Jeremy: Weis is All-In

When I heard that Notre Dame extended Charlie Weis' contract through 2015 earlier this week the only thing that came to mind was: WHAT?
It's been less than a year since Notre Dame was accused of playing the race card in firing Ty Willingham before giving him a five-year chance to be a great coach for the storied program. They followed this up by hiring a white coach, which caused sentiments of "See? I told you so" from those playing the race card.
I never felt like it was a racial issue that Willingham got canned, but I did feel it was unfair to not give him the customary 5 years to try to build a program of players that he had recruited before giving him the boot for not upholding Notre Dame tradition.
For the record Charlie Weis is 5-2 in his first 7 games. After his first 7 games as Irish head coach what was Willingham's record? 7-0.
Is Weis' extension more evidence of old school racism at the top at Notre Dame? Is it evidence of racism at all? Is it motivated by money and a fear that Weis will depart for more money and the NFL?
I don't know the answer to any of those questions, and since I'm not an expert in this field, I don't have to. But personally I don't think the answers to any of those questions matters as much as the answer to this question: Is Weis a better coach than Willingham was? And the answer is that we simply do not know.
Going by wins/losses alone through the same number of games, the answer is no. But if you listen to the Notre Dame faithful Charlie Weis is the second coming of the Touchdown Jesus. In the words of Notre Dame's Athletic Director, Kevin White (ahem): "Charlie has clearly and impressively demonstrated the ability to take the Notre Dame program where we all want it to go." And where is that exactly? As per usual the Notre Dame higher-ups are keeping their reasoning close to the vest.
In my opinion a 10-year extension after just 7 games is absolutely ridiculous. Deciding that someone should be at the head of your program for the next 100+ games based soley on what they've done in only 7 games is not smart business.
It certainly seems to be that Weis is a nice fit for Notre Dame, and it certainly seems to be that Weis is a good college coach. And based on his start, I could see giving him a one or two year extension, as a good-will gesture for the Notre Dame wrinklies to say they are happy with his start, his attitude and his plan for the future.
But 10 years?
Notre Dame has long believed that the way they conduct their football operations is a bit above the cuff. Perhaps the unwritten rules don't apply to Notre Dame.
In a couple of years this contract extension is either going to look horrendously stupid or insightfully forward thinking. Only time will tell which is true, but one thing does seem obvious: the rules that applied to Ty Willingham do not seem to apply to Charlie Weis.