Kirkendall Posted November 30, 2004 Report Share Posted November 30, 2004 Again, this was probably expected.SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -- Coach Tyrone Willingham was fired by Notre Dame on Tuesday after three seasons in which he failed to return one of the nation's most storied football programs to prominence.Willingham had a record of 21-15, including 6-5 this season. The Fighting Irish lost 41-10 to No. 1 Southern California on Saturday.It was not immediately clear whether Willingham would coach the team at the Insight Bowl on Dec. 28. Notre Dame accepted the invitation to the game on Sunday.Athletic director Kevin White scheduled a news conference for later Tuesday.Willingham's firing comes after a season in which the Irish pulled off upset victories over Michigan and at Tennessee, but were also blown out by USC and Purdue.Notre Dame's loss to top-ranked USC on Saturday marked the fifth time the Irish lost by 31 points or more under Willingham -- three of the losses coming to the Trojans. By comparison, former coach Bob Davie's team had just one such loss. Lou Holtz and Dan Devine had none.Notre Dame hired Willingham, the first black head coach in any sport for the Irish, away from Stanford to replace George O'Leary, the former Georgia Tech coach who resigned five days after taking the job because he lied about his academic and athletic achievements on his resume.In his first season, Willingham had many fans recalling Notre Dame's glory days, taking over a losing squad and turning things around immediately. The Irish won eight straight to start the season before finishing 10-3 and going to the Gator Bowl.But during his second year, the Irish fell to 5-7, with four of their losses coming by 26 points or more. It was Notre Dame's third losing record in five seasons, the Irish's worst stretch in 115 years of football.Notre Dame has won eight AP college football national championships, more than any other school. The last was in 1988 under Holtz. Players from the school have won the Heisman Trophy seven times, also the most in college football.The Irish haven't won a bowl game since ending the 1993 season ranked No. 2 after beating No. 7 Texas 24-21 in the Cotton Bowl.Since then the Irish have lost six straight postseason games.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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevnz Posted November 30, 2004 Report Share Posted November 30, 2004 Willingham was shafted. Oh well, anything bad for Notre Dame is good by me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bengalboomer7 Posted November 30, 2004 Report Share Posted November 30, 2004 I was actually quite suprised at this. Not really a Notre Dame fan (except when they play michigan) but he got screwed. Now there making a big fuss that he didn't get a fair chance because he was black. That now leaves only two black coaches in all of the NCAA. Is there some law or something that says black people can't coach. This is ridiculous, to think that someone could not get hired or fired quicker becaued they are black. I'm not saying that's the reason but you'd think we could get past the racist crap. Apparantly, affirmative action doesn't apply to the NCAA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WHO DEY AGAIN? Posted November 30, 2004 Report Share Posted November 30, 2004 Being a Notre Dame fan I have mixed emotions. I was still thinking Ty could turn it around but he had too much going against him. I think when you lose by a bunch of points a bunch of times that something has to give. We are talking Notre Dame here not UC.Last years recruiting class was horrible and that's being nice. Some of that has to do with the higher standards but when you get none of your big targets that says something is wrong. One thing that bugs me is Bob Davie should have been fired way before TY. I don't think he got a fair chance or maybe Davie just got too many chances and they didn't want to go that direction again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesbrooks21 Posted December 1, 2004 Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 I think this was very surprising. He didn't even have a chance to get a full recruiting cycle through. You would think he would get the oppurtunity for his first recruiting class to reach their senior year anyways. His first season probably raised the expectations and might have been what did him in at the end. Notre Dame can't compete anymore (for national championships) unless they tone that schedule down a bit so this move was quite shocking to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyline Posted December 1, 2004 Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 Cleveland, anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bengalboomer7 Posted December 1, 2004 Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 They will never be highly competitive again unless they join a conference. There strength of schedule alone should gaurantee them a BCS bowl(overreacting a little) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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