No coaching job is easy, but there's probably not a coach in the Big 12 - check that, in the country - that has a tougher job ahead of him than Charlie Weis.
Kansas won a grand total of five games over the past two seasons which included just one win in the Big 12. The good news for Weis and the KU faithful, there's only direction to go. The only other alternative is to stay in the same place - otherwise known as the cellar - in which case Weis would probably find himself back on the free agent market within a few seasons.
Weis made his first appearance at Big 12 media days on Tuesday and the monumental task in front of him wasn't lost on KU's new head coach.
"I think that I have two different issues. Okay. One issue, the one that everyone sees, is the fact that we're 2-10 and 3-9 over the last two years, having won one conference game in that time frame.
"The other one, which I think is maybe even more important, were not the losses last year but how badly they lost so often."
In case you've forgotten, Kansas lost six games by 30 or more points last year. Oklahoma State beat them 70-28 after leading 56-7 at half. Texas rolled to a 43-0 victory when Kansas managed all of 46 yards of total offense. A 6-6 Texas A&M team put 61 points on the scoreboard. You get the idea.
Considering the lopsided losses, it's no surprise that Kansas finished last in the Big 12 in scoring defense giving up 43.8 points per game. They also happened to finish last in scoring offense - never a good combination - averaging just 22.3 points per game. It doesn't take a sroke of genius to figure out how they lost 10 games.
While Weis didn't offer any specifics on how they plan to get better, he knows it's going to be a process.
"I think that the first thing you better do is get your team to be more competitive on a weekly basis," Weis said. "Because once you get your team more competitive on a weekly basis, more wins will naturally follow."
"I think that that's the number one job that me together with my staff, I think that we have to permeate all the way down to our players is that we expect them to know what to do and go out and do it hard for 60 minutes.
"And I think that at least gives you a chance," he added.
In addition, he knows his neighbors to the west and east have made a decent run of it of late. If Kansas State and Missouri can have respectable programs, why can't it happen in Lawrence?
"You look at your two closest competitors, proximity-wise, your two closest competitors. So you look at Kansas State and you look at Missouri. How are they doing?"
"I'm saying, okay, the two schools that are in the closest proximity are both doing fairly well."
"So then my job was, once I took the job, is let's figure out why they're doing fairly well and see if we can't close the gap on them quicker than they would like us to."
When you look closer, he very well may be taking a page out of Bill Snyder's playbook. He even made reference during his time on stage to say he's always been a big fan of their instate rivals head coach.
It's no secret Snyder has never been shy when it comes to recruiting a few junior college players and he's also usually willing to take any transfer who's looking for new chance.
Weis happened to sign eight junior college recruits during his first recruiting class in February. He also welcomed more than a few transfers with open arms including quarterbacks Dayne Crist and Jake Heaps, Notre Dame transfers Anthony McDonald and Mike Ragone along with Nebraska defensive end Josh Williams.
He may have been doing it out of simple necessity, after all, KU's roster wasn't exactly stocked with top level talent and he needs players that can play sooner rather than later.. That said, it wouldn't be surprising to see the trend continue in the near future. Kansas may have a great basketball program, but their football program doesn't exactly carry the same clout as Notre Dame and Florida on the recruting trail.
The system's worked just 90 miles down Interstate 70 in Manhattan so maybe, just maybe, Weis is looking to put some of Snyder's genius to work in Lawrence. Of course, Snyder happens to be a pretty good college coach in his own right, something Weis has yet to prove. He also happens to be a master at taking players that were once outcasts and molding them into a team that can win football games, something Weis will have to learn on the fly.
Love him or hate him (is there anything in between?), the simple fact Weis is now calling Lawrence home is going to be reason enough to keep an eye on the Jayhawks this season. That in itself is a step in the right direction.
