Once upon a time in Mexico, Bill Belichick, Romeo Crennel, and Charlie Weis scoured the same sideline …

Honestly, I’m not sure where to go from there, other than to say those times were Springsteen’s “Glory Days”; a bygone era that passed “in the wink of a young girl's eye“.  You know the story: Belichick and Weis arrive at the turn of the century, Crennel follows a year later, Bledsoe goes down, Brady comes in, Patriots start dominating the league like they’re the Stanford golf team competing in a charity scramble sponsored by the local hospital, blah, blah, and blah.  To say the New England coaching staff from the years 2001-2004 was superlative is to say that the sun will rise tomorrow.  But that crew, not to mention the roster, was a perfect storm of sorts.  Consider the utterly random way in which the franchise’s 6^th round compensatory pick in the 2000 draft became the best quarterback of his era; consider the abundance of on-field leadership exuded by the likes of Bruschi, Vrabel, Harrison, Brown, et al; consider the team’s total selflessness, which may have been a product of the merging of ‘winning attitudes’ on the part of all people, great and small, within the organization.  Trite a phrase as it may be, they were, indeed, a ‘perfect storm’.

But as all powerful weather must dissipate, so did the Belichick/Crennel/Weis Patriots (although they weakened from a Cat 5 to a Cat 4—they still went undefeated in the regular season last year, for goodness sakes).  Romeo deservedly chased NFL head coaching glory in Cleveland, a hire on the part of the Browns that looked wise.  Charlie left to resurrect his alma mater in South Bend, a tall and ambitious task.  At varying points throughout these endeavors, both men have found some measures of success; whether it was Cleveland’s surprising 10 win campaign yesteryear or Notre Dame’s combined 20-6 record over the 2005 and 2006 seasons which saw the Irish through to back-to-back BCS games.  Both men were granted contract extensions subsequent to these accomplishments.  Both men have since failed.

Given the tarnished Cleveland brand, Crennel’s struggles would almost be forgivable were it not for Belichick’s achievements as Browns coach in the early 90s.  The latter inherited a 3 win team, doubled the win total in his first year, worked the club into division contention with a 7-6 record through Week 14 before faltering the next, got his men to bounce back to a strong 5-2 start a year later prior to making one of the few boneheaded moves of his career by cutting Bernie Kosar (something that would ultimately afflict the team for the entire season), and finally saw Cleveland through to an 11-5 record and a playoff win in his fourth year, the 1994 season.  That particular year was Cleveland’s best to date since the late 80s.  Counting the playoffs, Belichick’s win total in his first four years as Browns head coach was 32.  Crennel will be fortunate to get within 10 of that number.

Pending a bowl game, Notre Dame will either be 10-15 or 9-16 the past two years under Weis.  Rivals.com rated the Irish’s last three recruiting classes 8, 8, and 2, respectively.  I pity their woeful lack of talent.  Weis’ abysmal failure in 2007 and mediocrity this season are near inexplicable.  Jimmy Claussen was allegedly the next Montana, but his flashes of brilliance have been few and far between.  ND’s difficulties on the lines have been well documented, despite the fact that the program has been bringing in 4 stars on both sides of the ball with consistency.  Last week’s thrashing at the hands of USC looked like Manny Pacquiao trying to exchange blows with the Jolly Green Giant (more like the ‘Jolly Cardinal and Gold Giant’).  Is there any other way to account for the poor record than to say Notre Dame’s coaching staff is utterly inept at developing personnel; moreover, perhaps that they haven’t a clue how to use their personnel?  Yes, any gap between Notre Dame and the rest of college football completely evaporated long before Charlie Weis came to town.  But he was given 10 years and the keys to the vault at the Chicago Federal Reserve for a reason.

What does all of this say about Bill Belichick?  Does it say that he’s the unassailable genius many allege him to be?  In a word, yes.  To be fair to Crennel and Weis, both men surely have many years ahead of them to redeem themselves; to give their careers failing marks would be inaccurate, since a grade of ‘incomplete’ would be more appropriate.  But Belichick doesn’t need Weis and Crennel any more than he needed Drew Bledsoe and, as it is becoming increasingly clear, any more than he needs Tom Brady.  Give Belichick even a short window of time and he finds ways for his team to win.  Where the genius comes from, I don’t know.  But in the words of Rich Eisen, “he got it.”