Notre Dame Football Coach O'Leary Resigns

ESPN

[irish guard]

According to ESPN, newly hired head football coach George O'Leary has resigned. Apparently, he falsified some information on his resume' regarding his college days. Notre Dame officials have accepted the resignation.

[irish guard]

If you ask me, they ought to accept the resignation of the athletic director for not doing his homework on this before hring the guy. Sheesh!!

[irish guard]

ugly, stupid ping

[shadeaud]

This is going to be good news to Regis. He didn't want the guy to begin with.

[litany_of_lies]

FROM ESPN:

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- George O'Leary resigned as Notre Dame football coach less than a week after being hired, admitting he lied about playing the game in college in his personal biography.

"Due to a selfish and thoughtless act many years ago, I have personally embarrassed Notre Dame, its alumni and fans," O'Leary said in a statement released by the school Friday.

O'Leary never earned a letter playing football at New Hampshire even though his biography says he earned three. In fact, he never played in a game.

"The integrity and credibility of Notre Dame is impeccable, and with that in mind, I will resign my position as head football coach effective Dec. 13, 2001."

Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White said O'Leary acknowledged the inaccuracies in his biographical data.

"I understand that these inaccuracies represent a very human failing; nonetheless, they constitute a breach of trust that makes it impossible for us to go forward with our relationship," White said.

The search for a new coach will begin immediately, White said.

O'Leary, who left Georgia Tech on Sunday to become coach of the Irish, is listed in his biography in the Georgia Tech media guide as a three-time letter-winner at New Hampshire at offensive line and fullback. It also was included in a biography handed out by Notre Dame after his hiring to replace Bob Davie was announced Sunday.

But O'Leary went to New Hampshire only for two years, and never made it into a game.

O'Leary transferred to New Hampshire after two years at the University of Dubuque in Iowa. He said he was on the New Hampshire team in 1967 and 1968, but was unable to play his first year because of mononucleosis, and did not play his second year because of a knee injury.

"It sounds like at some point somebody in our (sports information) business put that in there and it wasn't right. Who knows why?" John Heisler, Notre Dame's associate athletic director, said Thursday. "There was no intent to deceive anyone here. Somewhere along the line someone made a mistake."

Though O'Leary has said he was not sure how the information got into his biography, a document obtained by The Union Leader of Manchester indicates he listed the information when hired as a coach at Syracuse University in 1980.

According to the school's sports information department, coaches and athletes personally filled out the biographical forms. The newspaper reported Friday that O'Leary's documents lists "Univ. of New Hampshire -- 3 yr. lettered" as part of his athletic background.

The sports information department at New Hampshire said it has no record of O'Leary on a football roster, and that it does not keep records of letter winners.

O'Leary is listed as a 1968 graduate of New Hampshire with a degree in physical education.

*************

I'd LOVE to know why the Manchester Union Leader, of all newspapers, was so interested in this.

[SoDak]

Good, hopefully this means they try to get Gruden again, and maybe, just possibly, Al Davis will come and take Dennis Green off our hands.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Al Davis - Dennis Green? Not bloody likely, mate.

[SoDak]

He tried to hire him a few years ago. A guy can dream.

[InvisibleChurch]

O'Leary never earned a letter playing football at New Hampshire even though his biography says he earned three. In fact, he never played in a game.

what goes through a person's mind ? how xlintonian.

[sinkspur]

Look for Dennis Franchione's name (Alabama) to surface.

[saminfl]

I think it will be Willingham from Stanford.

[beekeeper]

Good. He has a tendency to run up scores when he does not need to. Was ahead 60 some points to near 0 for the other team and time was running out and he had GT go for another touchdown. Glad to see him go.

[Amore]

how xlintonian

Not only is what he did to begin with "xlintonian," so is the explanation. He didn't "lie," there were merely "inaccuracies."

No, he flat-out LIED.

[TheExploited]

It depends on the meaning of the word "received". He wrote received three letters from home while at college so he got three letters.

[justshutupandtakeit]

I think you are right.

[thinden]

Look for Dennis Franchione's name (Alabama) to surface.

football's a little off topic for you, ain't it?

[AStack75]

From The Union Leader:

News - December 14, 2001

O'Leary resigns as Notre Dame coach
By JIM FENNELL
Staff Sports Writer

The George O’Leary era at the University of Notre Dame lasted exactly one week.

O’Leary, 55, resigned as the head football coach at Notre Dame after acknowleding a faslification in his biography that was first reported in Thursday’s editions of The Union Leader.

“Due to a selfish and thoughtless act many years ago, I have personally embarrassed Notre Dame, its alumni and fans,’’ O’Leary said in a statement released by Notre Dame today.

A document obtained by The Union Leader from the Syracuse University sports information department -- a hand-written biographical form -- indicated O’Leary was a three-year football letterman at the University of New Hampshire.

O’Leary admitted Wednesday that he never actually played in a game at UNH and, in fact, was in Durham for only two years. Players typically earn a letter by appearing in the majority of the games for a team, which was the case at UNH during the time O’Leary was there.

O’Leary initially said he did not know how the information ended up in his biography.

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However, Larry Kimball, the sports information director at Syracuse at the time O’Leary coached there, said the Syracuse coaches personally filled out the biographical forms.

“Coaches and athletes all did,” Kimball said. “I’m not aware of anyone filling one out for anyone else.”

O’Leary’s first college coaching job came as an assistant coach at Syracuse in 1980.

O’Leary said he transferred to UNH after two years at the University of Dubuque in Iowa. He was on the team at UNH in 1967 and 1968, he said, but was unable to play his first year because of mononucleosis, and did not play his second year because of a knee injury.

The Syracuse document containing O’Leary’s background information is dated April 1, 1980, three months after Syracuse hired him as an assistant football coach.

“The integrity and credibility of Notre Dame is impeccable and with that in mind, I will resign my position as head football coach effective December 13, 2001,’’ O’Leary said.

O’Leary had accepted the position at Notre Dame after seven years as the head coach at the Georgia Tech. He had led the Yellow Jackets to five straight bowl bids.

“George has acknowledged inaccuracies in his biographical materials, including his academic background,’’ Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White said. “I understand these inaccuracies represent a very human failing; nonetheless, they constitute a breach of trust that makes it impossible for us to go forward with our relationship.’’

Lou Nanni, vice president of public affairs and communications at Notre Dame, said this morning that the university accepted O’Leary’s resignation late last night.

“When he first tendered his resignation, we said, ‘No, no,’ but the more we learned, we finally accepted,’’ Nanni said. “The obvious reaction is that we’re all surprised and terribly disappointed. At the same time, people feel a great deal of remorse and pain — first for George O’Leary and, second, for the university community.’’

[Leroy S. Mort]

I'd LOVE to know why the Manchester Union Leader, of all newspapers, was so interested in this.

I'm bettin' some ND Alum took a close look at what was being said here in Atlanta about O'Leary and decided it was time to flush him.

[Leroy S. Mort]

Wonder if Tech gets to keep the 1.5 million ND spent buying out O'Leary's contract. LOL.....

[TomB]

OMG! It's always something.

I can't fault White for this, who would even think about something as tivial as this?

I smell a rat. Someone has had this info for a long time.

[malakhi]

Its not just the matter of his biographical claims about playing football at UNH. Sporting News Radio is reporting that he never earned the masters degree he claimed to have.