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Hoping to copy the formula USC football used to regain national prominence -- fire the head coach, endure public ridicule as big-name candidates turn you down, hire a below-the-radar candidate based in New England -- Notre Dame introduced Charlie Weis as its 28th coach on Monday.

“Well, guess what folks, I hit pay dirt,” Weis said at his introductory news conference.

Notre Dame would do leprechaun leaps if Weis worked out as well as Pete Carroll has at USC.

Weis, 48, will continue in his job as New England offensive coordinator while managing some Fighting Irish matters until the Patriots are eliminated from the NFL playoffs, which could stretch into February.

On Monday, a few prominent coaches in this musical-chair carousel finally took their seats.

Shortly after Notre Dame introduced Weis, former Notre Dame coach Tyrone Willingham presided over an afternoon news conference to announce his hiring at Washington while Stanford, the school Willingham left three years ago to coach Notre Dame, officially welcomed Walt Harris, who will leave Pittsburgh for The Farm after Panthers play in the Fiesta Bowl.

Also, Brigham Young made its choice, promoting Bronco Mendenhall from defensive coordinator to head coach, replacing Gary Crowton.

Notre Dame is banking Weis, a 1978 Notre Dame graduate who did not play college football, can start healing what has been one of the most painful chapters in school history.

The Irish saga began Nov. 30, when the school broke precedent and fired Willingham with two years left on his contract in order to court Utah Coach Urban Meyer, who had called Notre Dame his “dream job.”

But Meyer already had agreed in principle to take the Florida job, which left Notre Dame humbled and embarrassed as it scrambled for a backup plan.

After making unsuccessful runs at other coaches, including Louisville’s Bobby Petrino, Notre Dame homed in on Weis, seemingly a long shot for the job given his lack of head-coaching experience and the fact he would not immediately be available.

In contrast to the stoic and calculated Willingham, the New Jersey-born Weis demonstrated Monday he prefers the blunt-as-a-brick approach.

“For me to say anything that would be disrespectful of Coach Willingham and his staff would be absolutely ignorant on my part,” said Weis, who signed a six-year contract worth about $2 million per season.

Then, he added, “but I came here because expectations were not met. And my job here is to raise those expectations.”

Willingham went 10-3, 5-7 and 6-5 in three seasons, and Weis acknowledged that just wasn’t good enough.

Weis, an integral part of two Super Bowl championship teams in New England, said he learned an important lesson when he was an assistant coach under Bill Parcells with the New York Giants.

“Parcells said to me years ago, ‘You are what you are, folks,’ ” Weis said, referring to what he is inheriting at Notre Dame. “And right now you are a 6-5 football team. And guess what, that’s just not good enough. That’s not good enough for you, and it’s certainly not going to be good enough for me. So if you think they hired me here to go .500, you’ve got the wrong guy.”

Weis would not talk about how he was going to manage two jobs simultaneously, other than to say he will assemble a skeleton coaching staff at Notre Dame to oversee the program while New England is in the playoffs.

While the Patriots’ season could end after the Feb. 2 national signing day for high school players -- a reason many thought Notre Dame would hire someone else -- Weis says his NFL success is an advantage.

Weis: “Well, what’s better recruiting, sitting in a Super Bowl locker room, ‘Hey, you sure don’t want to come to school here?’ ”

Meanwhile, in Seattle:

Washington reached agreement with Willingham on a five-year contract worth $1.43 million per year hoping he can restore order to a program coming off a 1-10 year -- the school’s first losing season since 1976.

Washington President Mark Emmert said he was “stunned and elated” that Notre Dame decided to fire Willingham, the former two-time Pacific 10 coach of the year at Stanford.

Emmert said the school contacted Willingham the day after he was fired.

Willingham joked to Emmert that he, too, was stunned at his recent firing and said his family was eager to leave South Bend, Ind.

“If I let him, my son probably would have walked here,” Willingham said.

Willingham, in typical fashion, downplayed Notre Dame’s trip to Washington next Sept. 24. “I am aware Notre Dame is on the schedule,” he said.

Meanwhile, in Palo Alto:

Stanford passed over 58-year-old USC offensive coordinator Norm Chow and hired the 58-year-old Harris, who has coached Big East Conference champion Pittsburgh the last eight years but had a recent falling out with his athletic director.

Harris, who signed a five-year contract, was raised in South San Francisco and has ties to Stanford Athletic Director Ted Leland, who hired Harris as University of Pacific coach in 1989.

Leland said that, other than Bill Walsh, Harris is the most successful and experienced coach Stanford has hired since Pop Warner in 1924.

USC’s Chow also had been mentioned as a candidate at BYU, where he coached for 27 seasons. However, Chow said he was not interested in the job and the Cougars promoted from within to replace Crowton, who resigned Dec. 1 after three consecutive losing seasons.

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Revolving Door

NCAA Division I-A football coaching positions that have been filled (Indiana, Mississippi, New Mexico State, Ohio, Pittsburgh, San Jose State and Nevada Las Vegas have openings):

*--* School Coach, why left Replacement BRIGHAM YOUNG Gary Crowton, resigned Bronco Mendenhall EAST CAROLINA John Thompson, resigned Skip Holtz FLORIDA Ron Zook, fired Urban Meyer ILLINOIS Ron Turner, fired Ron Zook NOTRE DAME Tyrone Willingham, fired Charlie Weis SOUTH CAROLINA Lou Holtz, retired Steve Spurrier STANFORD Buddy Teevens, fired Walt Harris UTAH Urban Meyer, resigned Kyle Whittingham UTAH STATE Mick Dennehy, fired Brent Guy WASHINGTON Keith Gilbertson, resigned Tyrone Willingham WESTERN MICHIGAN Gary Darnell, fired Bill Cubit

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