Tyrone Willingham (official thread)

[jlb1705]

With a policy like that, maybe they should change their name to "Irish Eyes presented by Bucknuts".

 

[LloydSev]

With a policy like that, maybe they should change their name to "Irish Eyes presented by Bucknuts".

lol

 

[DEBuckeye]

You can't mention paint chips in a thread that even remotely has anything to do with football or DH will shit himself.

He sounds pretty stressed. You know what he needs....

I'm glad that this is an internet board, and that I won't be around when he shits himself. That won't be pretty.

 

[BB73]

According to ESPN News, the ND Board of Trustees had an emergency meeting last night, that went into this morning, when the decision was made.

The decision was made by the Board, not by AD Kevin White.

Future claims of ND acting like it's not about $, and not about winning, should be greeted with extreme skepticism.

 

[LloydSev]

IrishEyes has a post on their premium board saying that Meyer will be announced to ND tomorrow... lol.

Asked if he has had any contact with Notre Dame or if he would be interested in coaching the Fighting Irish, Meyer responded: "I won't comment on it."

hrmmm....

 

[Bucklion]

I actually wouldn't be surprised if a Meyer announcement was quick...they may have been "unofficially" courting him before they decided to can Willingham, which would have made their job in doing so a lot easier.

 

[daddyphatsacs]

if youre going to start the gossip, you might want to invent a time machine and go back a few days.

I might do that, thanks for the heads up. While I'm there I'll probably take back that quarter I tossed into your cup, I thought that I was being nice, but you bust my chops anyways. :)

I'm not blind to the college football world, I know that this has been discussed for some time, I just wanted to get the conversation started in this thread.

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

Thread over at The Huddle:

<table border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="1" width="100%"> <tbody><tr><td class="headings" bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">Author </td> <td class="headings" bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top"> Comment </td></tr> <tr bgcolor="#eeeeee"><td align="left" nowrap="nowrap" valign="top" width="20%"> ledoggy
Registered User
Posts: 1
(11/30/04 1:45:41 pm)
Reply </td> <td class="m" align="left" valign="top"> John Cooper to Notre Dame<hr size="1"> Could the Irish be so lucky? <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :p -->

<!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> ________________________________________________________________________
"One guy's not going to beat you," Derrick Mason said. "They can keep talking about Ray Lewis, but he's at home right now and we're advancing."

</td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td align="left" nowrap="nowrap" valign="top" width="20%"> jszymczak

Registered User
Posts: 120
(11/30/04 2:51:51 pm)
Reply </td> <td class="m" align="left" valign="top"> Re: John Cooper to Notre Dame<hr size="1"> Your mother was a hamster and your father smells of elderberries.... Edited by: jszymczak

at: 11/30/04 3:14:21 pm
</td></tr><tr bgcolor="#eeeeee"><td align="left" nowrap="nowrap" valign="top" width="20%"> ledoggy
Registered User
Posts: 2
(11/30/04 3:17:19 pm)
Reply </td> <td class="m" align="left" valign="top"> Re: John Cooper to Notre Dame<hr size="1"> What you say?

I think Cooper got a bad rap at OSU.... he did beat Michigan on two separate occasions and he ran a tight ship that stressed academics.

He also had a great bowl record.

<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START 8o -->

<!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> ________________________________________________________________________
"One guy's not going to beat you," Derrick Mason said. "They can keep talking about Ray Lewis, but he's at home right now and we're advancing."

</td></tr><tr bgcolor="#ffffff"><td align="left" nowrap="nowrap" valign="top" width="20%"> jason6998
Registered User
Posts: 3
(11/30/04 4:12:53 pm)
Reply </td> <td class="m" align="left" valign="top"> Re: John Cooper to Notre Dame<hr size="1"> lol
Cooper and academics <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :rollin -->

</td></tr></tbody> </table>

 

[RugbyBuck]

He sounds pretty stressed. You know what he needs....

I'm glad that this is an internet board, and that I won't be around when he shits himself. That won't be pretty.

All in good fun. Congratulations, Dev on the scoop and DiHard for getting it to high places other than ESPiN.

 

[LloydSev]

I think Cooper got a bad rap at OSU.... he did beat Michigan on two separate occasions and he ran a tight ship that stressed academics.

He also had a great bowl record.

I hope to god that was meant to be sarcastic........

 

[sandgk]

Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">I think Cooper got a bad rap at OSU.... he did beat Michigan on two separate occasions and he ran a tight ship that stressed academics.

He also had a great bowl record.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

I hope to god that was meant to be sarcastic........

Sans Doubt

 

[JohnnyCockfight]

Here's a link to a good article on MSNBC (I'm not internet savvy enough to post the article): "Notre Dame Ready for Some Urban Renewal"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6621434/

 

[LloydSev]

Notre Dame ready for Urban renewal
Meyer has turned around Utah, will be good fit for Irish
<TABLE style="MARGIN-TOP: 15px" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>

Douglas C. Pizac / AP/ file​

Utah coach Urban Meyer is the best choice to take over at Notre Dame, NBCSports.com contributor Mike Ventre says.
</TD><TD vAlign=top width="100%"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
COMMENTARY
By Michael Ventre
NBCSports.com contributor
Updated: 4:23 p.m. ET Nov. 30, 2004

Before Urban Meyer accepts congratulatory hugs all around over his new job at Notre Dame – and unless they’ve been keeping Knute Rockne in the same facility with Ted Williams and are planning to thaw him out for just such an occasion, it’s Meyer’s to decline – he’d be wise to compare schedules.

<TABLE style="PADDING-LEFT: 15px" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=textSmallGrey vAlign=top align=middle>advertisement
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Although his Utah team posted solid victories over Texas A&M and North Carolina, Meyer has also vanquished Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah State and UNLV. The Mountain West is a respectable conference, and the Utes deserve props for an unbeaten season.

But working in South Bend is a masochist’s delight. Every outing is a potential Waterloo for a coach. Ty Willingham had to brace for Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Boston College, Tennessee and Southern Cal, among others. He also had to deal with alumni who make the folks that hounded Ron Zook seem like a pep squad.

Meyer is a Midwest guy, a native of Ashtabula, Ohio, so he’s not oblivious to that. He coached wide receivers for five years at Notre Dame before becoming a head coach at Bowling Green in 2001. He will leave Salt Lake City and move to South Bend because it’s the perfect time and he’s the perfect fit.

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SCRIPT></SCRIPT><TABLE class=boxH_brl cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=460><TBODY><TR><TD class=boxHC_brl noWrap width=*> ALSO ON THIS STORY
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• Notre Dame fires Willingham
• Vote: Who will coach Irish next?
• Celizic: School has sullied its Golden Dome

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

That will leave tremors and ripples in his wake, but so be it. With the BCS and Maurice Clarett and Zook and Steve Spurrier and so on, college football is what men watch these days instead of “Desperate Housewives” for cheap thrills.

Meyer had been mentioned often for the Florida job, and he might have gone had Willingham not been shown the door more quickly than predecessors Bob Davie and Gerry Faust. Florida president Bernie Machen had been at Utah and was the one who hired Meyer away from Bowling Green to coach the Utes. Machen has him at the top of the Gators’ list.

The shocking Willingham pink slip changes things. Now Meyer is the favorite to coach the Fighting Irish, opening the door for Cal’s Jeff Tedford to take the Florida job. (The Gators would be looney to hire Butch Davis after he jilted the Miami Hurricanes and almost ruined the Cleveland Browns.) That would create a vacancy at Cal. The Stanford job is also available. Willingham could go back to Stanford, or he could go to Cal. His name already has been linked to Washington's opening, too.

USC offensive coordinator Norm Chow wants to be a head coach, and Stanford honchos reportedly have inquired. But Chow would also be a prime candidate at Cal – if Tedford leaves, and he probably will, since he’s in the same situation as Meyer: His stock will never be higher than it is right now. That might or might not result in serious program slippage at USC, depending on who the Trojans got to replace him.

Want more intrigue? Conspiracy theorists on the internet already are hypothesizing that Lloyd Carr might be done at Michigan, and Jim Tressel could fall victim to scandal at Ohio State. Those moves are unlikely, but if they came about, Meyer would probably have his pick of three high-profile Midwestern jobs at storied programs.

Unless Notre Dame nickel-and-dimes Meyer in negotiations, he’s headed to South Bend. The Irish administration can’t afford to lose him. In fact, the opportunity to get Meyer probably had a lot to do with Willingham’s sudden exit.

Meyer makes $500,000 per at Utah. Florida certainly will offer three to four times that. If the Irish are in that ballpark, he’ll be in blue and gold next season.

Notre Dame is 6-5 and headed to the Insight Bowl. The Fighting Irish have lost six straight bowl games and haven’t won one since the ’93 Cotton Bowl. There are reasons.

Notre Dame is the most famous college football program in the country, but that doesn’t mean as much as it once did. Kids nowadays are impressed less by black-and-white newsreel footage of glory days on the gridiron as they are by a “What have you done lately?” fixation that is heavy on television appearances and BCS bowl games.

That doesn’t mean it can’t happen again in South Bend. Of course it can. But in order to lure recruits to Notre Dame – especially those lightning-quick athletes who seem to bypass South Bend like diners pass a restaurant with ptomaine – a coach with some juice needs to be in place.

Willingham was an outstanding coach, but he wasn’t good enough for the Irish. He didn’t create the buzz that Steve Spurrier generated when he was at Florida, or that Bob Stoops has in Oklahoma, or that Pete Carroll has at USC.

Meyer has that element about him. So does Tedford. They’re 1-2 in terms of star quality among available job applicants, but Meyer gets the edge at Notre Dame because of his Midwestern roots.

When Carroll took over at USC in 2001, he awakened a sleeping giant. The Southern California recruiting base, filthy rich in talent, had been raided with regularity by programs such as Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State, Arizona State, etc. Carroll put a stop to that. This last recruiting class for the Trojans was rated No. 1 in the nation. Now the Trojans’ problem is choosing among the many blue-chippers who long to matriculate.

Naysayers be damned. Notre Dame can have the same situation, depending on the head coach. It’s impossible to predict if Meyer is that guy, but at this point in time, he certainly has the look.

Notre Dame made a risky move by firing an African-American head coach after only three seasons when predecessors Davie and Faust got five. The school will certainly draw fire for it.

That’s why Willingham’s replacement has to be someone with impeccable credentials whose selection comes under the “no brainer” heading.

Meyer turned Bowling Green around. He turned Utah around.

Will he turn Notre Dame around? I have a feeling we’ll find out soon enough.

Michael Ventre writes regularly for NBCSports.com and is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles.

 

[devily_buck]

you got that right. ive had 3 irish fans in my office happy as clams. of course i was the one to break the news. congrats devily, youre a source

Thanks guys... i appreciate the props. Like i said before, i'll definetly share any news with the rest of you that i come across in the weeks to come. I still love the fact that buckeyeplanet out scooped both ESPN and the Irish message boards regarding their own coaching vacancy.

Buckeyeplanet, your round the clock source for news in the world of college football.

 

[jlb1705]

Want more intrigue? Conspiracy theorists on the internet already are hypothesizing that Lloyd Carr might be done at Michigan, and Jim Tressel could fall victim to scandal at Ohio State. Those moves are unlikely, but if they came about, Meyer would probably have his pick of three high-profile Midwestern jobs at storied programs.

The only scandal JT will fall prey to is dragging his feet on whether he wants to coach the Browns.