Eric Hansen

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Mike Haywood declined to fill in the awkward gaps Tuesday night. Nor was he willing to add to Notre Dame head football coach Charlie Weis’ pregnant comments with some of his own.

What is definitive in the otherwise steady trickle of ambiguity is that Haywood’s one-game hiatus as ND’s primary offensive play-caller has been extended through Notre Dame’s final two games of the regular season -- Saturday vs. Syracuse and Nov. 29 at USC,

“As far as play calling goes, this week, Mike Haywood is going to be missing some practice for personal reasons. I support these personal reasons,” Weis said Tuesday. “And with that being said -- followed up by a short week next week -- for the rest of the regular season, I will be handling the play calling on offense.”

And likely in an Irish bowl game as well, though Weis would only go so far as to say he’d revisit the issue at the appropriate time.

Whatever this looks like on the other side of January, this was the right move and at the right time now. For a program that asks players to sacrifice stats and status for the good of the team, the coaches needed to show they could play by the same rules. And Haywood needed to be a good soldier and once again become offensive coordinator in name only.

After a burst of offensive growth from games four through halftime of game six -- which saw sophomore quarterback Jimmy Clausen string together the second-longest interception-free streak in Notre Dame history (132 attempts) -- the Irish offense sputtered, even inexplicably at times on Oct. 25 against a Washington team that ranks in the bottom 12 nationally in every defensive category.

In game six on Oct. 11, Clausen threw a pick for TD that ended the streak, to start the second half in an eventual 29-24 come-from-ahead loss at North Carolina. That began a string of nine interceptions in the span of 16 quarters for Clausen, who was regressing dramatically both statistically and aesthetically.

The free-fall finally ended, at least for now, in the second half of the Navy game, when Weis, calling the plays for the first time this season, reined in his prodigy and coaxed him into a short-passing game as Navy was determined to sell out on defending the deep pass.

The same strategy needed to be employed the previous weekend in a 17-0 Irish turnover-fest at Boston College. And while it may have been Clausen’s decision to try to force the action deep against a team willing to sacrifice pressure for smothering pass coverage, Haywood, through his play calling, had the power to alter the game plan to offset his young quarterback’s sense of desperation.

If he did, it was as clear as mud.

Immediately after the BC game, Weis admitted he was tempted to get more involved in the offense. And the next day, he put a finer point on it, though left some of the details open. On Tuesday of last week, however, he chalked up the switch going into the Navy game as a product of Haywood needing to miss some practices to attend a funeral for his 24-year-old cousin, who had died the Friday before the BC game.

Confused?

The goose-stepping is necessary for a couple of reasons.

First, Haywood does aspire to be a head coach -- and soon. And Weis doesn’t want to limit those opportunities. If it looked as if Haywood had been demoted, and technically he wasn’t, how many athletic directors are going to look past that?

And how many fans are going to applaud even a good pragmatic move if Weis appears heavy-handed in its execution?

Weis may have made coaching moves that reeked of arrogance at times early in his tenure at Notre Dame but this one had nothing to do with ego and everything to do with a prodigal quarterback at a fragile stage of his development and Weis -- the former New England Patriots offensive coordinator -- tapping into his two strongest suits: offensive play-calling and developing quarterbacks.

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That’s not to say Weis shouldn’t have relinquished his play-calling role to Haywood at the start of the season. He did so, in part, so that he could start to see his team through the lens of a head coach for the first time and not strictly as its offensive coordinator. And he did finally gain the valuable big-picture perspective on his team.

But last week it was clearly time to call an audible.

Which leaves one gaping question with no easy or politically correct answer -- what happens to Haywood in the long term?

He was interviewed by Minnesota last offseason before the school settled on Tim Brewster. And for a small window, it appeared he had beaten-out then 71-year-old Jack Pardee out for the Houston job, only for Kevin Sumlin to break down the back door.

Play-calling, being truly an offensive coordinator for the first time in his career, can only help speed up the process that helps Haywood walk into his dream.

But he may have to walk away from Notre Dame to do so.

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