Charlie Weis ‘befuddled’ by Josh McDaniels’ backing out of Colts job, but understands personal side

Former coach Charlie Weis reacted the way so many others did to Tuesday night’s news that New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels was backing out of his agreement to become head coach of the Indianapolis Colts.

“I was befuddled,” Weis, the former Patriots OC and SiriusXM NFL Radio host told Bruce Murray and Geoff Schwartz on the SiriusXM Blitz. “I mean, it shocked me.”

‘Your agent’s telling you to go and you decide, ‘Nah, I’m not going”

There are many levels to McDaniels’ stunning decision that bothered Weis on a professional level, beginning to the commitment he made to the Colts.

“They announced that you’re coming,” Weis said. “They had a plane going to pick you up to bring you to the press conference the next morning. Half, if not more than half, of your staff is already signed, under contract, already in Indianapolis, waiting for your arrival. Your agent’s telling you to go and you decide, ‘Nah, I’m not going.'”

‘I mean, I just don’t understand how you do that to another team’

Nevertheless, Weis, who left his OC job with the Pats to become head coach at Notre Dame in 2005, can see the other side of the McDaniel coin. As Weis pointed out, McDaniels has resided in New England for a decade and a half and he and his wife have four children, and their family enjoys where they live.

“If he wants to (stay put) for his wife and kids, personally, I don’t have a problem with it,” Weis said. “Where my problem really comes is professionally. I mean, I just don’t understand how you do that to another team, I don’t know how you do it to their GM, I don’t know how you do it to their owner, I don’t know how you do it to their fan base, and more importantly, I don’t know how you do it to those assistant coaches that have already moved, that are there. I just don’t get it. Maybe I’m dumb, but I just don’t get it.”

‘Let me be the first to lay a wager in Las Vegas that when Belichick leaves, Josh McDaniels is the next head coach in New England’

What does it mean for McDaniels’ future as a head coach?

“In 31 cities, I’d say the odds of them hiring him (as head coach) would be slim to none,” Weis said. “But in one city, he’s endeared himself. Let me be the first to lay a wager in Las Vegas that when (Bill) Belichick leaves, Josh McDaniels is the next head coach in New England. It’s like Secretariat running right now. I’d say the odds of that happening are almost a hundred percent.”