Sorry Charlie! What goes around comes around for Weis

Do you remember the stories about Charlie Weis? The ones where he was a petulant bully, a Jersey tough guy, belittling boosters and treating some members of the athletic department like they were something stuck on the bottom of his shoe? Do you remember?

In 2006, a prominent Notre Dame booster saw this coming. He liked the job Weis was then doing on the field but he worried if Weis' big mouth and arrogance would eventually catch up to him and be unable to provide a shield if the winning stopped.

"Am I happy with his X's and O's? The answer is yes, without question," the booster, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal from Weis, said three years ago. "How could I not be? But am I happy with how he has treated some key alumni and supporters like myself? No. He has treated some of us horribly. He has already alienated some boosters, alumni, members of the athletic department and others around him. He at times can be arrogant, moody and nasty."

There were stories then (and recently) about Weis snubbing booster groups and treating lower-level athletic department officials poorly even as Weis struggled on the field.

It seems Weis never truly learned how to treat people well. In many cases, though not all, he Eric Mangini'd his way through some relationships there.

Weis is another excellent case study for the galactic axiom: what goes around comes around.

In the end, the arrogant people who treat others like they're a pile of compost get theirs. It's a mathematical rule, a law of universal certainty. The jerks get theirs.

Always.

Weis apologists will defend him and attack me and others who are calling Weis out for how he has treated some people at Notre Dame all these years (not all, but enough). Fine, kiss his butt on his way out the door. Pucker up, fellas.

But as we witness Weis finally pay the price for his extreme mediocrity on the field and his bully pulpit nonsense off of it, there shouldn't be a lot of sympathy. He was paid handsomely and was never fully called out on how he treated certain people at Notre Dame.

My opinion: Weis knew his job security was in jeopardy weeks ago. According to an NFL team official, earlier this month a Weis representative began phoning at least several teams about the possibility of returning to the NFL.

The official said several teams would indeed consider hiring Weis as an offensive coordinator or special assistant if (when?) he's fired from Notre Dame since he's considered a smart football strategist by some in the sport.

Weis will deny he has been job hunting, and technically he hasn't been. Someone else has been on his behalf.

It's the typical back channel stuff that goes on every day in college and professional football and, in a way, who could blame Weis? Why shouldn't he prepare for his possible firing?

It's just interesting to watch Weis come full circle. He acted like Perseus atop a sturdy mountain, untouchable and infallible, and some around him were minions and fools.

Weis is from the Bill Parcells coaching tree and Weis, like Mangini, never truly learned that in sports, treating people like dog poop is only permissible if you win. Pelts on the wall, Parcells used to say, need those pelts on the wall. Snubbing boosters doesn't count as big game hunting.

Beating Southern California? Big game. Beating up on some poor athletic department underling? Not so much.

Full disclosure: I'm stunned Weis hasn't won. I was wrong about him. I thought he would be the Pete Carroll of the Midwest. Turns out anyone looks great when he's coaching Tom Brady.

I'm beginning to think Doyel could coach Tom Brady to multiple Super Bowls.

Do you remember those Weis stories? Now you do. Some of the people who Weis steamrolled never forgot them.

Now, those people are doing something Notre Dame fans haven't done in a long time as Weis seems to be headed out the door.

They're applauding.