<TABLE cellSpacing=0 width=640 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=57 bgColor=#800000>Nov. 30</TD><TD width=575 bgColor=#000000><!--(C) --><!-- Ad Format: Pop Under --><!-- Domain(s): collegefootballnews.com --><SCRIPT language=Javascript><!--var d=new Date();var r=(d.getTime()%8673806982)+Math.random();var u=escape(window.location.href);var host=' language=\"Javascript\" src="http://as.casalemedia.com/s?s=';document.write('<scr'+'ipt'+host+'53280&u='+u+'&f=1&id='+r+'"></scr'+'ipt>');//--></SCRIPT><SCRIPT language=Javascript src="http://as.casalemedia.com/s?s=53280&u=http%3A//www.collegefootballnews.com/2004/Columnists/Fiu/Willingham.htm&f=1&id=533554232.8100346"></SCRIPT><!--(C) -->
2004
[font=helvetica,arial] [/font]Notre Dame won't retain Willingham</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><HR>
The state of the Notre Dame coaching situation
Commentary Pete Fiutak
Notre Dame and Tyrone Willingham have parted ways as the head coach won't be retained for the 2005 season after the Notre Dame Board of Trustees held an emergency meeting late Monday night. Willingham had a 21-15 record with the Irish leading the team to two bowl appearances in three seasons.
For purposes of this discussion, and this instant reaction to the firing, let's leave the racial side of things out of this. It's an embarrassment for college football that there are only two black head coaches at the D-I level, but that's not the point right now (although some will question how Bob Davie was held on for a few years after going 21-16 in his first three seasons while Willingham wasn't given the same chance). This is about the state of Notre Dame football and how such a seemingly perfect fit went so wrong. Willingham, who should quickly be hired somewhere else with rumors already circulating that he's the number one candidate for the Washington gig, is a great coach. It simply didn't work out in South Bend to the satisfaction of the Irish nation.
<TABLE cellSpacing=7 width=301 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle width="100%"><!-- ---------- 300x250 Code -------------- --><SCRIPT language=JavaScript> var bnum=new Number(Math.floor(99999999 * Math.random())+1); document.write('<SCR'+'IPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript" '); document.write('SRC="http://servedby.advertising.com/site=697646/size=300250/bnum='+bnum+'/optn=1"></SCR'+'IPT>'); </SCRIPT><SCRIPT language=JavaScript src="http://servedby.advertising.com/site=697646/size=300250/bnum=43257137/optn=1"></SCRIPT><!-- ---------- Copyright 2000,---------- --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>So where does Notre Dame football go from here, can it become a superpower again, and what are the problems keeping it from being an elite team?
First of all, it's all about Urban Meyer now. Meyer was the Irish receivers coach from 1996 to 2000 and is the hottest name right now ready to take over the hottest job in coaching. The Irish head coaching job is, along with being the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, the most high-profile, prized gig in the sport and would be the one place to keep Meyer from someday making the jump to the NFL. If he wanted to win a national title now, Florida would be the job to go after. But as big a program as Florida is, it's not Notre Dame and Meyer has a clause in his Utah contract, and only a $500,000 buyout, allowing him to leave if the Irish job opened up.
However, the question remains whether or not Meyer (assuming the job is his) can win right away in South Bend and how he can succeed where a superior talent like Willingham failed. The nature of college football has changed where coaches like Pete Carroll, Nick Saban, Jim Tressel and Bob Stoops took sleeping powerhouse programs and made them among the elite within three years. Willingham wasn't able to do that at Notre Dame and there wasn't any time left to see if he could do it in year four. Meyer will get everyone jazzed up and come up with a few big wins early, much like Willingham was able to do three years ago, but he'll hit expectations and pressures he never could've dreamed of at Bowling Green and Utah. The precedent has been set: get to a national title level in three years or you're a failure. Who can live up to that?
But was it all Willingham's fault, or was it simply a case of Notre Dame being unable to be an elite program anymore? Academically, the football program remains one of the shining stars in college football thanks to Willingham, but it's all about on-field performance. Many will point to the 12 Irish players drafted over the last two seasons and the number of others finding spots on NFL rosters and suggest that the talent was there for Willingham to win with. However, that's a bit misleading. There's a difference between having a ton of players getting NFL paychecks and difference making NFL talents. USC has difference making NFL talent. Miami has different making NFL talent. So does LSU, Ohio State, and this year, Oklahoma. Notre Dame doesn't have that elite of the elite talent and part of that is Willingham's fault and part of it was Bob Davie's fault. The first order of business will be to turn the recruiting up several notches, and that's a little bit tough to do to make a change right away unless JUCO players can be added to the mix.
Yes, the academic restrictions at Notre Dame are tough, but Michigan, Texas, California, and Virginia are tremendous academic institutions that have made the football programs work. The new head coach has to make sure that star players with the academic skills that are interested in Notre Dame are landed by Notre Dame. For example, New Mexico RB DonTrell Moore was a 4.0 high school student and was interested in Notre Dame, but the Irish failed to land him. Lorenzo Booker told Notre Dame told the Irish coaching staff he'd be going to South Bend, and then changed his mind to Florida State on his way to the podium to make his announcement. The academic restrictions weren't supposed to be a problem for Willingham who succeeded at a far tougher school, Stanford. The problem was actually landing the elite of the elite on a consistent basis.
Yes, the lack of a conference tie-in is used against Notre Dame, but that doesn't matter a lick in recruiting. Players want to play in the big games and get national exposure, and there's no place better than Notre Dame to get both. However, you can go 8-3 in a big conference and play in the BCS. Elite players don't dream of playing in the Insight Bowl.
Even so, it is possible to win and win big at Notre Dame and it's not wrong to demand better. If you look at any program hard enough, you'll make excuses why it can't be a top-shelf national title team and it's too easy to do that at Notre Dame when the team isn't playing for national championships. Who wants to throw the ball at Nebraska? But head coach Bill Callahan and his staff have already assembled one of the nation's top recruiting classes. The Pac 10 balance of power had allegedly shifted to the Pacific Northwest, but Pete Carroll was able to make USC a superpower again. The Big Ten was supposedly too even with the emergence of teams like Wisconsin and Purdue, but Jim Tressel was able to bring a national title to Ohio State. The problems at Notre Dame aren't anything a superior new head coach can't overcome.
Ty Willingham is a superior head coach, but his recruiting classes were average. That was his downfall and in the end, that's his legacy. The new head coach had better rock and roll right out of the gate when it comes to bringing in top players or we'll be having the same discussion in 2007.
MililaniBuckeye said:Lemming looks like a gay mannequin...
3yardsandacloud said:Lemming should just stick to his first job, which he is much better at ...
