To some, Weis simply insufferable

Notre Dame's football team is 1-6 with USC coming to South Bend this weekend.

Can it get any worse for Charlie Weis? Yes, actually it can, as in a civil war between prominent alumni over how Weis interacts with them.

What it comes down to is some Notre Dame supporters want to dress down the head coach and others want to kiss up to him.

Among the former is Bob Kuechenberg, a former Notre Dame and NFL offensive lineman.

According to the Boston Herald last week, Kuechenberg referred to Weis as " 'rude, curt and abrasive' to his friends and fellow alumni."

Apparently, Kuechenberg spoke for those afraid to disparage the man with the keys to Notre Dame football.

Among those defending the Notre Dame head coach are Joe Theismann, Mike Golic, Mark Bavaro and Joe Montana.

"I've known Bob for a long time, but he's full of it," Theismann said of Kuechenberg in the Boston newspaper. "He's flat wrong."

The debate is more about style than substance, which is good for Weis considering ND's record in his third season on the job.

About the only thing Weis has been right about since taking over as head coach was that the Irish aren't rebuilding this year.

"God strike me dead if I use that word," the South Bend Tribune quoted him as saying in August.

Sure enough, the Irish don't look like Weis is rebuilding the program. Imploding it, maybe, but not rebuilding.

Seriously, Notre Dame isn't supposed to view coming within 2 touchdowns of Boston College as a moral victory, to lose 38-0 to Michigan or to go 0-4 against the, er, rebuilding Big Ten.

Notre Dame's talent level isn't great, but it probably isn't 1-6 bad either. Weis still must prove he isn't a career assistant Peter Principled into a head coach.

OK, that's enough negativity.

The good news is Weis probably will turn around Notre Dame. Even a couple decades after its last national championship, the school's brand name remains too powerful to fail forever in football.

Ah, but that isn't what we're addressing today anyway.

The issue is whether -- even if Weis becomes successful at Notre Dame -- he and the Irish faithful can co-exist.

Most indications are that Kuechenberg's assessment was closer to the truth than the kiss-ups' rebuttal is.

Even a supporter like Bavaro was quoted as saying, "Charlie is not the most pleasant guy in the world to deal with, and a lot of times he does rub people the wrong way."

Bavaro did add, "But he's a great guy who's got the biggest heart."

Still, it's difficult for a college coach to survive on covert goodness while being overtly "rude, curt and abrasive."

Donors expect to be schmoozed, you know.

The only way for a coach like Weis to prevail at Notre Dame is by recording double-digit victories every year, winning the odd national championship and being the latest in the line of legendary Irish coaches.

If winning is everything elsewhere in college football, at Notre Dame it's the only thing.

We'll find out during the next couple years whether Weis can restore the Irish to their birthright place atop college football.

At the same time we'll find out whether even that is enough to overcome being as insufferable as too many find Charlie Weis to be.