Lou Holtz coached 11 seasons (1986-96) at Notre Dame, won one national championship and almost captured two others while finishing with a 100-30-2 record against an often brutal schedule.
A season before he would have passed Knute Rockne on the all-time victory list -- something he says he never wanted to do -- he apparently wore out his welcome with his bosses.
By TOM COYNE, AP Sports Writer
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Tyrone Willingham often used the word "more" to describe what it was like to coach at Notre Dame. More pressure. More scrutiny. More urgency. In the end, though, he got less.
He was fired Tuesday after just three seasons, receiving less time than Bob Davie, Gerry Faust or even Joe Kuharich to turn around Notre Dame's fortunes. He served the shortest tenure of any non-interim coach since Hunk Anderson was there from 1931-33.
Athletic director Kevin White said he doesn't think firing Willingham so quickly, after most Irish coaches received five years, is the sign of a new era.
"If it says anything, it's an underscore of the notion that football is very important at Notre Dame and the competitive expectations are not downwardly negotiable," White said.
Willingham knew that. The school said Willingham didn't wish to speak to the media on Tuesday, but in the past he frequently said no one had higher expectations for Notre Dame than he did.
He said the biggest problem for the Irish was the inability to play well on a regular basis, particularly on offense.
"Because it keeps you from being the consistent winner and creating that momentum that you need," he said heading into the Tennessee game three weeks ago.
White praised Willingham, saying the coach had done everything the school wanted off the field. It was on the field that was the problem.
"We simply have not made the progress on the field that we need to make," White said. "Nor have we been able to create the positive momentum necessary in our efforts to return the Notre Dame program to the elite level of the college football world."
Willingham finishes at Notre Dame with a 21-15 record, a winning percentage of 58.3 percent. That's the same winning percentage as his predecessor, Davie (35-25). Since 1913, only Kuharich (42.5) and Faust (53.5) have worse winning percentages.
The school thought they found the perfect coach during Willingham's first season. He got off to an 8-0 start � the second best start in school history � and after a surprisingly easy victory at Florida State, the Irish, at No. 4, had their highest ranking in eight years. Then they played Boston College.
Fans wearing green "Return to Glory" T-shirts flooded Notre Dame Stadium, and the Irish wore green jerseys for good luck. The Irish lost 14-7, though, and the glory days were over.
The Irish went 2-3 their last five games that season, including a 28-6 loss to North Carolina State in the Gator Bowl. They went 5-7 last season, losing by 30 or more points to Michigan, Florida State and Southern California.
This season the Irish pulled off upsets of Michigan and Tennessee but also were beaten badly by USC and Purdue. They also lost games they were expected to win against BYU, Boston College and Pittsburgh.
Despite finishing a disappointing 6-5 this season, the Irish accepted an invitation Sunday to in the Insight Bowl in Phoenix on Dec. 28. It's not clear now whether the Irish will still go, and if they do who will coach them.
White said he met Tuesday morning with Willingham to tell him he was fired, then both met later with some players to tell them.
Players were stunned.
"I think it's a shock to everybody," tight end Jared Clark said.
Other players declined comment, but were clearly surprised and saddened by the announcement.
"As a player, you think it's our fault. We didn't get the job done," Clark said. "I think Coach Willingham was a great coach, and I enjoyed playing under him."
Notre Dame hired Willingham, the first black head coach in any sport for the Irish, from Stanford to replace George O'Leary. The former Georgia Tech coach resigned five days after taking the job because he lied about his academic and athletic achievements on his resume.
With Tony Samuel fired by New Mexico State and Fitz Hill resigning from San Jose State last week, there are now only two black head coaches in Division I-A: Karl Dorrell at UCLA and Sylvester Croom at Mississippi State. White, who conducted the searches that led to O'Leary and Willingham being hired, said he would set out immediately in search of a coach. He said he would head the search and likely would not talk to the media again until the process was complete.
One coach certain to be mentioned as a possible replacement for Willingham is Utah's Urban Meyer, a Notre Dame assistant from 1996-2000. The Utes are 11-0 and ranked No. 5 in their second year under Meyer, who has a clause in his current deal that allows him to leave for Notre Dame without a buyout.
Meyer wouldn't say whether he'd be interested if Notre Dame called.
"I have great respect for that university. That's the reason it's in my contract," Meyer said after Tuesday's practice. "I think a lot of people look into it more than what it is. I'm sure that this is going to spark a lot of discussion, but I'm just trying to get a team ready to play in a bowl game."
Other possible candidates include California's Jeff Tedford, who has had success at a school with high academic expectations, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, who was hired as head football coach at Maine in 1990 by White when he was athletic director there, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (news) coach Jon Gruden, whose name was mentioned prominently in the Notre Dame search three years ago. He grew up in South Bend and his father was an Irish assistant under former head coach Dan Devine.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041201/ap_on_sp_co_ne/fbc_notre_dame_willingham_19
With Love,
CtrlAltDel aka Dave
C4/5 Complete - 28 Years Post
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Greg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
didn't lou holtz (sp) have even a better record and he got fired?----- Original Message -----From: Houston809To: quadlistSent: Tuesday, November 30, 2004 7:05 PMSubject: [QUAD-L] Notre dame Fires 1st Black coach school historyToday Notre Dame Fires Coach Tyrone Willingham. Notre Dame hired Willingham, the first black head coach in any sport for the Irish. Not trying 2 start any racial controversy theres enough talk going on about black athlete now days. But he had a winning record and I think that had he�d been a white coach with the same record he�d not had been fired. No other coach there had ever been fired even with losing records they were let go after their contract ended. So yes this is a very controversial subject simply because of the # head black coaches in division 1 football. As the # head black coaches in the NFL, NBA and most other sports. If 70% of the team or more is black that means that they know the game! so why aren�t we given opportunities 2 coach the game?
