Notre Dame coach, QB embattled

College Football

By Tom Coyne
The Associated Press

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SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis won't stay on the West Coast to recruit as planned after the Fighting Irish play at Stanford.

Athletic director Jack Swarbrick said Tuesday during a taping of his radio show for WLS Radio 890 in Chicago, which normally airs Saturday, that Weis will fly back with the team.

"He's going to return from Stanford back to campus," Swarbrick said.

Weis had said Sunday he planned to stay on the West Coast recruiting, just as he had last year when he and Swarbrick met to discuss his future after the regular-season finale at USC.

A message seeking comment was left for Swarbrick on his cell phone Tuesday. Swarbrick's comments became public after Weis' weekly news conference Tuesday.

Weis wasn't in a reflective mood at what could be the final weekly news conference at his alma mater. Two days after saying he couldn't argue if Notre Dame officials decided to fire him with a 6-5 record, Weis set the tone: "I have a news flash. We have a football game this Saturday evening against Stanford, so let's see if we can't talk about that."

To make sure players and assistant coaches don't get off point, Weis canceled all interviews for the week several hours after he talked with reporters. So Weis will be the only voice being heard from the Irish team this week, though the school did provide reporters with quotes from players.

Weis stopped reporters who tried to ask questions on most issues other than Stanford or Irish players in most instances during the news conference.

"I talked on Sunday about all the state of the union and all that other stuff, today we're talking about Stanford. Let's talk about Stanford," he said.

Weis tried to dismiss talk Tuesday that his players might have trouble getting up for Stanford after an emotional loss against Connecticut, the final home game for seniors — and possibly Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate, who have said they will decide after the season if they will enter the NFL draft.

Clausen made news of his own, sporting a black eye behind the tinted visor he wore to practice Tuesday. An unidentified university official said Clausen was punched outside a South Bend bar early Sunday morning.

Athletic director Jack Swarbrick said Clausen was the "victim of a sucker punch. ... He was not engaged in a fight. He didn't throw any punches. He didn't directly engage the individual," Swarbrick said. "He just got coldcocked by somebody, and we're very disturbed by that."

Clausen was at C.J.'s Pub about 2 a.m. with his family and girlfriend after Notre Dame's double OT loss to Connecticut. They were confronted and decided to leave. One of the other patrons followed him outside and punched him.