Poor Notre Dame....not even a week after hiring GaT head coach George O'Leary, Kevin accepts his resignation after O'Leary admitted that he falsified information in his bio. Seems that on his resume...maybe it was years ago...he indicated that he was a three-year letter winner and starter at New Hampshire. Problem is, it's not true!!

He's had years to correct this--get rid of it I mean--after all his years at the pro and college levels. But when ND releases the information upon his hiring, seems the folks at UNH were taken aback. They should have been!

O'Leary admits to falsifying information

Wow!!! I didn't think it was THAT big of a deal. Better now than later, though.

So now who does Notre Dame go after? No one seems to want the job. It certainly doesn't have the luster it once did, and program has really fallen off in the past few years. And I wonder how happy Notre Dame selecting O'Leary in the first place. Wasn't he their third or fourth choice? He did an OK job at Ga. Tech, but nothing great. In fact, they were a huge disappointment this year. Seems like they just wanted to name someone ASAP.

To Hell With Georgia. And to Hell with O'Leary.

He will not be allowed back on the flats.

Zaac - Oh what might have been ........

Wurm

Ain't it the truth? I want my Fridge back gosh darnit!

He was a bad choice - a mediocre coach with serious issues regarding character, mistreatment of players, questionable commitment to athletics, etc. - so, as embarrasing as it is for the University, I'm not unhappy that this happened. Who will the new coach be?

CALLING JON GRUDEN! CALLING STEVE MARIUCCI! CALLING GARY BARNETT!

Tyrone Willingham.

• Six successful years at the Junior U with a Rose Bowl (plus two other bowls)
• Broad experience as an assistant at both the college (Michigan State and the Farm) and on the pro level (Vikings)
• Assisted Denny Green and Bill Walsh
• Three varsity letters at MSU proof that he did indeed step onto the field
• J.U.'s AD gave permission for him to be interviewed for the open job (unlike Al Davis)
  
  - and maybe most important -
  
• Great deal of experience in working with tough admissions office policies

If they pick him (and assuming he'd even want the job at this point in time) I'd consider going to South Bend to scale the side wall of the Hesberg Library so I could high-five Two-Point Conversion Jesus

---> Edited for clarity and to add:

I do hope, for the school's sake and for the next finalist's sake, that SOMEONE on the selection committee sits him down and asks directly and bluntly "Mr. X, you're our intended selection but we have to ask you, is there ANYTHING in your past or background, ANYTHING, that would cause problems" (in other words, the Zoe Baird Syndrome innoculation).......

[ December 14, 2001: Message edited by: Wurm ]

This is just such a disgrace and embarrassment. How was this never discovered before now. Georgia Tech isn't exactly low profile! Anyway, the AD Kevin White really needs to resign as well. First the Davie debacle and now this mess.

It seems they made a very quick decision. The job was only open for a week. How many people could have been interviewed? And George O'Leary, despite a decent record, was a poor selection. His graduation rate and winning percentage did nothing to put him above the pack.

And if I were Tyrone Willingham, I'd tell Notre Dame to go F themselves!

George, I'm glad to hear someone else say that Kevin White needs to held accountable for this!....White, who never was able to lead Arizona State to any athletic success as their AD being coming to South Bend, is THE main reason that the Irish have become the laughing stock of the country today....his handling of the Bob Davie situation (denying his job was even in jeopardy up until the day he fired him following the Purdue game) followed by the fiasco of this George O'Leary hiring made White look completely incompetent....after all, for a school that preaches academics first as much as ND does why does White fire Davie (with a 100% graduation rate last year and one season removed from a 9-2 record) in exchange for O'Leary (who had a 33% graduation rate at Georgia Tech and "led" the pre-season top-ten rated Yellow Jackets to a mediocre 7-5 season including losses to virtually every quality opponent they faced).

If the Irish want to return to prominence in college football then Father Hesburgh and co. need to demand Kevin White's resignation before he screws up again and makes another ridiculous hiring decision that sets the ND program back even further.

An interesting article I read today...what's interesting is O'Leary's initial reaction when a newspaper first contacted him about the discrepancy.

When Irish Eyes Are Lying

The problem at Notre Dame isn't O'Leary, it is the process that picked him. You have an administration that does not do it's homework. Why weren't these things checked? The guy who should be fired is the guy who picked O'Leary. The Athletic Director and the President. Notre Dame has a long way to go to return to it's prominence of old, and the start of that rebuilding has to be the infrastructure of the department, not who is Head Coach. The problem is that anyone who has proven Division I Head Coaching experience doesn't want the job, only to get fired a year after he got a five year renewal. Who wants to take that risk? And for what? The pressure?

I think it is going to be a long time before ND gets back on its feet after this, because whoever comes in is going to under such pressure IO'm not sure it's worth it. The only coaches who will want it won't be credentialed enough, and those that are credentialed won't want it (and I'm talking about REAL credentials, Mr. O'Leary!!).

White should be held accountable for this; while it is inexcusable that O'Leary allowed this on his resume, and one should ostensibly think that checking such "old" news as his playing career should NOT be under scrutiny, but Notre Dame already holds itself to a higher standard than everybody else. To a certain extent it is a product of its own pretentiousness.

I can tell you that members of the ND coaching staff are laughing inside but publicly embarrassed, as they should be. It does not bode well for the overall athletic program, and it could hurt a number of other programs, especially those that are on the rise (or return) to prominence.

Coaches are going to have to get a clue (I include you, Mr. Harrick, Jr.) about lying on resumes. There's no excuse for this. There are plenty of coaches who have been VERY successful without any real playing careers. In fact, some of the best coaches I know were not among their team's best players.