Apparently Notre Dame and Stanford coach Tyrone Willingham have agreed on terms that would make Willingham the first African-American head coach in South Bend. I have to admit to being a bit disappointed by the choice. Once again - as with O'Leary - a coach with a mediocre record at a subpar conference has been selected. Other than an appearance at the 1999 Rose Bowl Stanford hasn't really made much of a national impact, despite playing in the Pac 10, which is probably one of the weaker football conferences. I hope they at least verify his CV before they sign the contract.

Source: Irish to Hire Willingham

NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

I want him to stay at Stanford.....ARGHHHH.

Ted, I STRONGLY disagree with your assessment of Ty Willingham. It's too bad that you were only looking at the winning percentage because there are more to Ty than that. (I won't be the first one to tell you that Stanford's academic standards are higher than ND's.) As a devoted follower of Stanford athletics, I can assure you that Ty will make ND very proud.

He is a winner, not only in the field but also out of the field. He is a man with impeccable integrity and reputation. If you don't believe me, read all of the articles on ESPN.com and CNNSI.com. I'll always remember what he said when he first became head coach at Stanford (paraphrasing), "I want to be part of the Stanford community. I want the football team to be part of the community." He did just that. Among other things, he attended the graduates' reception at the Stanford President's house. (A side note, Ty did more for Stanford than his precedessor (Bill Walsh), who was literally dragged to the Gay/Lesbian House when one of his players was caught vandalizing a Stanford statue depicting gay couples.)

It is going to be a little tougher rooting against ND. But I'll still root against them. A 2 cool mil, ain't bad.

[ December 31, 2001: Message edited by: RJ in Huntington ]

Notre Dame will be national contenders within two years. Willingham not only knows how to teach the game and run a good, tight program, but a black coach at Notre Dame will go MILES in recruiting efforts. This was a great choice by Notre Dame.

Now, I hope Stanford can lure Tony Dungy back to the college ranks.

I wonder if Denny Green wants to come back.

Hi, RJ - You get no argument from me as far as the academic rankings of the two schools. Bob Davie had a 100% graduation rate, so that was not the area that needed improvement. I'm not at all denigrating Willingham - I'm quite impressed with what I've read about his personal characteristics and off the field endeavors. But at ND the ultimate measure is the final record and the final ranking. I would have preferred to see a coach who had experienced the intense pressure of playing a tough schedule in a conference like the Big 10 (Barry Alvarez, perhaps) or Big 12 (Bob Stoops), or a quality NFL program (Steve Mariucci or Jon Gruden). Pac 10 football is generally not as intense, and it certainly is not at Stanford, which is usually a second tier school even within its conference. That said, both Ara Parseghian and Dan Devine had records as mediocre as Willingham's when they arrived at South Bend, so perhaps history will repeat itself and Willingham will win a couple of national championships while Touchdown Jesus looks on. I sure hope so.

[ January 01, 2002: Message edited by: Ted ]

Ted, did you get my e-mail? Hope to hear from you.