Well, the reunion of Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel won’t result in three more Super Bowl rings in four years.
Multiple outlets report that Weis, as expected, has accepted the position of offensive coordinator at the University of Florida, a rare lateral move for an offensive coordinator at the NFL level. Weis will remain with the Chiefs through the end of the team’s playoff run, but Weis will be announced as the Gators’ new offensive coordinator on Monday.
The Chiefs gave Weis a landing spot after he was fired by Notre Dame, putting the former Patriots offensive coordinator on the same staff as Crennel, the former Patriots defensive coordinator. Though Weis did well enough with quarterback Matt Cassel to merit consideration for other jobs, no one expected him to return to the college level for anything less than a head-coaching gig.
The move raises obvious questions regarding the relationship between Weis and head coach Todd Haley, a coach of the year candidate regarded by some as a first-class pain in the rear. The potential for a lockout that would reduce dramatically the salaries of NFL assistant coaches also may have been a factor, although Weis presumably is getting the bulk of his compensation from his Notre Dame buyout. (Then again, we always suspected that the terms of the ND contract were overstated in order to scare off NFL teams that may have been interested in Weis before it became accepted that he wasn’t an “A” list head-coaching candidate for the pro game.)
It will be interesting to see whether another former Pats offensive coordinator becomes a candidate for the job. Former Broncos coach Josh McDaniels and Chiefs G.M. Scott Pioli are believed to have a very good relationship; McDaniels and Haley don’t. If McDaniels receives serious consideration for the position, it will confirm that Pioli is running the show in the Show-Me State, regardless of how much preening or posturing or finger-pointing Haley performs.