A Look at the Potential Hall of Fame Class of 2012

The Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2011 was lead by Marshall Faulk, Shannon Sharpe, and Deion Sanders and included Richard Dent, Chris Hanburger, Les Richter, and Ed Sabol. Though it was a star-studded Hall of Fame class, several Hall of Fame "locks" were excluded, making this years Hall of Fame race all the more interesting.

This year the only newly eligible Hall of Fame locks are coaches Bill Parcells and Bill Cowher, and guard Will Shields. Cowher won't get in this year because it is widely anticipated that he'll be on the sidelines next year. Bill Parcells may have wait one more year, though I think he'll get in this year.

Will Shields deserves to get in first ballot having never missed a game in 14 seasons and being selected to 12 Pro Bowls.

So of the newly eligible candidates that gives us Bill Parcells and Will Shields. Now onto the logjam that is the other three or so players that will be inducted.

Here's a look at some of the future Hall of Famer's who are eligible and have still yet to hear their name called: Tim Brown, Cris Carter, Curtis Martin, Jerome Bettis, Andre Reed, Willie Roaf, Cortez Kennedy, and Dermontti Dawson. If I had to guess what this years Hall of Fame class is going to look like I would say Bill Parcells, Will Shields, Curtis Martin, Jerome Bettis, and Dermontti Dawson. It's hard to choose one of those three receivers, though if I had to I'd pick Reed. Shields and Dawson were dominant at their position and while it's hard to get into the Hall of Fame as an offensive lineman, those two deserve it.

Next year Michael Strahan, Larry Allen, and Warren Sapp will secure three spots in the Hall but that could be the year that Reed and Carter sneak in.

Charlie Weis: Done

As if it weren't already inevitable, Charlie Weis' career as the head coach of Notre Dame likely ended today; and for good reason.

No hate towards UConn, but they were a 4-5 team entering the game, while the Irish were some people's preseason pick to go to the BCS, and maybe even the national championship. At this point, another Holiday Bowl bid seems like a good scenerio for the Irish. This time however, beating down on the Hawaii Warriors won't save Weis' job.

What's even worse is that Weis' career record is 35-26, with a .573 winning percentage; Lower than his predecessors Tyrone Willingham and Bob Davie. What also shines a light in Weis' face is that his two best seasons were with a lot of Willingham's recruits.

Jimmy Clausen will probably go pro. If he doesn't he's a bonehead. Weis has done a mediocre to below average job as the head coach of Notre Dame, and you can't blame the school's high academic standards for that, I mean, what about Stanford? They're having a better season than Notre Dame, and they have equal academic standards.

You can argue that Notre Dame has lost it's place as a top recruiting college, being replaced by the SEC, Texas, Penn State, Oklahoma, Miami, Ohio State, USC, and other big name schools, but how do you explain the schools recruitment of Jimmy Clausen, arguably the decades most sought after recruit? Clausen was from Southern California and opted away from USC, Tennessee (where his brother Casey played), and other schools with better professional resumes (post 1993) than Notre Dame.

On top of that, Notre Dame are currently ranked #11 on the Rivals.com Recruitment rankings, sandwiched in between USC and Miami. For 2009 the team finished #21, for 2008 the team finished #2, for 2007 the team finished #8, for 2006 the team finished #8, and for 2005 the team finished #40 despite late recruitment because of coaching change. So to make a long story short, Weis has had a perennial top 10 team in terms of recruit value, and has underperformed with it.

Let's be a little more honest. Weis has done horribly with it.

By comparison, Coach Phil Fulmer, a national championship winning coach for Tennessee who snagged Peyton Manning away from Ole Miss was fired after the 2008 season because he failed to reach a bowl game. The season before Fulmer's team was in the SEC Championship game against eventual national champion LSU, but that wasn't enough. Fulmer had a perennial top 10 recruiting team, but lost his job because he couldn't win a national championship with it.

Weis is not Phil Fulmer. The media, ESPN, and programs around the league have sucked any respectability out of Weis' name as a coach. How could a serious recruit choose Weis over Pete Carroll, Mack Brown Nick Saban, Les Miles, Urban Meyer, or Bob Stoops? Those are just some of the names that Weis has to compete with, and some of those names Notre Dame turned down to hire Weis.

So what now for Notre Dame? I've heard Jon Gruden, Phil Fulmer, Bob Stoops, and even Tony Dungy's names thrown around. Not going to happen. Stoops, maybe, but why? Oklahoma is a better program than Notre Dame, why leave to go to that mess?

Enough with that though. This article is about Charlie Weis, who like every other coach who left Bill Belichick, has failed miserably on his own. To their defense, even Belichick initially failed as a head coach when he strayed away from Bill Parcells after Super Bowl XXV. And that's where Weis will find his next home if he wants one. He'll have enough money to retire I'm sure, he could even transition to a studio somewhere, but if he wants to coach again, he'll have to find a job with Bill or Bill.

On this day, when Weis' firing seems absolute, there should be no Weis apologists. He was given the players, given the recruiting tools, and given the environment to succeed. Truth be told, Weis was always scared, thus, he never succeeded. He was a passionate guy, seemed like a good one too. He loved Notre Dame and was happy to be there. But that doesn't mean he was head coaching material.

He'll always be a champion coordinator though.