Irish stew hasn’t boiled over yet

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Did you hear the joke about Notre Dame rearranging its football schedule next season -- to include six games against Prairie View A&M;?

Or the one about a 7-Eleven in town changing its name to “1-Eleven”?

Gallows humor has officially hit this mecca of college football, a storied program reduced to dark comedy. Suffering through an unprecedented nine losses against a single win this season, the Irish faithful have taken to poking fun at themselves, grumbling and occasionally booing on Saturday afternoons.

The one thing they haven’t done -- at least not to the extent that outsiders might expect -- is scream for Coach Charlie Weis’ head.

Whether it is patience or blind loyalty, with the Irish facing Duke today, the calls to “Fire Weis” have been as scattered and ineffectual as snow flurries that sprinkled from dreary skies this week. Even the coach seems pleasantly startled, checking the stands during one home defeat after another.

“The support has been unbelievable,” he said, “almost to where you question why are they here?”

Not that everyone stands firmly behind him. A controversial figure to begin with, Weis has become even more so with consecutive losses to Navy and Air Force nudging this season from awful to off-the-charts.

There have been angry postings on Internet fan sites. The school newspaper recently published a letter to the editor suggesting that he donate a portion of his salary to reimburse students for their season tickets.

Rumblings have emanated from faculty too, though many professors do not always feel comfortable speaking out. Privately, some say Weis has never been a favorite, not since he arrived at this stately, Catholic campus three years ago, brazen and arrogant, vowing to produce a “nasty” team.

“His self-described New Jersey personality has rubbed some people the wrong way,” said Matt Storin, an adjunct professor of journalism. “They keep quiet when the team is 10-3, but when it’s 1-9, they come out of the woodwork.”

In this regard, Weis suffers by comparison to his predecessor, Ty Willingham. Willingham was a gentler presence, soft-spoken, often seen bicycling and rollerblading; Weis makes bold statements, then retreats to a fortress-like football complex at the edge of campus.

“I’m in a bunker over here,” he said. “I’ll be honest with you, I really don’t talk to anyone.”

Around the town of South Bend, the coach gets high marks for charity work he does through Hannah & Friends, a nonprofit foundation named after his developmentally disabled daughter. But his perceived aloofness has begun to generate tales of impolite behavior with the locals, rumors that intimate a growing unease.

The personality issue came to a head last month when former Notre Dame player Bob Kuechenberg ripped Weis in the Boston Herald, calling him “rude, curt and abrasive.”

But an interesting thing happened the next day -- a cadre of Irish luminaries including Joe Montana, Joe Theismann and Mike Golic sprang to the coach’s defense.

“Charlie tells it like it is, and people don’t like that,” Montana told the Herald. “They want him to sugarcoat things, and he just won’t do that.”

Fans have responded similarly to “Fire Weis” postings on the Internet, standing up for the coach. Again, “patience” seems to be the key word.

“There’s no one who would say they’re not disappointed,” said Peter Schivarelli, who played for Notre Dame in the late 1960s and now attends games to watch his godson, safety Tom Zbikowski “But you have to analyze it, you have to look at things more closely.”

The Irish faithful, who like to think of themselves as demanding but knowledgeable, cite a number of reasons for sticking by Weis.

The first involves timing and a series of embarrassing headlines that started with Notre Dame’s hiring of George O’Leary in late 2001. O’Leary was caught lying on his resume and resigned five days later.

That led to Willingham, who was fired after three seasons, sparking a controversy because the program had traditionally given its coaches at least five years on the job. Willingham was let go, in part, because Notre Dame expected to snatch red-hot Urban Meyer from Utah. Meyer chose Florida instead.

Weis got the job and Irish fans say they learned a lesson: Replacing a head coach isn’t easy, even for one of the most storied programs on the planet.

“Basically,” one faculty member explained, “we’ve been burned.”

But apprehension is only part of the reason for giving Weis more time. He earned a certain amount of goodwill by guiding the Irish to Bowl Championship Series games in his first two seasons, even if both trips resulted in losses.

Also, fans have shifted blame onto Willingham, saying he excelled as a recruiter early on, signing quarterback Brady Quinn among others, but faltered thereafter. The players from his subsequent classes are now juniors and seniors on the team.

Detractors respond that at Notre Dame -- rich with football tradition and an NBC television contract -- a rebuilding season should be 6-6, maybe 5-7. Certainly not 1-9.

There was a particular uproar after the Navy game, when Weis eschewed a field-goal attempt on fourth down, his team failing to gain the needed yardage and ultimately losing in overtime.

These arguments have fallen largely on deaf ears.

“I think he needs at least one or two more years,” said Jonathan Hickey, a 28-year-old fan who traveled from Chattanooga, Tenn., to attend today’s game. “He needs to get more of his players on the team.”

Which leads to perhaps the biggest reason why much of the faithful support Weis. Major recruiting services rank Notre Dame’s incoming class for next fall at No. 1 in the nation.

None of those prospects are guaranteed until signing day in February, but fans seem eager to latch onto any hint of better days to come.

“Immediately after games, the mood is really hostile . . . this is the saddest place in the country,” said Brian Robins, an 18-year-old freshman. “But when people really think about it, there’s a reason for hope.”

And if none of the above rationalizations suffice, fans fall back on economic reality. Weis has a reported eight years and $25 million left on a massive contract extension Notre Dame gave him only seven games into his tenure. The buyout would figure to be hefty.

So, for the time being, crowds continue to pack Notre Dame Stadium and the booing remains intermittent. Students remain in their seats for every agonizing moment, waiting for players to join them after the game to sing the alma mater.

“They’re hurting just like we are,” Zbikowski said. “But they’re still always there for us.”

And on a Thursday night, the Linebacker Lounge near campus bustles with fans arriving from across the country for the Duke game. At the bar, Jim Forkel and his buddy, Jaime Caceres, just in from New Jersey, debate the future of the Irish and their coach.

“It’s not his team,” Forkel said. “Those are Willingham’s players.”

“Yeah, but the clock is ticking,” Caceres responded. “Weis needs to win.”

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david.wharton@latimes.com