This was a surprise to me. With Gerry Faust and Bob Davie both getting the time they got I didn't think the ND folks would pull the trigger on Willingham so quickly, in relative terms. Also Notre Dame was usually notorious for sticking to its contracts. Just wait you're going to have Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, the NAACP crying foul against Notre Dame, saying that TW wasn't given the same opportunity as previous coaches because he was black and non-Catholic. This will be very interesting to see who will be considered for the ND job.
I don't think it's racial. ND wanted Urban Meyer and he wants them. If Meyer is not out there, Willingham gets another year or two.
Ty's three year record was almost indentical to Faust and Davie, and ND fired those two. He wasn't doing any better than those two.
I heard ND wanted to keep TW for one more year but yielded to the pressue from alumni. Some ND students want to protest in this afternoon.
I'm pretty sure that TW will be the first ND coach since Ara Parsegian not to complete his initial contract agreement. So I stick by my statement that this was not the norm in South Bend. Usually ND has been a stickler for standing by its contractual agreements.
It's a shame, b/c from what I've seen of him, he seems like a great coach and mentor for young men. Unfortunately, he just couldn't get them to establish the winning tradition ND demands.
