be honest with you I would be speaking out of line if I said how much impulse they had in this decision. I think at 6-6, that’s what it comes down to.”

We had a number of e-mails with concern for your personally, somewhat professionally and a lot of concerns concerning Hannah & Friends.

“We are committed to this community and the Hannah & Friends work. We’re committed to that. We're committed so much that we're actually thinking about retiring in the house that we currently have. Now we might sell it and we might not sell it, but we're committed to this place being part of our legacy. There is plenty of people in the community that would try to put ‘For Sale’ signs on my front lawn. I probably have about 100 of them. And you know what, the problem is now I could use them, but I don’t have them anymore.

“Once in a while I would bring one to work, and bring it into Scholl’s office and plant one in there. I used to have a couple of them in my office, a couple of smaller ones, but for all those people that would like to know where those signs go when I got fired, I got home and there were no ‘For Sale’ signs. It was a big disappointment. I’m being sarcastic.

“I went to Martin’s yesterday. We’re not going to hide. We went to Yesterday’s on Wednesday night because we love the place. We’re going to go out and have dinner tonight. We’re not going to go into hidingt. Charlie is getting confirmed tomorrow by Father [Paul] Doyle. We’re not going to all of a sudden because I’m not the football coach at Notre Dame, forget about the reason why we’re here.

“Just like there is good media, there are people that don’t like good people and all those people have all those things to say. I’m not a blind guy. I’m conscious of how a lot of people are. There’s a lot of people that say a lot of things and are mistaken and aren’t true.

“I just don’t understand. Every one of you guys have heard stories about me. You’ve heard some stories that do have some truth to them. I’m not saying that I’m a saint and that I’m perfect. But why do people always try to say stuff? I just don’t get it.”

We live in a message board world and they can say whatever they want behind anonymity.

“This is one of my biggest things, when people say, ‘This family deserves this.’ What does my family have to do with your family? What does that have anything to do with it. What correlation does it have? Does that give them the right to take shots at my wife and kids? I don’t understand it. I don’t even comprehend it.”

Are you saying that this happens face-to-face with them?

“Oh no, no one has the nerve to do that. And trust me, when they say something to my wife and my son, they get it back. It’s coming back the other way now.”

Do you want to talk with the new coach?

“I will be available if that person wants to talk to me. I would be happy to help answer any questions he'd have. I’d be happy to do it. And I wouldn't offer things just to answer questions that he’d have because it's his deal, not my deal. I want Notre Dame to be successful. If Notre Dame goes and wins them all next year, everyone can say, 'See, now that they have a real coach, they can win games.' You want to know something? That's fine by me, just as long as these kids here are successful. I'm not rooting against Notre Dame.

“That's the problem in the coaching profession. That's why [Bill] Belichick and I are like this. The reason why Belichick and I are like this is because when I left, I wanted them to do better than when I was there. To this day, we talk every single week. We've always talked every single week. There are people in New England who say, 'There's a rift between Weis and Belichick.' We've never been closer because I've stuck by him. While all this stuff was going down in New England, there was one person who was sticking by him, and that was me. I think that's the right way of doing it.

“When I leave here, I'm not going to be rooting for them to lose, for them to do worse than me so everyone says, 'I wish they would have kept Weis.' I wish they would have kept Weis. I wish they would have kept me. I really wish that would have happened, but it didn't. So I don't want the next guy to come in and feel like I'm hanging over his shoulder wishing negativity. Trust me, nothing would please me more than for me to be sacrificed to have this ominous black could lifted off of this program so the sun could shine through and we could actually move this in the right direction.”

You talked about Belichick. I imagined you both talked about a future in the NFL. Is that something that you think could happen?

“I'm going to coach in the NFL next year. I have no idea for whom. All those stories about there being a hundred teams that have contacted me, that's a bunch of garbage. First of all, I wouldn't talk to anyone until after I was fired.

“I've probably had guys from 15 different teams text me — some of the people that you wouldn’t even expect. Mark Sanchez. The same Mark Sanchez who I talked to last year and told him how great he played, and he said, 'Is this somebody just messing with me?' He thought it was just someone who was busting his chops, but it was actually me calling him to congratulate him. I'll coach on Sundays next year. I don't know where. But the dust will settle, and in January sometime, I’ll make a decision.”

You talked a little about the negativity from the media and from the community and how irreparable some of that was. How hard is it on your family with there being no shield around them anymore?

“I think what people don't understand is that in the day of the Internet, the way it is now and tweeting and everything else that's out there, when people put things out that are not based on fact, they all come back to your family. They all come back. As hardened as I am, as many blows as I've taken, which we all know is a very large number, I'm still standing, fellas. They didn't beat me down. But they beat my wife down and they beat my son down. Hannah doesn't know. Hannah doesn’t know what she doesn't know.

“But the pain that Maura went through and Charlie went through, I'll never forgive them is the term. You can take all the shots you want at me. Fire away, but you have to understand that when they're personal, they go directly to your wife and kids, and that's really inexcusable. Those people really should be ashamed of themselves, they really should be. As a matter of fact, I'll make sure that the next time I'm at the Grotto, I'll light one for all those people so that maybe they can see the light and stop being so vindictive. It's a shame. It really is.”

Regrets? Mistakes? Anything like that?

“No regrets. I’ve got no regrets.”

Nothing that you look back and would have changed?

“One thing I probably could have done my third year here was come right out and say, 'Hey, look it, we're going to play a bunch of young pups here and you're going to have to live with us' when I said ‘We’re not rebuilding’ when everyone in the free world knew we were. But I believed by saying that that I would have been selling out the seniors that were there, and I just didn't think that ethically that was the right thing to do, to give up on the seniors and tell everyone you were rebuilding.

“But for those guys, we knew what would happen. You didn't need me to tell you, and I wasn't lying to you. I just wasn't giving up on the seniors by saying, 'Hey, look it, we're going to be playing all these freshmen and sophomores and we're going to be going through some growing pains. You have to stay with us. Good.'

“I could have taken some of the pressure off me by doing that. But I'd sell out the seniors by doing that at the same time, and I just don't think that's the right way to do business. So could I have covered myself and made things easier on me by saying ‘In year three, yeah, we’re in a rebuilding process and it’s going to take some time?’ Yeah, I could have bought myself some time and a little less agony. But in the grand scheme of things, I felt like I had an ethical responsibility to the guys not to just sell out the season.”

Are you surprised by the way that everything unfolded?

“I'm surprised that we lost so many games by such a close margin. I'm surprised at that. A touchdown or less. The last game we could have lost by three if you wanted me to let them kick the field goal and not have a chance to throw to the end zone the last play of the game instead of just letting them score a touchdown. I did exactly what you should have done. I don’t know what anyone said because I didn’t read anything. I called a timeout to tell the defense, 'Okay, fellas, this might sound stupid, but let them score.’”

There was really nothing else you could do.

“I understand that, but you should have seen the look on their faces when the head coach calls a timeout and called the defense over and said, 'Let them score.' And then when we called a timeout, I figured [Jim Harbaugh] was going to kneel it. But he didn't. They ran the play and they scored.”

A lot of people think that you need head coaching experience to be successful here. I’ve often said, if you started today, with the talent you have, you would be staying.

“I think that anyone taking this job, regardless if he were Vince Lombardi, Notre Dame is different than any other job, and it's different because Notre Dame is its own separate entity. Anyone coming to take this job is going to have to go through a transition. A top assistant or a head coach coming from another program. There’s things you have to adjust to. It's what you can do with your resources and how well you adjust.

“Would I be better prepared to be named the head coach at Notre Dame today than five years ago? Absolutely, but I just lived it for five years. If there's anyone who understands all the idiosyncrasies that come with it, it's yours truly. But that being said, I think that anyone coming, there are things that are different about this job than any other job. I've used the analogies of wearing different hats. You have to wear a lot of hats as the head coach here. It isn't just coaching football. There are a lot of things that come with the territory. I think this place magnifies these situations so much more. Those situations might come, but they’re not magnified. Everything here is magnified.”

You mentioned the different perception of who you are. Why do you think that—

“Let's rephrase that question. Let’s not ask it. Why don’t we make it this question: What's my reaction to the perception of me as a person? Two things: Those clips of me yelling at the officials on the sidelines. Those are deserved by the way. That's one. Probably the biggest mistake I made that caused this problem was ‘60 Minutes.’ The intent of what I felt ‘60 Minutes’ was trying to do, and I believed the intent was right, but it certainly did not work out the way I had intended it to work out.

“There was a lot of good stuff in there that just never made it in there. There was tons of stuff, tons more. This type of stuff (meaning Hannah & Friends). My whole thing, the reason to do it was to show the football coach when you're not a football coach. That was the reason I was willing to do it. I was willing to do it for Hannah & Friends, but it didn't play out that way.”

I’ve a question about the buyout. It seems like the buyout was always being talked about. Is it as large as they have said it is?

“I don't want to talk about the buyout. Let's talk about the salary. The salary was so greatly inflated. Let's not talk about buyouts because that's such a sore subject. Let's talk about the salary. They had me making 4.2 (million). My salary at this point has not gotten to three (million). So let's call it the way it was.

“When you sign up for a long-term deal, over the years, they start you low and they work your way up and I wasn't at three (million) yet. Everybody had me at 4.2. Where did that come from? And they had it like it was a substantiated fact. That's why I've said numerous times, ‘I'm willing to give my tax returns to anyone that is willing to write a check that pays the difference between what I make.’ I'll even give the money to Hannah & Friends. I won't even take it. You want to see last year's tax returns to substantiate that? Give me a donor. We’ll take a million bucks. Hannah & Friends — we’ll take a million bucks.

“Why do people try to say that I was the second highest paid coach? Where does that come from? Where did that number come from? Where does it come from? Where does that person come up with that number? AllsI’m saying is, these people keep saying it and my wife keeps on saying, 'Are you making 4.2 (million)?'”

You probably don’t want to go into details with this, but it’s my understanding that you gave your assistants a bog portion of that buyout.

“The assistants all, for the most part, have plenty of protection. Let's just say that. They have plenty of protection. I don't want to go into what that means. They're not going to be on the food lines anytime soon.”

When did you know that you were going to be fired?

“I felt that when we lost to Navy that that did not bode well for where this was headed. I still thought that we had time to resolve the issues, but I thought that was a bad loss, especially since we didn't punt the whole day.

“But the Monday after the Connecticut game, it was over, and it was not a bad conversation. Jack and I just sat down, closed the door, and I said, 'Look it,’ it was Thanksgiving week. I did not talk to any of the assistants about it because I felt that it would distract them from getting ready for Stanford, and the best thing to do was not say one word to them. Then on Friday morning, before Stanford, I told all those guys in the staff room where this was heading. But they all knew Friday morning at 9 o’clock. I didn't talk to the team until last night at the banquet.”

Was there a thought to you coaching a bowl game?

“We never discussed it. Just like when I told the guys we’d be asked questions about the bowl game, we never discussed it.”

Would you have considered that — coaching in a bowl game?

“It’s now a rhetorical question.”

There was some talk earlier this week that you spoke to one of the committed recruits about sticking with Notre Dame. I won’t get into any names, but what was your message to him?

“My message was basically similar to what I told the team last night. You pick the school, you don't pick the coach. Relationships go a long way in recruiting. The longer you know guys, the better the chances you have. But my message was that you fit here, you're supposed to go here, they're going to have a good coach here. They’re going to have a good coach here. You should come here, and for some of the highest prospects that are still out there, I did the same thing with them too, even though I knew where this was heading with me. I still talked to them and I told them the same thing. You won't find one recruit out there that I didn't encourage to go to Notre Dame, even though I wouldn’t be here.”

How important do you think recruiting is for the next head coach?

“I think it's critical that he still has a chance this year to get a really good recruiting class. The foundation is set. I think that there are a lot of guys are in that wait and see approach. I think that could be stabilized quickly. There are some front line players that we're on the cusp on, and they'd have a legitimate chance of going and getting them. Obviously, that would be critical.”

Certain guys have some ties around the nation, and recruiting nationally is important.

“He'll be able to do it. We're a national recruiting school. He'll be able to do that. I don’t think that’s a worry. Whoever they hire will be somebody that can recruit nationally. They'll hire a good coach. There's no doubt in my mind. I don't know who it's going to be. You guys would have a better feel for it than me, but they'll hire a good coach.”

Any comments on Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate?

“I think they'll both let you know pretty quickly. They're visiting with their families this weekend. I've visited with them privately and I've visited Jimmy with his family. I've visited Golden privately and I've visited with Golden and his family. They'll talk this weekend. They were in here for the banquet. We’ll talk this weekend. Now that there's not a bowl game, I would encourage them to let everyone know at the University and let everyone know what their plans are so everyone can move forward one way or another.”

How has this been on you?

“I’m extremely disappointed. I’m extremely disappointed. Personally and professionally. I’m extremely disappointed. I’m not in the tank, but I’m extremely disappointed.”

Will you be a head coach someday?

“I’ll probably interview. I’d say there is a possibility, yes. It might be a possibility this year.”

Are there offers that have come your way?

“Not all as a coordinator.”

Are you done with college?

“I would say the pros is where I’m headed.”

Are you better off after this experience?

“I'm 10 times better off. Let's assume I go to somebody's staff as an offensive coordinator. Let’s assume that’s where this is headed. Not only do I have a different perspective now having sat in this seat for five years. But that head coach will have a sounding board of somebody who he can run things by because as a head coach, having that person to bounce things off, that’s invaluable. It will help me personally, it will help me professionally, and it will help the guy I'm working for as well because my perspective is different now."

Is it a little weird to be looking at the Notre Dame coaching search?

“I have no idea who the head coach is going to be. I can't say I don't care, but I'm not following it and I'm not tracking it. I don't know what the rumor mill is. I just know that I truly want to be one of those coaches who is always remembered for wishing nothing but the best for Notre Dame. That's how I left New England. That’s what everyone there knows that I truly believe. I wished nothing but the best for them and I want it no different this time. I don't want to be rooting against him. I want to be rooting for him. I don't want to be rooting against a coach's record just so that people could say, 'I wish they would have kept Weis.' That would be selfish and I've never ever been selfish, and I don't want to start now.

“If you had heard me last night, I talked about everything that you would have expected me to talk about with those players, but none of it was about me. I used my life to try to show them what a Notre Dame education can get you. I mocked myself, made fun of myself, and I actually had people laughing because I felt they needed somebody to break the ice because so many people are in the tank. At the end of the day, my message was don’t look back, look forward. Do things right academically, stay out of trouble, get a new head coach in here, support him and get going. Ten, 15 years from now, you'll understand why.