Well, it has begun.

Bob Stoops to Notre Dame.

We seem to hear this about every two or three years. Yes, Stoops is Irish. Yes, Stoops is Catholic. Yes, Stoops could recruit the heck out of the Ohio and Pennsylvania hotbeds that have long fed the Notre Dame talent pool.

And yes, it seems Fighting Irish coach Charlie Weis is on the proverbial hot seat.

I first heard the latest rumor two weeks ago after Weis’ team lost again to Navy. Then I got a call from a World staffer about more press box rumblings. Then, these two items from Sunday’s postmortem of the Irish’s latest defeat.

From the Chicago Sun Times: “As much as Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis wanted to make this game about his team, the 27-22 loss to No. 8 Pittsburgh will serve as more evidence for those who want Weis’ tenure as Irish coach to end.

“If athletic director Jack Swarbrick decides Weis’ Notre Dame career is over after his fifth season, a source said Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops and Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz will be in the mix to replace him. The source said Stoops has told confidants he would be interested in talking to the Irish.

“Weis wasn’t asked directly about his future after the game, but he said he was focused on his players.

"They just lost a tough game to a good team,’’ he said. ‘’Right now, I’m more worried about getting them out of the tank [mentally]."

And this from the Chicago Tribune: “It’s not like you don’t evaluate during the year; you evaluate all year,” Swarbrick said. “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.”

And from the Oklahoma perspective, consider that Stoops is on the stretch run of his most challenging season yet. He told me before the season began that chasing the three-nationalchampionship legacies of Bud Wilkinson and Barry Switzer was important to him, though not his driving force. Now, with three months to reflect on losing Sam Bradford, Jermaine Gresham and a fistful of games, who knows what Stoops is thinking? ... But think about it. If Stoops was ever going to take another college job, would this be the perfect storm?