Weis: Winning the only option at Notre Dame

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Charlie Weis says his job as Notre Dame's new football coach is to raise expectations and win games. It's as simple as that.

"That's the bottom line in this business," he said Monday at his first news conference since he was hired to replace the fired Tyrone Willingham. "Graduating kids is the first and foremost thing. ... Bringing in character kids is important. But it's all about winning games. That's why there's a coaching change."

Weis signed a six-year contract that will reportedly pay him $2 million annually with the Irish Sunday night, 12 days after Willingham was fired and eight days after Notre Dame officials returned empty-handed after flying to Utah to meet with Utes coach Urban Meyer. Meyer signed with Florida instead.

Weis, the offensive coordinator for the NFL's New England Patriots and a 1978 Notre Dame graduate, is the first alumnus to coach the football team since Hugh Devore was interim coach in 1963.

Charlie Weis has a big task ahead as he tries to save Notre Dame football. (AP)

Athletic director Kevin White said the school's search committee had five formal interviews and spoke with two candidates about specific details. He said Weis was the only one formally offered the position.

The 48-year-old Weis arrived at the school Sunday night, just hours after the Patriots beat Cincinnati in Foxboro, Mass. Within an hour, he met with the players.

"As I told the team, one of the problems is because expectations were not met," Weis said Monday. "You are what you are. And right now that's a 6-5 football team, and that's just not good enough. It's not good enough for me. If you think they hired me to go .500, you've got the wrong guy."

Weis told the players he'll be around as much as possible, but would be staying with the Patriots through the playoffs.

"It is what it is. We'll deal with it," New England coach Bill Belichick said. "We have a good plan of how we want to deal with it. We might have to divide things up a little differently."

Weis' hiring ended an embarrassing two weeks for the most storied program in college football.

He returns to his alma mater in the midst of what former Irish football player Dave Duerson, now a member of the school's Board of Trustees, described as great dissension.

That comment came several days after the Rev. Edward Malloy, whsting a 21-15 record over three seasons. Malloy's assistant, Chandra Johnson, the school's highest-profile black administrator, shaved her head in protest.