CHICAGO � In a hotel elevator hours before the most portentous game of his embattled football coach�s tenure, Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick noted the quiet week he�d had, what with the raging fan inferno and his practically booby-trapped e-mail inbox.

Imagine the hazmat suit Swarbrick will don following the Irish�s loss to No. 8 Pittsburgh, another underwhelming Saturday in another troubling November for Charlie Weis. Still, a day after that gut shot, Swarbrick adhered to his stance of waiting until season�s end to pronounce judgment.
�Let�s let it finish out,� Swarbrick said Sunday. �We said at the beginning of the season that we wanted to be in contention for and in the discussion of the (Bowl Championship Series) bowls, and for a while we were. But we didn�t stay in contention as long as any of us would have liked.
�It�s not like you don�t evaluate during the year; you evaluate all year. But my practice is to make sure I�ve got the full season�s worth of information and then conclude the evaluation.�
There will be much to discuss. The latest deflation saddled Weis with the same overall record as Bob Davie (35-25) and made Notre Dame 0-for-its-last-8 against top 10 teams under Weis� watch.
Were change afoot or not, it would seem to behoove administrators to work quickly and decisively. But Swarbrick currently doesn�t see reason to veer much from last year�s timeline, when he met with Weis on the Tuesday after a season-ending evisceration at USC.
�I thought from a perspective of timing and communication, last year�s process worked well,� Swarbrick said.
Another element that won�t change: The irrelevance of Weis� buyout. It wasn�t an issue as the Irish stumbled to a 6-6 regular season in 2008. The latest report pegs the buyout at $18 million, but regardless it�s �not a factor� again in 2009, according to Swarbrick.
�The only way to make these decisions is in the context of the program and the student-athletes,� Swarbrick said. �You have to isolate on those things, because that�s what matters. The other issues are things you work with, you figure out one way or another.�
Meanwhile, Weis� usual Sunday news conference was canceled, the given reason being a late arrival home from Pittsburgh. Though it�s unlikely he would have added much to his myopic focus from the night before.
�You only can play the next game,� Weis said after Saturday�s game. �You can�t worry about the game you just played, or the game two games away.�
Really, it�s what comes after these two games that matters, anyway.