It's a coordinated effort

HOUSTON -- He's a little disappointed, OK? Charlie Weis has got enough confidence in his knowledge and expertise to think he'd be a pretty good head coach.

"I thought I nailed those interviews," he says.

But the Giants went for Tom Coughlin, the Bills went for Mike Mularkey, and the last-resort Raiders went for Norv Turner, so Charlie Weis will have to wait for at least another year before reentering the head coaching derby in the National Football League. There will be no inflammatory comments from him. The offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots has come to the fork in the road and has chosen the one with the higher elevation.

"That's just the way the business is done," he shrugs. "I can't look on it as being cheated."

It's not as if he doesn't have a nice lot in life.

"I can think of a lot worse jobs than being the offensive coordinator for a team that has gone to the Super Bowl two of the past three years," he points out. "A lot of people would like to be in that position."

It's a very lofty position indeed for a guy who went to Notre Dame but never played a down there and whose original goals when he began his high school coaching career at Boonton (N.J.) High School were "be a head high school coach, be active in the community, be a guidance counselor, and be a good solid leader for kids." Answering queries from the national media about how it felt to miss out on a head coaching job in the NFL because his team had made it to the Super Bowl -- again -- was not on the 1979 Charlie Weis radar screen.

That all changed, he says, on a "miserable, rainy, November day" in 1984. He was in his fourth season as head coach at Morristown (N.J.) High School. "I went into the teacher's lounge and everyone was smoking cigarettes, which I don't do, and the big conversation was `12 more years until I can retire,' " he recalls. "I'm thinking, `12 more years to retirement?' I'm looking at my watch and all I'm thinking is how to get through the day. That's when I decided this wasn't the life for me."

He still needed a way out, and he got it, courtesy of South Carolina coach Joe Morrison. The Gamecock mentor was recruiting one of Weis's kids. Kenny Sally was a running back and defensive back Morrison was seeking to cast as a safety. The two coaches hit it off, and the following year Morrison brought Weis down as a grad assistant type, with a promise of more gainful employment in due time.

Weis counts Morrison as one of the four key men in his career. The first was Morristown coach John Chirona. "I had never played college football," Weis says. "I was just one of those armchair guys. John Chirona taught me to coach. He humbled me. Joe Morrison also showed me what I didn't know. And Bill Parcells certainly taught me how little I knew."

The fourth influence is, of course, the other Bill, the one he now answers to.

If anyone is well-positioned to evaluate the two Bills, it is Charlie Weis.

"Bill Parcells's greatest strength is button-pushing," Weis maintains. "He knows the right button to push with everyone, from the owner on down. With me it was the idea that I wasn't working hard enough. It would be 11:30 at night, and he'd come by and say, `Oh, you planning to leave early? You trying to get out of here?'

"Bill Belichick is the most cerebral coach I've ever known. I've never seen anyone with more foresight -- foresight and insight -- into the game. He is always a step ahead, whether it's a personnel issue or in the middle of a game. I'd like to think that if I ever get the chance to be a head coach in this league, I'd like to play to the strength of both guys, the button-pushing of a Parcells and the cerebral aspect of a Belichick."

But until such time Charlie Weis is an offensive coordinator, a position that occupies a visibility notch somewhat north of a third base coach and just a bit south of the head man. Not unlike a baseball manager, an offensive coordinator has a job many fans think they could handle. The defensive coordinator's role is too arcane, but who doesn't think he or she knows when (and where) to run or when (and to whom) to pass?

"I know how it goes," Weis says. "Every guy sitting there with a six-pack and a bag of chips thinks he could do it himself. I understand that. I've been there, and I'd be a hypocrite to say otherwise. When I was coaching high school in New Jersey, I used to go to Giants games and say how stupid everybody was. `What are they doing?' I was just like all those who now sit there and think I'm the dumbest guy on the face of the earth. But when you are actually doing it you find out how little you really know."

What Weis knows about the Carolina Panthers is that he is going up against a confident, no-frills bunch that pretty much dares you to try certain things. Unlike his buddy Romeo Crennel's gang, the Panthers substitute surprisingly little, relying on their renowned front four and their solid linebacking corps to control matters, no matter what the enemy formations or the down and distance.

"It will be the same as any other game," he says. "Everything you do offensively is based on your perception of their strengths and weaknesses. It's all based on the evidence you see on tape."

Having been here before, he says, does help. "You talk about Super Bowl experience being good for a player," he says, "Well, I think it's good for a coach, also. It gives you a calmness. I'm usually the calmest on Sunday, anyway. I'm a lot wilder on Wednesday. But you need to be calm, because if you lose your composure on the sidelines, it can affect the players."

By Saturday night, he and Belichick will have decided on all the important matters, not just the basic game plan, but when and if they'll be going for it on fourth down, etc., and what will be the Red Zone approach. Sure, he's sensitive to that. He would have liked to come away with more touchdowns and fewer field goals against Indianapolis, and, yes, he'd like to have a play or two back. It is not giving away a state secret to reveal that Tom Brady is unlikely to be attempting a naked bootleg from inside the 10 Sunday.

"It was a bad call by the offensive coordinator," he sighs.

Win or lose, he'll be back on the job next year. All the head jobs are gone.

"I look at it this way," Weis says. "The way the rules are now it pigeonholes people who have success. So I say do one of two things. Either lock it all down, with no hires until after the Super Bowl, or allow someone to interview and accept a job. But I really don't want to use this forum as a self-promoting deal. The important thing now is the game on Sunday. To be concerned about anything else would be disrespectful to the organization. And I'm a sports fan. I wouldn't want to think that the coach of any team I'm following isn't thinking about his job."

All he can do now is puff up his resume with another Super Bowl triumph. With all due respect, it beats counting the days till that teacher's pension kicks in.