Charlie Weis has made his stance toward his impending doom as Notre Dame coach clear enough: He thinks he still has a chance to keep the gig with wins in the Irish's last two games, and he's tired of thinking about it, anyway. This is Notre Dame, you're on the hot seat every day, it comes with the territory, etc. The man has football games to win now, thanks for coming.

The major papers on the Irish beat, however, are tired of waiting to deliver their verdicts -- after openly speculating on Weis' potential replacement after Saturday's loss to Pitt (Bob Stoops has no idea what you're talking about, by the way), both the Chicago Tribune and the hometown South Bend Tribune almost simultaneously released that rare bird, the official, "Big-time Coach Should Be Fired Now" op-ed, within hours of one another last night and this morning. First up, Al Lesnar of the hometown rag says it's "time for Irish to make the change":

SOUTH BEND — Bag the bowl. Circle the wagons. Round up the usual suspects. There's no quick fix for the negativity surrounding the Notre Dame football program.

Charlie Weis' hand-over-heart promise to do better after last season won't cut it this time. Athletic director Jack Swarbrick doesn't need a GPS to get around the Joyce Center anymore, and he's learned how to navigate the world of college football.
[...]
Whatever the case, time for a purge.

OK, thank you, Al. And from the Windy City, columnist David Haugh says all the evidence is in," and Swarbrick knows it:

Nothing that happens in Weis' final two games possibly could alter any logical conclusion drawn by Swarbrick about the state of affairs in Year 5. In fairness to a once-proud football program and Weis, end the charade now, Notre Dame.

Through 60 games, Weis has proved to be nothing more than Bob Davie with better bling. Going 35-25 at Notre Dame wasn't good enough for Davie to return for a sixth season. Nor should it be for Weis.

Good luck to the both of you the next time you're on campus for a press conference, gentlemen, and remember to bring a jacket.

Typically, for all the heat they take across the country from the true believers, the local paper is one of the last on the pile when a coach is out the door and one of the clear harbingers of the angel of death, apart from the everyday chatter of disgruntled fans. Newspapers have to live with their calls for blood, and Swarbrick essentially cleared the way Sunday when he said Weis' $18 million buyout would factor in his decision, so they're not going out on a limb. It's more like the limb breaking.

Still, although I'm sure I'm being naive and too patient by ten (especially when claiming coaches are oh-so-totally-fired is one of the great temptations and guilty pleasures of this gig, when appropriate), but it's hard for me to imagine an automatic dismissal if the Irish beat UConn and Stanford the next two weeks. Firing Weis after a 2-0 finish would mean canning a coach with two BCS appearances on his resumé, two straight clear steps forward on the field the last years and a Jan. 1 bowl (at 8-4, the Irish would be a virtual lock for the Gator Bowl) on the horizon. As it currently stands, a win at Stanford would be the best of Weis' entire five-year tenure, which currently includes only one win (over No. 24 Penn State in 2006) over a team that finished the season in the AP's top 25. That's not what they usually mean by "going out on top."

Then again, maybe the fact that beating Stanford even conceivably represents "the top" is kind of the point. But Weis is going to get that shot.