While conceding that Tyrone Willingham had exceeded their expectations off the field with his integrity, character and players' improved academic performances, Notre Dame officials abruptly fired their football coach yesterday after growing impatient with his inability to vault the Fighting Irish back into the nation's elite.
Willingham's teams amassed a 21-15 record in three seasons, and after a 41-10 regular season-ending loss to top-ranked Southern California last Saturday, this year's 6-5 squad had accepted a bid to the Dec. 28 Insight Bowl.
Tyrone Willingham's firing by Notre Dame leaves two black head coaches among 117 in Division I-A.
(Joe Raymond -- AP)
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After conducting a year-end review of the program with outgoing president Rev. Edward "Monk" Molloy and other top Notre Dame officials, Athletic Director Kevin White told Willingham yesterday morning that he was being released with two years remaining on his contract. White joined Willingham in informing Notre Dame players at 1 p.m., and White made it official in an afternoon news conference that laid bare what the school saw as Willingham's sole shortcoming.
"From Sunday through Friday our football program has exceeded all expectations in every way," White said. "The academic performance is at fever pitch; it has never been better. Tyrone has done some wonderful things. But on Saturday we've struggled. The program is closer than when he arrived; we're making progress. But in the view of the university, we just didn't make enough progress. . . .
"At the end of the day, the end game is we've got to do a good job on Saturday. We've got to get back to the elite."
Notre Dame had turned to Willingham, who had compiled sterling credentials in seven seasons at Stanford, to repair its sullied reputation in 2002 after its first choice for the job, George O'Leary, resigned five days after being hired, after inaccuracies on his résumé were exposed.
Willingham's first season got off to an 8-0 start and ended with a trip to the Gator Bowl. His second-year squad finished 5-7. This year's team upset Michigan and Tennessee, but also suffered lopsided losses.
Throughout, White took pains to say, Willingham displayed integrity and character -- as did his players.
The news came as a shock and disappointment to many of Willingham's players, as well as advocates of academic integrity in college sports and greater diversity in college football.
"It is a tragedy that the best schools seem to be no different from the worst when it comes to the desire for a winning team," said Hodding Carter III, president of the Knight Foundation, which has funded efforts to reform college sports since 1989. "As far as being a nurturer of young men and a decent human being and, for that matter a pretty good football coach, they fired somebody who does a good job . . . except for one thing. It's not that you don't get to look for winning; the question is: what is the rope that people ought to be given? I guess the answer is, it doesn't matter where you are. Assume nothing except that, if you don't have a big-time winning record, you're in trouble. And I think that is really too bad for higher education and the sports within it."
Willingham becomes the third black coach to depart the Division I-A ranks this season following the firing of New Mexico State's Tony Samuels and the resignation of San Jose State's Fitz Hill. That leaves two black head coaches (Karl Dorrell at UCLA and Sylvester Croom at Mississippi State) among the 117 in Division I-A football, where 51 percent of the players are black but less than 2 percent of head coaches are.
That's a dramatic decline from 1998, when there were eight black coaches in Division I-A.
"I think it kind of puts an exclamation point on the tough road for African Americans who are preparing to be head coaches," said Richard Lapchick, who has long studied the issue of diversity in sports. "If they really think there is a possibility of that happening, their dream might be deferred -- if it's ever realized."
Baltimore Ravens Coach Brian Billick, Willingham's close friend since their days on the staff of the Minnesota Vikings, said, "This is a sad day in the coaching profession. Anytime someone of Ty's caliber is fired, it does give you pause. You look at it and wonder whether anybody can do these jobs. What kind of standards are we using?"
Asked how Notre Dame players responded when told of the firing, White said: "I think they were stunned. I think they have great respect and affection for Coach Willingham, and that was apparent to me."
White said Notre Dame would launch a national search for a successor and denied reports that the school had set its sights on Utah's Urban Meyer or any other coach. He insisted there was no timetable and rejected a suggestion that the firing would dissuade quality applicants from considering the job.
"I've spent a fair amount of time thinking about our expectations," White said. "I think they are realistic. I think if I can find a professional who wants to be at the University of Notre Dame, they will embrace those expectations. I really do believe there are people who want to be here and want to coach at this place."
