Notre Dame to Hire Tyrone Willingham

ESPN Radio

[GoreIsLove]

That's fine and good, but he brought UCLA back to prominence almost 30 years ago and won the Super Bowl on accident (I'd give more credit to Martz for that). Look at what a fine job Vermeil is doing with the Chiefs right now.

My point was that Vermeil's best days are long behind him while someone like Willingham's best day are ahead of him.

[PRND21]

...a worse winning percentage than that of recently fired head coach Bob Davie.

Stanford has tougher schedules and a more strict player selection process.
The Irish are in better hands.
Take heart, Bob was a putz.

[GoreIsLove]

I disagree. At Notre Dame he'll have far better kids to work with then he ever had at Stanford. Next year will be a wash no matter what since all the recruiting is over, but in a few years people will forget about Davie.

I read somewhere last week that Lou Holtz had a similar record to Willingham before being hired. Does anybody have that info?

[dfwgator]

So I guess that would make Willingham "Black Irish". (rock me!)

[ruschpa]

The only thing which I am hopeful for is that they get rid of that pathetic offense they consistantly run. Hopefully they'll be able to teach the how to catch the ball and run at the same time. They may well have success...but not to national prominence as what domers would like.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

Who cries more, Vermeil or Faust?

[GoreIsLove]

Pure comedy when Vermeil cried after beating the Broncos two weeks ago.

[PRND21]

He has a top 10 team this year, and he doesn't get the players at a Stanford that a Washington, UCLA, or Oregon get.

WHAT!!!? NO USC MENTION!!!!?

That hurts, man.
A cool loud fighter jet just did donuts, low, over my house. I'm a mile west of the Rose Parade start point, he's practicing for tomorrow morning at 8:00. For whatever reason, the past few years they come play in a sporty model on the 31st and zoom by fast and low on the First, usually in a big stealthy model.
Have a good New Year Dan!

[GoreIsLove]

As long as Willingham has been at Stanford, they've never had any problem scoring points

[Steve_Seattle]

I agree with your assessment of Willingham. Stanford's high academic standards and image as a second-tier football school keep it from getting a lot of top recruits, but Willingham has done a great job of overcoming those obstacles. He is a very good coach, and with Notre Dame's prestige as a football school, the sky is the limit. As a UW Husky fan, I will be glad to see him leave Stanford.

[PMCarey]

Willingham is a great pickup for Notre Dame. In a few years they'll look on the whole O'Leary mess as a blessing for the school.

[Steve_Seattle]

"in a few years they'll look upon the whole O'Leary mess as a blessing for the school"

I agree completely. Willingham would have been my choice in the first place.

[GSWarrior]

Notre Dame is an independent, right? Maybe they would have better luck recruiting if they were in a conference.

[VaBthang4]

Praise God.

The anointing has returned to Notre Dame...

They will be in the National Championship game inside of five years.

Thank God that goofball from GAtech got busted.

Willingham is a very good coach. One difference between him and Davie was Davie got worse as time went on but Willingham got better.

[Mike Darancette]

Willingham's players really like him he will do well at Notre Dame which is vastly more football orientated than Stanford. I wish Tyrone good luck.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

ND does cave in to "liberal" stuff. The nuttiest was their condescension to their students (and reality) in accomodating linguistic analytic philosophers (reductionistic sophists) in their philosophy department. That and entertaining mountebank PC sourpuss Richard McBrien as a "theologian" in the theology department. What a joke!!! But that's the sad sorry history of the socialist bureaucracy of U.S. higher education, never to be confused with the actual pursuit of truth and valid knowledge. Nice campus though.

[DmBarch]

Davie's replacement, George O'Leary from Georgia Tech, was the one who lied about his academic and athletic background. I'm not sure why Davie was fired. This is the result of more extortion and blackmail from Jesse Jackson.

Davie was fired for not winning enough and not getting top players. ND and Davie either settled or lost a lawsuit related to age discrimination when Davie reportedly said that an asst. coach was "too old" and should not continue. Davie then denied this even though enough people heard it come his mouth.

The hiring of Willingham has nothing to do with Jesse Jackson. ND couldn't get the first five or six guys it wanted, and didn't want to wait until the pro season was over for some of their prospects. Willingham is a fine coach and also played for Michigan State,

[OKSooner]

Yo Dan, Happy New Year.

[monkeyshine]

That's not fair. He has a 9-2 record this season. He had to build up a program, and had to spend the first few years working with the talent left over from the former coach. His record this season and last show that he is a capable, competent coach.

[Dan from Michigan]

Happy New Year to you as well. Spartans go out on a winning note so today is a good day.