9/9/07

The Willingham Watch







While most of the college football nation talks about Notre Dame and how much they suck (why is this even a topic?) with current coach Charlie Weis, there has been little said about the coach he replaced, Tyrone Willingham and his Washington Huskies.

For those of you who don't know the story of Ty Willingham, here is a short synopsis:

He got off to an auspicious beginning in 2002 when he became the only first-year coach in Notre Dame history to win 10 games. For his efforts he was named the ESPN/Home Depot College Coach of the Year,[2] the Scripps College Coach of the Year, the Black Coaches Association Male Coach of the Year and the George Munger Award College Coach of the Year by the Maxwell Football Club. The next year, Notre Dame finished 5-7, then went 6-5 in '04.

After going 21-15 over three seasons, he gets fired. No other Notre Dame coach was let go with years remaining on his contract, and a shorter tenure. They bought out his remaining years on his contract and sent him packing, without even getting a decent chance to play all of the players he recruited.

So in comes Charlie Weis, the NFL bigshot, riding into town to save the storied franchise, because he worked with Bellichek and Bill Parcells. They sign him to a bigger contract without seeing him coach a college team, and to add insult to Willingham, they somehow, incredibly, give him a $40 million contract extension after he goes 9-3 in his first season (Willingham had gone 10-2 in his first). By this time, Willingham is presiding over a Washington team that had gone 1-10 before he got there, then 2-9 under him. He must have wanted to set himself on fire.

It is known in the general population of South Bend that the Willingham firing stirred some controversy. It is also fairly common to hear folks say that Notre Dame alumni like to have black players on the team, but maybe not so much to have a black leader. I'm not leaning one way or the other on the race issue, but it does stink a little, like going to an art opening when they have the fancy cheese out, and it smells like corpse feet. You look around and think, "should I even eat this?" That's the way I feel about it.

The case remains open with some folks, because he compiled the exact winning percentage of Bob Davie, the successor to Holtz, but Davie was given 5 years to prove himself. Willingham didn't even get to see his senior recruits play.

So while Weis goes 9-3 with Willingham's recruits, he now has his own recruits playing and sits atop a storied ND program that has been embarrassed by unranked teams the past two weeks, compiling an 0-2 record while boasting a total of -8 yards rushing. Meanwhile, Willingham is coaching a team that destroyed Syracuse and then beat #22 Boise State this weekend. His Washington Huskies sit 2-0 for the season, his third year of recruiting.

Here is what the Axe man from Syracuse had to say about the Washington thrashing of Syracuse:

Standing just a few feet away from Washington coach Tyrone Willingham after the game turned out to be a scary experience.
He talked and acted like a man who just knew things were going to turn out this way. Every coach has confidence in their team, but Willingham had an aura about him that seemed as if he climbed in his flying Delorean and saw how this game would play out before arriving on campus. Perhaps he threw the wind comment out there just to throw us off the trail of just what exactly he knew about this game.

"We expected to do what we did, Willingham said after the game,"That is our expectation in every game"
This next one also shook me to the core. It was just the way he said it. It was as if he had to fight off a smirk when it came out of his mouth
He began the remark commenting that he knew Syracuse underestimated Washington's speed then said...

"That is the most speed we've had on the field in three years, and it showed in a lot of positions. There was one play where Louis (Rankin) didn't look like he had the corner, and then the next thing you know, he's going in for the TD."

I hereby am starting the Willingham Watch. As you can tell, I think ND screwed him over, then promptly stated it had nothing to do with race (they might be right), but then added insult to injury by giving Weis a $40 10-year contract after he loses one more game than Willingham his first year, using Willingham's players.

I always liked Ty Willingham and I thought he was what ND needed. But perhaps it's best that he's out in Seattle, because when ND loses, South Bend is a small, small place to be.

Anyway, Washington sees Ohio State (#12), UCLA(#13), and USC(#1) the next three weeks, and that is as tough a schedule as you'll see. They could end up 2-3 in three weeks, in which case this post will look silly. It is a murderous schedule, and the odds are against him. But if they pull off an upset or two, I told you so.

Willingham Bowl Watch is on. And this South Bend native is smiling all the way to the BCS.