Frank & Weis: When Being Fired Is Fair or Not

Lawrence Frank and Charlie Weis spent all last week knowing that they wouldn't be holding onto their jobs for very much longer. Both Frank, the head coach of the New Jersey Nets, and Weis, the head coach at Notre Dame, were on borrowed time and were looking straight at that shiny guillotine.

Both were fired in successive days this week. Frank, who was reported to be fired all weekend, finally was shown the door before the Nets 17th straight loss to open the current season. Notre Dame waited until today to officially fire Weis, who says he already has had phone calls about offensive coordinator positions in the NFL.

Weis deserved to get fired. He had five years to mold the Fighting Irish into his kind of program. The offense, at times, looked powerful but the defense was lacking. Also, some decision-making just didn't make sense. He could recruit very well considering Notre Dame's strict requirements, but he just couldn't max all that talent.

While 35-27 doesn't seem to be a horrible five-year record, it doesn't sit well at Notre Dame. This is a program that hasn't won a National Championship in 21 years. That was also their last Heisman Trophy winner. They've been walking around the last two decades like a celebreality star: famous for what they used to be.

Weis was given every opportunity to pull this thing around and he just couldn't do it. Losing at home to Navy ... twice ... can do that to you.

Over in New Jersey, Frank was fired because ... well ... uh ... well they had to do something! The Nets are one loss away from setting the NBA record for most consecutive losses to start a season. Apparently, that's Frank's fault. He was 225-241 in his six-plus seasons with the Nets. He won two Atlantic Division titles and finished second once during that time. But the Nets have become one of those teams who decided to enter the Free Agent Sweepstakes of 2010. They gave away all their best players in salary dumps and are relying on young guys and role players to keep the ship afloat.

Their best player, point guard Devin Harris, missed the first ten games of the season. Courtney Lee, Yi Jianlian, Jarvis Hayes and Keyon Dooling have all missed time. And, again, the Nets dealt away Jason Kidd, Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter over the past two seasons. That must be Frank's fault, too.

Such is the life of a coach. Both Notre Dame and the Nets are very attractive jobs. Notre Dame still has the name recognition and that sweet television deal with NBC. They have resources that most other programs envy. The Nets have some nice young talent with Devin Harris, Lee, Yi and Brook Lopez. They also have a bunch of cap room to try to nab one of those max guys next summer. Add to that the fact that the Nets could be owned by the richest man in Russia and the team still plans on moving to Brooklyn means that the job could be in high demand.