Willingham's Scorched Earth, Aftermath of Bad Recruiting Classes for UW

Said the Chronicle, "A line that couldn't run block, couldn't protect the passer and couldn't stand up to more experienced defenses at virtually every turn. "

Hmmm... sounds like Notre Dame in 2007.

Here's the Stanford 2003 preview from SI: "The Cardinal is hurting on the offense line with only one experienced returnee in three-year starter Kirk Chambers, the left tackle. Kwame Harris' early departure for the NFL complicated an already dire situation, and now Teevens will have to rely on a host of unproven players, including seven redshirt freshmen."

Sound familiar Domers? What happened?

Willingham's recruiting left Teevens with only... drum roll please... TWO upper class offensive linemen out of fourteen on the team.

In other words, he created the exact same problem at both schools.

Predictably, Teevens (not that he wouldn't have failed anyway) bombed in his second year in the same way Notre Dame did... just slightly worse than Weis's 3-9 last year. What we've learned is that both coaches were playing with a very unstacked deck due to negligent recruiting. Stanford followers speculated that Willingham got out just in time.

It's no surprise to anyone that Willingham led the charge to impose restrictions on coaches' travel. It saved him from having to compete on hard work.

The thing we Domers learned is that Willingham only cares about Willingham. He poisoned the well in every conceivable way upon his departure from Notre Dame. He left a media mess, a recruiting nightmare and a financial albatross.

It didn't have to be that way either. If he fired Deidrick he could have stayed (something he did anyway when he went to Washington.) He didn't and that turned out to be the best thing that has happened to Notre Dame football in years. It's taken four years to cleanse the stench of losing and divisiveness. 

Much like Washington now, Notre Dame's players were just plain quitting in games.  That attitude takes a long-long time to change.

But now the Huskies are facing the same Willingham imposed virtual death penalty. A null recruiting class following one decent and two mediocre classes will hamstring the Huskies for years.

And if you thought Willingham didn't work hard on the recruiting trail before, you ain't seen nothing yet. A lame duck Willingham won't be able to take the insult of rejection. Remember Tyrone only cares about Tyrone and recruiting takes a lot of groundwork.

Recruiting isn't microwave popcorn ya know.

Most Domers think that Willingham's a self-important con artist who talks in strange platitudes that sound smart when you first hear them, but upon reflection make little sense and mask his lack of understanding of the issues. I used to think his stern looks had meaning, now I just view them as funny faces he makes when he's clueless. 

At Stanford he opined what he would do with Notre Dame's players. At Notre Dame he wondered what he would do without the restrictions. Lack of performance was always someone else's fault. I have no idea where he goes from here, but I believe that if he had an offer to go to another school with a good golf course nearby, he'd be on a plane already.

But after scorching the earth from South Bend to Seattle, it looks like this time the jig's up. When he leaves, don't expect it to be pretty. At Notre Dame he took people down with him and some reports claim he's already done that with Todd Turner at the Dub.

As AFCA president, Willingham may yet have another surprise in the works.

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