Detroit Free Press Reacts to Willingham Firing
Here's Mitch Albom's column in the Free Press:
MITCH ALBOM: Notre Dame is the same as everyone
>
>
> December 1, 2004
>
> BY MITCH ALBOM
> FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
>
> No different from anyone else. That is the stark reality now at Notre
> Dame, and the Irish don't like it, even as they prove it true.
> They are
> an up-and-down football program, which only makes them normal, and
> theyhate that so much they just fired their head coach, which only
> makesthem coldhearted, same as the other up-and-down football
> programs.
>
> Which can't stand it either.
>
> Here is what athletic director Kevin White said after firing Tyrone
> Willingham on Tuesday, despite Willingham's winning record in three
> seasons at South Bend:
>
> "From Sunday through Friday, our football program has exceeded all
> expectations in every way. Our academic performance is at a fever
> pitch.It's never been better. Ty has done wonderful things."
>
> "On Saturdays we struggled, we've been up and down and sideways, a bit
> inconsistent. The program is closer than when he arrived. It's making
> progress."
>
> Wow! Some would call that a positive job review, not the speech
> you get
> when they kick you out the door.
>
> But Notre Dame is all about Saturdays now. Sunday through Friday
> is as
> meaningless as the marching band's song selection. Gone are the days
> when Notre Dame honored a man's contract simply because it was the
> rightthing to do. Gone are the days when "student-athlete" was an
> equallyweighted phrase.
>
> The Irish are no different from anyone else now. They want more wins,
> more wins, more wins. Three years to them is long enough to judge a
> coach -- even if he had three years left on his contract, even if
> he won
> 10 of his first 11 games, even if he stood proud as a man of
> principle.
>
> And so Willingham, who a blink ago was on the cover of Sports
> Illustrated as the man restoring glory to the golden dome, is on the
> junk heap.
>
> And the Irish are shopping.
>
> No different from anyone else.
>
>
> Not so special? Get over it
>
>
> Never mind that under Willingham -- who saved the day for Notre
> Dame by
> taking the job after the embarrassing debacle of George O'Leary's
> five-day tenure -- no Irish players were arrested or charged with
> assault, no small bombs were planted outside dormitories, no coaches
> were accused of slipping money or fake jobs to athletes.
>
> Never mind that, considering recent news out of Ohio State or
> Colorado,Notre Dame should be thanking Willingham profusely.
>
> Never mind. Instead the board of trustees called an "emergency
> meeting"Monday night. Here was the "emergency": that Willingham
> had finished the
> year 6-5 and the team was headed to a bowl game. That it had lost
> Saturday, 41-10, to USC.
>
> Yeah? So? USC, No. 1 in the nation, beat five other teams this
> year by a
> bigger margin than that. USC is better than Notre Dame right now. Get
> over it.
>
> Well, that's the problem. The Irish can't get over it. In the
> minds of
> the people who call "emergency" meetings, there can be no down years.
> There can be no allowing that other schools have good programs, too,
> good athletes, too, good recruiters, too.
>
> No, there can only be Notre Dame. These people still think they
> are the
> only football team on television. Wake up, guys. With ESPN, ESPN2,
> satellite and pay-per-view, everybody is on TV!
>
> You can still be special.
>
> But you can't be the only thing special.
>
>
> Only an imagined difference now
>
>
> Yes, it's true, under Willingham, there were some blowout losses. But
> there were some stunning upsets, too. Ask Michigan about the
> "lousy" job
> Willingham did this year. If not for the solid defeat the Irish
> laid on
> the Wolverines, they would have been battling for a national
> championship. Go ask Michigan State. Go ask Tennessee.
>
> Don't bother. It's too late. The same school that kept a miscast Gerry
> Faust for five tough years because it believed in honoring contracts,
> now fires a perfectly capable Willingham before he has a chance to see
> one recruiting class complete its cycle.
>
> It is nothing new. It is nothing shocking. Schools do it all the
> time --
> hire, fire, win or get lost. The thing is, Notre Dame used to be
> different.
>
> Now it only thinks it is.
>
Sidenote: I'm checking this out, but my understanding was that when ND hired Jerry Faust they made him take on the remaining staff from the previous regieme. When Lou Holtz was hired he insisted upon, and received, permission to pick his own staff. Faust was better than 500 against the Big Ten and USC and still got canned. No one told him that Miami was about to be revived by Schnellenbarger, or that UNC had signed some kid named Lawrence Taylor, or that Air Force would develop a wicked passing attack. Too bad. He was a nice guy.
