She must have some O'Connor genes.
Posted on 12/10/2004 11:50:25 AM PST by tvn
As Notre Dame continued to search for a football coach yesterday, the former agent for the fired coach Tyrone Willingham applauded the criticism of the firing by the university's president, the Rev. Edward A. Malloy.
The former agent, Ray Anderson, who is now an executive with the Atlanta Falcons, said yesterday that among Notre Dame's administrators, Malloy and the athletic director Kevin White, who also opposed Willingham's firing, knew the coach the best.
Malloy, who will step down as president July 1, made his comments Wednesday at a sports forum in New York.
"In my 18 years, there have been only two days that I have been embarrassed to be president of Notre Dame, Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, because I felt we had not abided by our precedent," Malloy said, referring to Willingham's firing.
Anderson, who negotiated Willingham's deal at Notre Dame, said Malloy and White "were really disappointed" about the firing.
"It was really refreshing to see Father Malloy's comments," Anderson said. "For someone from the university to take a stance like that shows that they made a disgraceful mistake."
Seven Notre Dame administrators met Nov. 29 to determine Willingham's coaching status. He was fired after three seasons.
Malloy's assistant, Chandra Johnson, said Wednesday that she had shaved her head to protest the firing.
Anderson said he had been in touch with Willingham, who has emerged as a strong candidate to become the coach at Washington.
"I can't confirm that he's interviewed there, but by this point there has been some meaningful discussion," Anderson said.
Anderson also said that Willingham was in good spirits.
"The experience at Notre Dame was brought on by folks that didn't understand the whole picture," Anderson said.
Notre Dame was scheduled to meet with Tom Clements, the Bills' offensive coordinator, last night about its head-coaching position. Clements, a former all-American quarterback, led Notre Dame to the 1973 national championship. He has the support of the former Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian.
ND will never be a powerhouse again. You know why? They now make every freshman take Calculus. They no longer compromise academic standards for football players. End of story. Why go to ND and be forced to take real courses when you can go to Ohio State and take "Theories of Coaching Wrestling" and "AIDS Awareness." Touchdown Jesus may as well put his arms down.
Kinda like a movie star sleeping one night on a storm sewer grate to raise awareness to bums the homeless.
"Notre Dame, welcome to our world." - SMU students
Solich had 6 years at Nebraska, so he was given the opportunity to get three of his own recruiting classes all the way through. Willingham had only 3 years, so didn't even get one full recruiting class of his own all the way through. And the real reason Solich was fired was because Nebraska recruiting went in the tank on his watch.
I'm a Catholic and the only Catholic college I detest is Georgetown. That that school calls itself "Catholic" is a joke. My sister went to G'town and her freshman year roommate arrived from Choate, not knowing it was a Catholic school until she got there and caught a glimpse of a priest crossing campus. Sure, this girl must have been a dope, but there must be a reason someone bright enought to graduate from Choate and get into G'town didn't know it was a Catholic school...
"Actually, Meyer to Florida makes a helluva lot more sense for a hot young coach than ND."
Yes, and it will also be a lot easier for Meyer to make it to the pro's with a winning record at Florida in his first four years than with a .500 or less at ND.
FWIW Meyer has repeatedly stated he has absolutely no interest in ever coaching in the NFL, and frankly, no NFL team is going to pay him the kind of money UF is paying him now.
Focusing on the 10-3 record is being short-sighted. Nebraska recruiting went completely in the tank under Solich's watch. They haven't had a blue chip skill position player on offense since Ahman Green. Solich was fired because they were slowly but surely losing their recruiting edge. They fired Solich to bring in someone who could install a modern offense that would lure in the skill position players.
There will be growing pains while the west coast offense is being implemented with the bunch of option players that are left over. But the good news is that based on verbal commitments, it looks like Nebraska is going to have a very strong recruiting class this year - they have commmitments from two big-name running-backs out of California and Pennsylvania, and a highly regarded QB out of Florida. Nebraska made the right move by firing Solich, and time will prove it to be the correct decision.
1961, I believe. I thought it was a major mistake to get rid of Solich too. Osborne was a great coach, but look how long it took him to put together the right formula to win it all. Unfortunately, Nebraska has a program in decline, and it may be a while again before they contend. For the most part, though, I've stopped paying so much attention to I-A, and have become a bigger fan of I-AA football.
None of those are gimmees. I can even see 0-6 possibly. Michigan is always a toss the records out since anything can happen. USC is a loss. Michigan State usually plays ND very tough even in a bad year. Purdue, Washington, and Pitt are on the road.
Yep. Notre Dame is doing itself a disservice by creating schedules that virtually guarantee its BCS chances are dashed before October. If I were a college football coach, I wouldn't want to take a job that ensures mediocrity at best.
She must have some O'Connor genes.
Goodbye Willinghambone - you stink. Maybe you should try sacking groceries at Saveway.
Indeed.
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