With one eye on the College Football Playoff and another on his future, Ole Miss offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. has more than enough on his plate heading into the new year.
Saying his senses have been heightened to operate “respectfully” as he calls plays for a program he will depart once its CFP run ends, Weis is appreciative for the chance to finish out the season with the Rebels before he departs for his job in waiting at LSU.
Weis, 32, already has agreed to move on to LSU under head coach Lane Kiffin, who was at Ole Miss for six seasons before he was officially named head coach of the Tigers on Nov. 30.
But while Kiffin was not allowed to stay at Ole Miss for the current playoff run, Weis was granted permission to stick around a little longer.
“I’ve made sure to go out of my way to not do anything that makes them feel uncomfortable, you know?” Weis said. “There were no guardrails put in. But I’ve made sure to do things respectfully and the right way because I owe it to them. They’re allowing me to finish this playoff run.”
Sixth-seeded Ole Miss (12-1) faces No. 3 Georgia (12-1) in the CFP quarterfinals at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., on New Year’s Day.
As for having one foot in one SEC program while getting ready to step into another when he moves to Baton Rouge, Weis admits it is all a little “strange.”
“But no, I don’t feel like it’s been a distraction at all,” he said. “Our players, they’re a very mature group, too, and so I credit them a lot throughout the course of the year.”
The son of former Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis began his own coaching career under his dad’s wing. He worked under his father, first as the offensive quality control coach at Florida in 2011 and as team manager at Kansas from 2012-14.
He began working with Kiffin as an offensive analyst at Alabama from 2015-16 and the pair worked together again at Florida Atlantic from 2018-19. Weis became Kiffin’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Ole Miss in 2022.
“It was a really hard decision,” Weis said about following Kiffin to LSU. “But at the end of the day, I owe a lot to coach Kiffin and the things he’s given to me in my career and brought me along and giving me opportunities to come here to Ole Miss and Alabama.
“And so we just have a really good relationship. And I think we work really well with each other. And, we have a system that kind of works. And so, I was excited to continue to do that. And obviously I’ve had a great time here at Ole Miss.”
Kiffin might be fully entrenched at LSU now, and waiting for Weis to join him, but he apparently has not taken his eye off his former program just yet.
“Oh yeah, no, he always watches the game, I’m sure, and sees what we’re doing and all that stuff,” Weis said. “But I think he’s more of a fan right now, just rooting for us to do the best that we can do here.”
