(cfb360.com - NDNation.com)
When Tyrone Willingham publicly decried the lack of head coaching jobs for black Americans earlier this year, he made an irrefutable point: that something in the system is broken. Willingham further points to the good ol' boy network as a culprit, which would appear to have some validity in my opinion.
"You've got to explain the numbers,” said Willingham. “There's more than one answer. But it's alive and well in certain places, yes."
A little research shows that he should be pointing the finger in the mirror.
Willingham, together with enablers like John Saunders and Mark May, has done as much to hurt the cause of minority coaches as any other single person I can think of. I would argue that he’s created new minority roadblocks others must now overcome.
In some respects, Willingham closed far more doors than he opened...if he opened any to begin with.
Let me explain my beliefs and my frustrations. The stepping stone to a head coaching position is a coordinator position. Granted, Willingham skipped this step on his way to the head coaching position at Stanford, but being a coordinator is almost a prerequisite to the head coaching position (note that it certainly doesn’t guarantee success.)
Yet in his seven years at Notre Dame and Washington, Willingham has hired exactly zero minority coordinators.
Zero. That's remarkable for someone willing to throw the charge of racism on the table. Zero into the position that is the stepping stone to the head coaching chair.
In contrast, since Willingham left, Notre Dame has filled both of its coordinator positions with black coaches.
Now, I’m not saying that Corwin Brown or Mike Haywood were hired for their color, but their positions at Notre Dame will make them prime candidates to step into the head chair at another school. Yet IN SEVEN YEARS Willingham couldn’t find one minority worthy of being his second?
So who's racist? The school that hires a minority, or the head coach who hasn't hired one in seven years?
There would have been no better way to further the cause of minority coaches than by the notoriety gained by being a coordinator at Notre Dame. I don’t know what the minority pool looks like for Head Coaches, but theoretically you would think there has to be a bigger pool to choose from when hiring for a coordinator position.
Yet Tyrone Willingham hired whites for those key positions...again, the ones that make up the pool for the next head coaching ranks.
"You Have to Explain the Numbers."
But his worst transgression, by far, was legitimizing the idea that it’s okay to blame racism without cause for personal failures.
Willingham was given the biggest stage in the college football world and failed. He was given one of the biggest stages in the Pac-10 and failed. There’s no loss of dignity in failure. There is great loss of dignity in blaming racism without cause or proof.
Worse, at Notre Dame he did it the coward’s way, by not challenging charges of racism in the press that he knew had no factual support, even when put on the spot by John Saunders, all while banking millions from Notre Dame with the knowledge that he had already contacted the University of Washington about leaving Notre Dame.
105 comments Last one added 8 months ago — Leave a Comment
Lanie Destefano 9 months ago
Exactly.
Racism keeps you from being HIRED.
Once hired, your performance is what gets you FIRED.
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Ed Bliler 9 months ago
said perfectly Lanie. I can't agree more!
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Jack Ryan 9 months ago
This article is so spot-on true. Wish someone in the national media had the GUTS to state the same. But we are all so cowed by PC-related pressure, no one is willing to stand up and speak the truth.
Think this will get easier under Barrack "Obey Me" Obama? Race-related "niceties" and quotas and speech-supression will run rampant!
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Isaac Luber 9 months ago
Well stated, Jack. That is why we must make sure that McCain wins the election, and because Obama is going to raise income taxes in the middle of an economic recession. Back to the article, I completely agree with it. BTW, Willingham has had awful losing records with both teams, and that is why he was fired from ND and should be from Washington. He's just a bad coach. There are some very good minority coaches, especially in the NFL. Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith both made it to the Super Bowl, and Dungy beat Smith in a pretty good game.
College football began getting some good minority coaches, but now Ty is just making it harder, as you said. Its such a shame.
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Ted Sommers 9 months ago
This is an excellent analysis of the facts surrounding Willingham: There can be little doubt that AD's nationwide will think twice about hiring a black head coach because of the Willingham saga. The obvious conclusion about Willingham isn't that he's racist, it's that he's self-interested and lazy. It appears he doesn't care a bit about race except when it comes to saving his own skin.
As for the Obama riff:
1. Can we leave politics off this board?
2. Plenty of people get fired for reasons other than performance, and sometimes that reason is race. Not the case with Ty, though.
3. Isaac, what exactly are you planning to do to "make sure that McCain wins the election"?
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Chris Foy 9 months ago
Well stated, Jack. That is why we must make sure that McCain wins the election, and because Obama is going to raise income taxes in the middle of an economic recession. Back to the article, I completely agree with it. BTW, Willingham has had awful losing records with both teams, and that is why he was fired from ND and should be from Washington. He's just a bad coach. There are some very good minority coaches, especially in the NFL. Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith both made it to the Super Bowl, and Dungy beat Smith in a pretty good game.
College football began getting some good minority coaches, but now Ty is just making it harder, as you said. Its such a shame.
Isaac I'm guessing you make more than $250,000 a year. If not please quit with the Obama is gonna increase taxes. Yes Obama is gonna increase taxes. To companies making millions off the middle class every year. I love how the republicans keep spouting off about Obama increasing taxes. McCain plans on adding more taxes to the middle class and then throw in how he will tax medical benefits. The middle class will be so broke big business won't be able to keep running. The trickle down theory that republicans keep believing in hasn't worked since Reagan. Two Bush's now and both had record setting unemployment. Hmmmmm yeah lets keep giving to big business. Anyways back to the article....its spot on. As an Irish fan I was glad to see him go. The whole poor me routine got old, especially knowing he was never willing to hire a minority.
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Michael Collins 9 months ago
Compare Willingham with Randy Shannon, too. Shannon has created a hiring tree of five qualified African-American assistant coaches in his coaching staff. Ron Prince has two A.A. assistant coaches. Pete Carroll has two A.A. assistant coaches. But the overriding factor is not their skin but can they do the job. If not, everyone will be looking for work.
Willingham should be faulted for not hiring more qualified black assistant coaches, unless those coaches would prefer to learn skills for a future head coaching job under someone else - a Weis, a Carroll, a Shannon, etc.
If I'm running a company and paying someone $1-3 million a year and they are not meeting my expectations, I'll find someone who does.
But the NCAA can do more. 12% of all assistant coaches are black. 6% of all heading coaches are black. There are some very well-qualified black assistant coaches out there. Brown and Haywood at ND are two.
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Dan Zibton 9 months ago
I have long thought the cries of the lack of black head coaches was misguided. I wish the media would take to a smaller stepping stone and cry out for more black coordinators, instead of demanding change at the highest level. The old adage goes, Rome wasn't built in a day, and with Karl Dorrell and Willingham both leaving the head coaching ranks in these two years, the strategy might need to be rethought: Push for a huge influx of minority assistant coaches, and 6-8 years down the line (once they prove themselves), it will pay off with the top talents getting their shots at top jobs. 6-8 years for that potential influx of minority head coaches is far better then can be expected at the current turnover rate of black coaches in the NCAA.
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Tony King 9 months ago
Great point! I wish I'd have thought of it.
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Jack Ryan 9 months ago
When will Mark May and John Saunders and Jason Whitlock now stand up and admit that ND was right to fire Willingham?? Given how all three of these mental-midgets castigated the University, seems like ND deserves an apology of some sort, given how Willingham has now run Washington into the ground as well.
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CJ Daley 9 months ago
The answer is no. The race race baiter card is something you do not give up.
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Burt Gallagher 9 months ago
Whoever wrote this obviously does not know the " New Notre Dame " . Many alumni have known for several years what many of our former faculty have known for an even longer time . Now the men of Sorin have recently spoken the dirty truth , the Notre Dame Family has ceased to exist . The new Notre Dame is a conglomerate ruled not by " what is right " but by political correctness ( see Willingham , Ty ; Department of Diversity ;Department of Containment ;odd attention to arrests for tailgating ;games that go on ad naseum due to introductions carefully orchestrated by development office and Dr Burrish with little regard for the athletes and coaches on the football team or those who came to cheer them ) and an unwavering desire to " be like Princeton " . This is why we have such inconsistent and obviously out of character ( for Notre Dame men at least ) decisions flowing from under the dome .
For my money -- Bring back the Notre Dame family !!!!
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Mark H 9 months ago
How about Mark May and John Saunders focus on those schools that have NEVER had a black head coach, as opposed to those that had one and fired them for poor performance.
In fact if ND had its way they would of had a black head coach of the basketball team, at the same time that they had a black head coach of their football team. I bet there aren't 10 schools in D1 history that can say the same thing.
Unfortunately Ernie Kent, turned down NDs offer to be the head basketball coach, and Willingham turned out to be sub par coach.
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B Young 9 months ago
Burt
the men of Sorin have never said the Family has ceased to exist, unless you know of a few morons. I don't believe that their stand on giving the Pep rallies back to the students and team has anything to do with "Political Correctness"...that, like the issue with the crazy drinking arrests have more to do with commerce and selling the product and not a political statement. And that seems to have been addressed well within " the family" as improvements are already being seen. The men of Sorin are proof that the family does indeed exist...maybe you are not part of it?
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Mark H 9 months ago
How about Mark May and John Saunders focus on those schools that have NEVER had a black head coach, as opposed to those that had one and fired them for poor performance.
In fact if ND had its way they would of had a black head coach of the basketball team, at the same time that they had a black head coach of their football team. I bet there aren't 10 schools in D1 history that can say the same thing.
Unfortunately Ernie Kent, turned down NDs offer to be the head basketball coach, and Willingham turned out to be sub par coach.
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Chris S 9 months ago
Coach Willingham is the face of African American college football coaches in the country and not having an African American coordinator. Football is just like any other business, you have to work your way up, most head coaches are hired from a coordinator position. Coach Willingham has a white offensive coordinator and after firing his white defensive coordinator last year, he hired Donatell, another white defensive coordinator. In fact of the 9 assistants Coach Willingham employs, only two are African American.
Talk about leadership by example.
Ironicly, Notre Dame has an African American Defensive and Offensive coordinator, and 4 African American coaches on the 9 person assistant staff.
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Rob Csenar 9 months ago
Very well written. People not familiar with the situation who read this article may inadvertently think it is stoking the racial rift in coaching. In reality, it is a well though out reaction to what many know to be a false accusation (that race was involved with ND firing TW).
When you are backed into a corner, defending yourself is different than attacking.
Thanks for the excellent article and thanks also for not stooping to the level of a lot of others by bashing/ridiculing/belittling Coach Willingham.
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brian cardile 9 months ago
integri-TY!!! ha ha
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College Football Fan 9 months ago
Willingham did try to hire Dewayne Walker of UCLA (black) to be his DC before the 2008 season but Walker decided to stay at UCLA under Neuheisel so he hired Ed Donatell.
Willingham is just a crappy head coach and needs to be a position coach somewhere...the author had an excellent point about him skipping the coordinator level since it helps a potential head coach show his X's and O's skills (or not). If Willingham had ever been promoted from position coach to OC or DC first, I really wonder if he ever would've made it up to a head coach position.
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Borackrone Obamaham 9 months ago
If Ty gets fired at UW, That would be because he is BLACK! He has proven at Stanford that he can win and also His first year at ND. Maybe he could get some recuits to come visit him on the golf course. Or maybe he could have Bob Davie recruit these kids for him while they are Juniors so they are intersted in UW early. For God's sake can't Washington's Tradition recruit itself. In defense for Coach Willingham's record. If he gets fired with any years on his contract, He could coach somewhere else and still be UW's highest paid coach. He's one smart double dipper!
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L.J. Burgess 9 months ago
lol.
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shawn clark 9 months ago
I agree he should have hired black coordinators. If he did wouldn't you guys slam him for being to black. You guys would say he is doing it because they are black and yet white coaches hire white coordinators all the time. Is ok for Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden to have losing seasons with all the off field issues to keep their jobs? I think each school needs to declare what is important to them, a high graduation rate, a winning season, or bad publicity. How many national titles do Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno have combined at FSU and PSU? How long has it been since either has won one? Oh by the way, Phillip Fulmer is still hanging around in Tennessee also. Good ole boy network!
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borack obamaham 9 months ago
If UW fires Ty it will be because he is BLACK!!! He has not had enough time to get that program heading in his direction. But if they do fire him, i think he should be the new GM for the Detroit Lions.
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adam oakes 9 months ago
You are downright stupid, I'm sure your also going to vote for Obama because he is black and not because he has no pride for his own country and wants to pull America out of the war and allow all the accomplishments and billions of dollars put in to help Iraq and set up many security systems as well as computerized schools to just fall off into the ground and make our soldiers 10x more suicidal. It is idiots like you that do not look into the future and just want a man to be president because he is a "g" and plans to make change all by himself. The last person to take charge in this fashion was Hitler, he was aryan and said he would change Germany forever....he sure did that but look what he did, ruined Germany and tried to establish an Aryan race throughout. Nice one ; )!
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Andrew Nuschler 9 months ago
Adam,
Your solution is a 72 year old man with Sarah Palin as your back-up? Incidentally, the average American male has an life expectancy of ~75 years. Of course, the average American male has not had 4 bouts of melanoma nor spent 5 years in a Vietnamese prison camp.
Gosh darn, gee-willickers we sure are in big trouble don't ya think?
Not to mention supporters at Pain's rally yell out "kill Obama" and call a black cameraman "nigger" while she stands on stage and says nothing. That's the kind of leadership I can really get behind.
Borack is obviously wrong if he really thinks that, if TW loses his job, it will be because of race. But you're just as insane.
I mean, you compare Obama to Hitler. Get a clue dope.
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RedSox Maniac 9 months ago
Adam, none of your comments made sense. If you don't like Obama, that is fine, but don't compare anyone running for our country Hitler.
You can't just call out someone for having no pride, and all these things you are saying aren't even not true, but just stupid. Use common sense and analysis, and don't just make things up because you don't like someone.
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anthony kendall 8 months ago
Saying that someone wants to vote for obama becasue he is black is as ignorant as saying you are voting for mccain because he is white. And how the hell is a state senator and presidential canidate a "g"? And why do you think black people want a ganster for president? It's passive aggressive racsim like that that is dividing this country. Can't someone just not think that giving tax breaks to big business is the best way to jump start this economy. Can someone disagree with taxing a healthy benefit that is insufficient to get decent health care in the first place? Can't soemone feel that while we go further into debt that Iraq contribute more to the war effort as they sit on a surplus.
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Jon Hunn 9 months ago
It's a shame when hiring people to work for your team or company comes down to racism. If I was a head coach at Notre Dame, I would have no problem hiring an African American assistant. However, I would not hire a less-qualified A.A. assistant over a more-qualified Caucasian candidate. Which brings me to my next point.
Whenever there's a coaching vacancy in college or professional football, there's always a report on how many minority candidates that team or school interviewed before hiring someone to fill the spot. Really? Is that what it comes down to? Does every team or school need to interview a predetermined amount of minority candidates before they can hire someone?
Finally, it's a shame that something like this should even be an issue. Is college or professional football void of racism? Probably not. But, coaching positions in football, professional or college, should be filled on experience and results. It's really upsetting to me that people like Willingham or Saunders, or May think they are furthering the cause for minority coaches when they pull stunts like this, but what they're really doing is making it harder for good minority coaches to get jobs.
POTD
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Trey Bradley 9 months ago
Agreed. In fact I made similar points about the coordinator situation earlier this summer...
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/24036-race-and-notre-dame-football-crediting-the-coordinators
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Lanie Destefano 9 months ago
HEY! Why aren't there any WOMEN COACHES in college football!?!
C'mon, Erin Andrews! Start this Up!
:-)
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jason gates 9 months ago
On one hand,everybody knows that racism still exist but on both sides. On the other hand, college football has become so competitive in that everybody wants to win and they want to win now.So I wouldn't think it would make a difference if u were pink,as long as you won as any kind of coach and you fit into a team then racism wouldn't be a question.
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Brad James 9 months ago
I wish racism didn't exist. If I was an athletic director (I do desire to work in an athletic department, but as a statistician for the high-profile programs such as football and men's basketball), I would do all in my power to ascertain that race did not govern who I chose as a coach. If racism exists in this situation, shame on all parties. I do take solace in this much, though, as a Denver Broncos fan, I'm even more proud of my favorite team for giving Marlin Briscoe a shot to be a signal-caller. You often don't think of the Broncos as a breakthrough franchise like that, but perhaps we all should. I do like Willingham and wish him nothing but success.
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Lisa Horne 9 months ago
I'm surprised no one brought up the side of the argument that around 70% of the pro players are black. Should whites complain about racism?
The answer, of course is no, because pro players are picked on their ability, not some EOE requirement.
Why then, do some make issues of race when there so few minority coaches? If we say it is due to ability only, then all of a sudden eyebrows get raised- it implies that minorities are not qualified to mentor.
Indeed, the pot isn't calling any kettle, is it?
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William Berry 9 months ago
Wow, Eddie hates you.
I've got a new found respect for you now.:)
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James Williamson 9 months ago
Exactly Lisa. Is it the coach's fault that African Americans have a larger population of very fast people that usually makes them into receivers. Is it a coach's fault that most if not all punters and kickers are Caucasian? I actually can't think of any African American punters or kickers. It is not racism if certain races have certain attributes for certain activities. If we start being politically correct on race in sports then the NBA is going to go through a lot of changes. How many do African-American outnumber Caucasians? Like 4-1?
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anthony kendall 8 months ago
So now we are saying that blacks inherently lack the mental capacity to be head coaches, thats why the are not that many? The essence of racism. If 70% of an employee base is black, you would expect that more than 5% of the management staff of the same industry would be black. Blacks have the mental capacity to play qb and understand and execute football plays, but not the capacity to draw them up and call them? That is ridiculous. Blacks simply lack the talent to be head coaches? Wow.That is flat out racist. Could it be that the majority of athletic directors are white, associate and are comfortable with other white people, and lack the exposure to qualified black applicants, and do not hire them? It's not racist on there part, it's who they know and are comfortable with. Alsio the players in the NFL are DRAFTED and mostly by white executives, so hard to argue racism there.
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al asifyouknow 9 months ago
MAYBE HE JUST HIRE THE BEST AVAILABLE , IS THERE RACISM IN COLLEGE FOOTBALLS HIRING OF HEAD COACHES ? WELL I GUESS WE WOULD HAVE TO BE AN INSIDER AND LOOK AT HOW AND BY WHOM THIS DECISIONS ARE MADE . i CAN TELL YOU THAT ND PULL THE TRIGER TOO FAST ON TY (A 3 YEAR OPPORTUNITY) AND MORTGAGE THEIR SOUL TO WEIS FOR TEN YEARS , COACH WEIS IN 2005 AND 06 HAD A RECORDS OF 9-2 WITH TY TEAM , IN 2007 WIES GOES 3-9 WITH MOSTLEY HIS KIDS AND THIS YEAR WINS OVER THIS YEARS GREAT POWERS(LOL) AS SAN DIEGO ST. ,MICHIGAN ,STANFORD , HONESTLY I DONT SEE THE RESULTS OF THE ND MOVE DO YOU ? I THINK IN THE ND FIRING OF TY YOU COULD MAKE A CASE THAT IF IT WOULD OF BEEN A WHITE COACH HE WOULD OF GIVEN HIM A FEW MORE YEARS , MAYBE NOT ,LETS SEE HOW LONG COACH WEIS GETS TO PUT HIS PLAN IN PLACE....JUST AN OPINION ....
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L.J. Burgess 9 months ago
You diidn't graduate from Notre Dame did you.
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adam oakes 9 months ago
Lol he definately did not. I can barely even understand what he is saying here lol! But I actually just got into Notre Dame and Yale but I'm going to Notre Dame since it's obviously a better school lol :)
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Bryan Ford 9 months ago
Learn to type without caps.. because believe me.. no one is reading all of that in caps.. ridiculous.
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al asifyouknow 9 months ago
I DONT THINK TY WILL MAKE IT TO THE USC GAME , IT WOULD BE JUST PLAIN SAD IF HIS LAST GAME AT WASHINGTON IS VS THE TEAM THAT FIRED HIS A FEW YEARS AGO , ND ..
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al asifyouknow 9 months ago
NO L. J. I WOULD OF FLUNKED OUT , IM JUST NOT ALL THAT SMART , IM JUST AN IDIOT WITH AN OPINION ..LOL...BOY! THAT IS DANGEROUS ISN'T IT..LOL
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al asifyouknow 9 months ago
POST SHOULD READ: I THINK IN THE ND FIRING OF TY YOU COULD MAKE THE CASE THAT IF HE WOULD OF BEEN A WHITE COACH ND WOULD OF GIVEN HIM A FEW MORE YEARS.
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Drew Shahan 9 months ago
post should read: i think in the ND firing.......you could make the case that if he would HAVE....not of....HAVE.....would HAVE.....
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al asifyouknow 9 months ago
ISSAC , Ty is just a bad coach who happens to be black , unless someone looks at life from a rasist point of view , why would Ty being a bad coach have anything to do with other mimority coaches getting a job ? are you kidding me ...lol
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al asifyouknow 9 months ago
find it hard not to respond to all this stuff.....THE GENTLEMAN WHO WROTE THIS ARTICLE SAID "WE NEEDED HIM TO SUCCED" I ASSUME YOUR A ND FAN ,AM I WRONG? , I DONT UNDERSTAND WHY YOU WROTE THIS ARTICLE . WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE ? WHO BENEFITS FROM THIS ? ARE YOU TRYING TO PROVE THERE IS NO RACISM IN THE HIRING OF COACHES IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL ? ARE YOU TRYING TO PROVE THAT RACISM OF BLACKS COACHES AGAINST OTHER BLACK COACHES IS THE REASON THERE ISN'T MANY BLACK COACHES IN DIV. 1 ? I JUST DONT GET IT MY DEAR FRIEND . TWO MORE QUESTIONS , DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY DIV, 1 SCHOOLS THERE ARE ? AND DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY HAVE BLACK HEAD COACHES ? ENOUGHF SAID .... NOTHING PERSONAL IS JUST MY OPINION AND FROM WHAT I UNDERSTAND EVERYONE HAS ONE AND I THANK GOD FOR THAT....
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Steven Resnick 9 months ago
Sorry this is the most ridiculous thing I've ever read. Tyrone Willingham is not a racist. He is telling it as it is. He was fired from Notre Dame because he was Black. So what if he has white coaches on his staff and doesn't have another black coach as a coordinator. That wasn't his point. There's a huge discrepancy in how many white coaches there are in the NCAA then there are black. It's not being racist it's telling it how it is. Yes it maybe helpful to have some coaching experience whether being an assistant or high school coach. You can name the black coaches on one finger. You can't count how many white coaches there are on your finger. Willingham isn't saying it to be racist but to point out a fact.
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The Rock NDNation.com 9 months ago
Steve... I think you miss the point in a big way.
The most ridiculous thing I ever saw was Ty accusing ND of being racist via John Saunders.
The article isn't about Ty.
It is a defense of the baseless accusations aimed at Notre Dame by contrasting what Notre Dame has done with the hypocritical stance of Willingham. He jabs the rest of college football for not doing what he himself has the most power to control and hasn't done. In contrast, the "racist school" (Notre Dame) has acted decisively to create the stepping stones necessary to create minority coaching opportunities.
If Ty believes it's about the numbers, then he has explaining to do.
The intent of the article is to expose the underlying hypocrisy that Notre Dame (which hired an AA HC and two AA coordinators) has been called racist, while Willingham (who has had more direct power to influence pipeline) complains about racism, stokes the fires and does nothing. I find this hypocritical.
The intent is not to pat backs, but through comparison of the two, draw out the underlying hypocrisy.
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Andrew Nuschler 9 months ago
Hey Rock,
Direct quote from cfb360's reply to a comment I made on his article at http://bleacherreport.com/articles/66740-is-ty-willingham-racist posted 21 hours ago:
"It is a defense of the baseless accusations aimed at Notre Dame by contrasting what Notre Dame has done with the hypocritical stance of Willingham. He jabs the rest of college football for not doing what he himself has the most power to control and hasn't done. In contrast, the "racist school" (Notre Dame) has acted decisively to create the stepping stones necessary to create minority coaching opportunities
...
The intent of the article is to expose the underlying hypocrisy that Notre Dame (which hired an AA HC and two AA coordinators) has been called racist, while Willingham (who has had more direct power to influence pipeline) complains about racism, stokes the fires and does nothing. I find this hypocritical.
The intent is not to pat backs, but through comparison of the two, draw out the underlying hypocrisy. "
WORD FOR WORD IDENTICAL. The ellipsis indicates where you removed a single line that made no sense in response to this article.
So what's up man?
You passing off cfb's words as your own or are you the same person with multiple IDs to make it look like people agree with you?
Punk chump.
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Hoss 9 months ago
"He was fired from Notre Dame because he was Black"
Steve knows this because he was in the room when the trustees decided to can Ty. Let the white-guilt go bro.
Maybe it would be better if Ty was worried about the percentages of young African-American men actually graduating from college when getting those sweet football scholarships. Ty was a slacker at ND, his performance at Washington is reinforcing that, and the only reason he's getting a pass is because of the color of his skin.
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William Berry 9 months ago
Racism would be holding him to a different standard than other coaches. What is the average life span of a college coach?
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William Berry 9 months ago
Good way to stay on topic, bring up something six weeks old.
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Drew Shahan 9 months ago
steven
ty willingham was not fired because he was black. ty willingham was fired because he sucks at his job. if his being black was why they fired him, why did they fill their two coordinator positions with black coaches?
i don't think ty willingham was black. neither does the author. he was merely pointing out that ty willingham constantly brow beats us all with racism but does nothing to fix it.
here's the deal. black coaches just haven't been around as long as white coaches, and don't have the same experience, and getting the percentage of black head coaches in the NCAA up to 25% or 45% or whatever society thinks it should be at isn't going to happen overnight. ESPECIALLY if coaches like ty willingham don't help out their fellow black coaches by giving them jobs.
the same thing happened with black players in sports. when black players started to be accepted into professional sports, it's not like the flood gates opened and all of a sudden there were the amount of black players there are today. it's a gradual process, unfortunately.
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James Williamson 9 months ago
I don't know much about College Football, but to think that racism is everywhere is ridiculous. It is here yes, but is it everywhere? No. I believe that you are right. Willingham was fired b/c he wasn't winning. No coach has a safe job in today's world b/c he is the scapegoat whether his players stink or not.
Coaches are fired all the time and racism is not brought up. Its impatience that gets rid of them. NFL Top Ten's no. 7 record that will never be broken is Tom Landry's 29 straight head coaching years with the Dallas Cowboys. And they are right. It won't be broken b/c people want championships. Willingham can take a team to a title game for 5 years in a row and people will say he can't get them over the top.
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Drew Shahan 9 months ago
hahaha, just read a big typo. i want to correct my previous comment by saying that i DO think ty willingham is black, and i bet the author does too.
please insert the word racist for the word black in that sentence.
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Peter R 9 months ago
There is Turner Gill. Rumor has it that he is being considered for the Syracuse opening. Buffalo still has two years on their initial five year contract. Clearly the actions of Buffalo speak volumes that Gill is not being descriminated against. Would the subsiquent failure of Syracuse to continue to court him be a sign of racism?
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Peter R 9 months ago
There is Turner Gill. Rumor has it that he is being considered for the Syracuse opening. Buffalo still has two years on their initial five year contract. Clearly the actions of Buffalo speak volumes that Gill is not being descriminated against. Would the subsiquent failure of Syracuse to continue to court him be a sign of racism?
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al asifyouknow 9 months ago
Syracuse ! well let me just jump at that one . Tuner Gill is a fine young coach , if i was his agent i would strongly encourage him to stay in Buffalo until he wins the MAC and then see if you can get a BIG TEN or PAC 10 job .
Syracuse is a coach killer , stay the &^%$^%$ away from there Mr. Gill.. good black coaches at times have to take whatever they can . it's a shame.
There is still much joy to be had in college football this year , seeing ND go 3-4 in their last 7 games of the season and touchdown jesus having to fork out another mill + for MR. WEIS . THAT BOARD MUST BE THINKING "HOW LONG IS THAT CONTRACT FATHER ? IT SEAMES LIKE A 100 YEARS SON" LOL
THERE ARE THIGS IN LIFE THAT ARE PRICELESS , ILL SIT BACK AND ENJOY...LOL
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al asifyouknow 9 months ago
thanks for the edit Drew ....oh ! and Ty is an averege coach that happens to be is BLACK...lol
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Rob Calonge 9 months ago
One question - Why does there have to be a call to hire anyone based on their color?
How about hiring the best man for the job? I don't see many Asians or Mexicans with head coaching jobs either...so?
A bunch of things go into the consideration for hiring a head coach. Things such as, experience, education, like-ability, and sale-ability and that's all before whether or not the guy can do a good job. It seems like there are a bunch of head coaching gigs out there, but there aren't. Somewhere around 300 in college and 32 in the pros...in the U.S.. That's not many when you consider that millions have played football.
I used to think that Willingham was a good coach when he was at Stanford, even though I tired of him quickly due him becoming the poster-boy for the race-hiring issue. Now, after seeing what he's done at Notre Dame and Washington, I question his abilities as a leader and a head coach.
This was a great article and well written. Keep up the good work.
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al asifyouknow 9 months ago
ROB EVERYTHING YOU SAID IS TRUE BUT PLEASE PLEASE TELL ME WHY THIS IS A GREAT ARTICLE ? I SEE LOTS OF COMPLEMENTS , IS WELL WRITTEN BUT WHAT IS IT SAYING , PLEASE HELP ME ROB YOU SOUND LIKE YOU GET IT...LOL
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yungCaucasoid ... 9 months ago
Of course Ty Willingham is a racist-------------in the eyes of pro-Racist who despise him for bringing truth that they hate, to have to think about.
I'm just wondering since the reality Willingham speaks of, was a fact about college football since loooooong before he became a college head coach, then...who was racist prior to Willingham's assertion, when they spoke the same truth?
...hmmmm...
I mean, don't you need to do an article on those persons as well? In order to keep the *peculiar nature* of the article here, uniform, and in sync?
As a matter of fact:
~how many Caucasoid D-I head coaches are failing miserably on the job, like Willingham, yet being allowed to continue on and on and on and on at their Universities ---or given other Div.I chances when they move on--- in ways, unlike anything that Black coaches usually enjoy? I like how most remarks in this article here, conveniently overlooked that reality when criticizing Willingham. Then again, we are on B/R.com; the epitome of Racism in Sports-Info.
~didn't the SEC, just a few seasons ago, have the very first Black coach lead a University's football program, in the history of that conference? And, thats in spite of all of the *great Black minds* that have graced an SEC-gridiron over decades and decades...hmmmm...must've been that racist-Willingham, at it again eh?
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M 9 months ago
Can't spell Willingham without ham.
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Harrison Ford 9 months ago
Tyrone Willingham was fired from Notre Dame because his teams were becoming increasingly uncompetitive, and Willingham's laziness on the recruiting trail suggested that things were only going to get worse.
Willingham landed a good class his first year at ND (due in large part to ND's 8-0 start), but his next two classes were absolutely horrendous--the worst ND classes in 40+ years. It's true that Weis' strong 2005 team was comprised largely of players from Willingham's first class, but Ty's lazy recruiting in 2003 and 2004 put Weis in a very difficult position in 2007 as Ty's crappy 2004 and 2005 recruiting classes meant ND had no depth and very little veteran talent. ND recognized that Ty had put the program in a downward spiral (13-15 record following the 8-0 start notwithstanding), and Ty was deservedly fired.
Washington fans are seeing the same thing at UW. There is no veteran talent/depth, and, aside from last year's class, recruiting has been abysmal. Willingham is a narcissist with unjustifiably high self-confidence, and this personality trait has led to laziness and poor results. Given Ty's 11-30 record at once-proud Washington, I think UW fans would agree.
Anyone who thinks race had anything to do with Ty's dismissal ignores the fact that ND received a ton of positive PR with Willingham at the helm. ND fully knew that firing Willingham would cause the PR to turn against them, but they did so because of the irreparable damage that would have been caused by keeping him around. Why would ND have fired TW without cause given the known backlash that it would cause?
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tay digga 9 months ago
lol, this article highlights a very important yet rarely spoken of truth about the role race plays in America's problems. While I don't think Ty's dismissal was because he's black, I also don't think Willingham not hiring any means he's racist. That's a huge stretch. I understand your fury but here's the problem. This article and the comments (Lisa, Jack and Isaac to name a few) shows the problem with America's Original Sin. White's are so sick of hearing about it and feeling guilty and blah blah blah that out of desperation they pounce on a chance to flip the scrip and say things like,
"I'm surprised no one brought up the side of the argument that around 70% of the pro players are black. Should whites complain about racism? "
Comments like this at first appear really intellectual and insightful but with thought you can hear the frustration and the compassion fatigue and its not good either.
Which ignores the history of racism in America: everybody wants to get over it and forget it happened. But no one wants to actually do anything about it to change what we think of race. How many of you, black or white, actually have more than one friend of the opposite race? And if so how many of those friends are a close friend. That goes for blacks and whites. Both are at fault on this. Whites have such a distorted view of blacks that they stereotype them based on BET and the crime reports on t.v. Thats why you get comments like this
"It is idiots like you that do not look into the future and just want a man to be president because he is a "g" and plans to make change all by himself. "
A "G"? That's a racist comment right there. I don't know how many whites love to make fun of the urban slang black use in their conversations. Sure its not bigoted but its racist. Sadly a lot of whites consciously or subconsciously think black = ghetto...and the word itself has come to have racist and classist overtones.
But the truth is it goes both ways. Blacks are racist towards whites too. We, if we don't challenge it, are usually suspect of whites and don't trust them. And we play the race card whenever something goes wrong. But these are the consequences of America's Original sin and no one wants to mend they just want to prentend things are great and continue on their merry way, but get mad when someone brings it up in a way that makes them feel uncomfortable and its not right.
Both races because of the history treat each other like aliens and don't try to get mend what has happened. Its still a segregated society. Go to your facebook or my space. What's the percentage of your friends that are of a different race. For those of you insecure and saying, "oh i have a lot of black/white friends..." great nice job but you are the minority.
Anyway, I don't see how over the last 50 years of sports how there aren't more black coaches, are they not smart enough? Do they go for positions enough? They play the game for their entire careers and succeed so I'm sure there are plenty able to coach. Personally, I think its just socialization. Until recently blacks didn't even try to be quarterbacks on a regular basis. We wanted the "speed" positions...is it that Blacks are really better at sports or is it that we put more effort into it and thus reap bigger benefits and the same goes for education. Just a thought. Nothing is inherent, but history leads to social patterns that are hard to break.
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al asifyouknow 9 months ago
tay said :"70 % of the pro players are black. Should whites complain about racism? " ACTUALLY SOMEONE TOLD ME THAT A COUPLE OF DAYS WHEN TALKING ABOUT BASEBALL AND OZZIE GUILLEN AND ALL THE HISPANIC PLAYERS THE WHITE SOXS HAVE .....SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE . THIS SAME GUY WROTE ANOTHER NEGATIVE TY ARTICLE , I THINK HE HAS A FETISH,,LOL
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al asifyouknow 9 months ago
tay said :"70 % of the pro players are black. Should whites complain about racism? " ACTUALLY SOMEONE TOLD ME THAT A COUPLE OF DAYS WHEN TALKING ABOUT BASEBALL AND OZZIE GUILLEN AND ALL THE HISPANIC PLAYERS THE WHITE SOXS HAVE .....SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE . THIS SAME GUY WROTE ANOTHER NEGATIVE TY ARTICLE , I THINK HE HAS A FETISH,,LOL
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al asifyouknow 9 months ago
See that !! i cant write anything that makes any sence , read the above post , so all folks que hablan espanol can't write or read ....all black coaches can't coach just becouse Ty was not very good , also this writer is not a racist becouse he wrote 2 Ty bashing articles ..life is good you all .
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al asifyouknow 9 months ago
See that !! i cant write anything that makes any sence , read the above post , so all folks que hablan espanol can't write or read ....all black coaches can't coach just becouse Ty was not very good , also this writer is not a racist becouse he wrote 2 Ty bashing articles ..life is good you all .
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tay digga 9 months ago
al I'm not understanding you. I din't write the 70% quote I was just using it...and I don't think the author is a bigot either but sometimes I feel like people get too defensive and don't really look at their own lives to see how racism plays out in it. You hear ppl all the time saying, "Oh, I'm not racist..." but most ppl don't know what racism is. Making fun of the slang and culture of others is racist. A dude said that ppl are voting for Obama because he's a "g" and he used quotes to make fun of how ppl talk like that. Or how player dress or wear their hair is judged by the status quo and i hear some of the most negative comments from them. Guess who the status quo is? And it goes both ways sure but I hate it when people get overly defensive about something that they've only thought about from "their" experience. Try to walk in someone elses shoes. Black or White. Read some books, take a class, build deep friendships and learn that all blacks or whites are this or that way...
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M 9 months ago
By your definition, everything related to the issue of race is racist. Making light of cultural differences or slang is not racist. It's just humor. Take the Chappelle Show for example.
Back to the issue of Ty Willingham. Look at the way he talks compared to the way conducts himself. He blames the issue of race so that people don't realize how much he sucks as a coach. He doesn't give a damn about other black people or other minorities. All he cares about is himself. He can't get into the spotlight with the quality of his work, so he just makes outrageous comments to bring attention to himself.
Someone like Jake Locker will never develop under such a crappy system. All I can say to Ty is to stop bitching and play some freakin football for once.
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Jerry Easterday 9 months ago
I agree with this article pretty much..However I DO NOT agree with Isaac's reply bring politics into this..That a whole another story....I don't need more pain from mcCains more of the same...I'm from South Bend .I also lived in Seattle for many years prior...I absolutely was furious that the Huskies were stupid enough to hire the man..Having seen how he coached here...He is a mediocre coach at best and a hypocrite he talks of things but doesn't do them..I'll be a huskie fan again once he is fired..I'm enjoying N.D football much more now that his phony west coast offense is miles from here but dmt Washington out of all schools???Oh well Ty don't close the door on your way out ...
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al asifyouknow 9 months ago
sorry tay i know you didn't write that quote about the 70% , but you do understand , that is the new race card for folks that never have been confotable with equality . There are unfortunaly a large silent crowd with hidden resentments about civel rights . It is no surprise TO ME this article has almost 14000 reads , there are folks looking for validation if you will , when they see a headline about how a black man is a racist it becomes an instant hit . I do many hours of posting on every every subject you can think of , i found race brings the most posts and the so called reverse racism are the best sellers.. tay i keep posting on this article becouse i still have not read one post that can tell me what the real purpose of this article is , what is it trying to say ? the only thing i can get out of this article is :
1) Ty dont hire black folks
2) TY alone is " THE MAIN REASON" why there isn't more black coaches in college football .
3) TY alone is responsible for closing many doors for black coaches in college football.
4) Is so hard to fire a black coach , it may be better not to hire one.
This are the important points i got out of this article , maybe this masterpiece is above my intelect , i just may be too intelectually chalanged to understand it .
I do understand the street type thinking that says if it walks , quacks and smells like a duck is problably not a horse ,ill have to guess is a duck and this article my dear friends stinks to high heaven , it's good old time back door racism. just an opinion and from what i understand we all have one and i thank god for that !!! love you all lol...
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Rick Still 9 months ago
One question I have is: how strong was the Pac-10 when Ty was at Stanford? That era was before I really started to follow college football and I'm pretty sure that was before Pete Carroll and USC became dominant again. He may have had good records at Stanford but if the Pac-10 was weak his record wouldn't really be a good measuring stick. Just curious if anyone knows because it'd really be impressive now a days but I'm not sure how impressive it was when Ty was at Stanford. All we see now is he is struggling at Washington and there are some pretty good teams in the Pac-10. Plus he really needs to hire someone to focus on recruiting, or hire an assistant that can recruit really well because he has not been able to recruit his best recruiting class at Notre Dame doesn't come close to what Charlie Weiss has been able to do, even after last season he is building a top 10 recruiting class. This is part of the reason Charlie Weiss has a longer leash because of the talent he is bringing in, that and his super bowl rings. You can't make it signing 15 3-star prospects, no coach can last long w/ recruiting classes like that. You can look at all the top programs and the reason they're up there is because of recruiting and player development. You'll never see one of these top programs w/ recruiting classes that look like the ones Willingham had at ND.
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yungCaucasoid ... 9 months ago
Michael,
Willingham has spent a Lifetime advocating for Equality. So for you to say he doesn't care about Black people, sounds peculiarly-racist, in and of itself. Especially if you haven't followed him beyond him standing on football field-sidelines.
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tay digga 9 months ago
Ah I get it all, I like the "new race card" comment or "back door racism" that's nice. And to Michael, I think you're taking my words out of context. I don't mean everyone doing that is racist, lets not get carried away, I mean people who are "joking" but when you talk to them they really do think negatively about what they are "joking" about. I c it all the time. We can't always use jokes as a get out of jail free card. Say something stupid and offensive then say, "oh I'm just joking..."
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tay digga 9 months ago
I totally agree with you Al, and Michael, I never gave a definition. I gave examples. I don't think everything that has to do with race is racist. You got that from a post on a forum? Did you go to UCLA by chance. I'm surrounded by UCLA people alums and students and I notice this over compensating and annoying habit of assuming without just humbly asking. Ask me what I mean next time instead of injecting words/ideas into something i wrote. Its a forum I'm not going to explain it all. I understand you may not agree and sometimes out of desperation will say anything to make the other person look stupid or seem like they aren't competent but thats childish. Anyway, to Jokes are jokes and we can make fun of things but we are to be responsible if someone holds us accountable. You bring Chappelle up and truth is a lot of people use that as a basis to say stupid and racist things then use "its a joke" as a jail free card and yet they actually hold racist views. You may not but some of my Asian friends hate the stereotype that Asians can't drive. Im black and its annoying when people see I can write, articulate myself and etc., but when they catch me in the morning wearing my doo-rag (wavecap) they say oh i didn't know u were ghetto, I see through that. Its cultural ignorance...they watch too much BET and don't really have close black friends so don't even know what a doo-rag is for just associate it with thugs...im out
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M 9 months ago
Don't go off ranting then. It's difficult to see what you really mean. Pretty similar to racism, don't you think?
True that the Chappelle Show and similar programs to vent a lot of senseless bs, but I meant it in way where you can see just how stupid all of these views really are. It's satire, but I can agree with you when you say people just use the show or similar ideas as a cop out. We all hold some racist views and racial preferences whether we're aware of them or not. I'm not trying to make you look stupid and certainly am not a child.
You talk about being annoyed by people being overly-defensive, but to me it seems you are the one who is guilty of it. You are the one trying to make me seem incompetent, childish by your standards.
You disrespect my alma mater, call me childish, and this and that. You are doing everything that you say annoys you. Sounds like you're the racist and you want people to hold racist views so that you can shove something in their faces. Why don't you get off your high horse?
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James Williamson 9 months ago
Nice.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/67483-when-will-these-sportswriters-act-like-sportswriters-and-stop-gossiping
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Bryan Ford 9 months ago
Ty was fired because he was terrible at Notre Dame. He has been terrible at Washington.. has nothing to do with his skin color.. he is not a good head coach..... he deserves to be fired again..... find a better coach at Washington.. black or white, or asian....just someone better.
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Don Wayne 9 months ago
Truth is, most of the time it's the biggest racists who make a big deal out of race. Seriously, look at people like Sharpton, Jessie Jackson and some of the idiot white supremacists out there. If a guys complaining about race, you'd better look at his own beliefs pretty carefully. I don't really care if a guys white or black or green or orange. I want performance - I want the best a guys got. If he's giving it his all, you can't ask for more. And if a guys a racist, the best thing is just for everyone to ignore him. He's a dunce anyway.
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cecil cunningham 9 months ago
Barack O'bama you punk ass bitches!!!!
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yungCaucasoid ... 9 months ago
tay,
You're dead wrong. Blacks are not racist toward Whites, in America anyway.
Racism is an element of greed and superiority. Blacks own nothing noteworthy, in this Nation. Check the past 50 annual Forbes Top500 Corps. list, if you non-believe. Blacks have nothing in this Nation, to control/barter with, that would validate a superiority-complex toward effecting Inequality.
You have misconstrued Racism, for hate, in being subjugated and oppressed by a species of folk for 300+ years. There is a difference.
Lets flip the centuries-old script that Caucasoids have enjoyed; Give Blacks control of this Nation, allow them to dictate every facet of this Nation's political, economic, and social structures, allow Blacks to then be exclusionary toward other Races for no other reason than those Races being non-Black, then...and only then, can you call Blacks racist.
That hasn't happen, nor ever will, in our Lifetimes. So, you assertion makes no sense, whatsoever.
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Ronald Weathersby 9 months ago
Taken from the LA Times' article by Chris Dufresne, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 11, 2008...
"Not sure I insinuated Willingham was fired because of his race. I did insinuate he was the first Notre Dame coach anyone could remember who got fired three years into a five-year contract."
"Willingham's record was 21-15. Gerry Faust was 18-15-1 after his first three years, yet he got to coach five. Bob Davie was 21-16 after his first three years, yet he got to coach five."
"And Charlie Weis was 22-15 after three years, and he's now coaching his fourth."
"So, it was just unusual and unprecedented, more than a crime, what Notre Dame did to Willingham."
Couldn't have said it better myself!
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Your Mom's House 8 months ago
^^^ Yes indeed, because oversimplifying a situation is the way to go!
Willingham had more losses by 21+ points in his 3 years than Faust and Davie did combined in 10.
Willingham had nearly the same number of losses by 30+ in his 3 years as the entire ND program had in the previous 40 years.
Willingham's 2nd recruiting class was the worst on-paper recruiting class in memorable ND history, and his 3rd wasn't looking so good.
Furthermore, he had his only good season with (gasp!!!) BOB DAVIE'S PLAYERS!!!
ND gives Faust 5 years and they're idiots for stupidly clinging to a sinking ship too long... ND gives Davie 5 years and they're again idiots for giving the wrong guy too much time... then ND fires a similiarly-performing coach (whose bad losses were more frequent and whose recruiting was worse) after 3 years, and they're committing "more than a crime"!!!
Please, let's bitch about Ron Zook getting fired from Florida after 2.5 years. Let's hear about Urban Meyer winning an NC in his 2nd year with RON ZOOK'S PLAYERS!!! And UNC winning a basketball NC with DOHERTY'S PLAYERS!!! And Ty, in his only good season the past 6 years as coach, winning with DAVIE'S PLAYERS!!!
Even better: Let's bitch about Washington firing previous coach Keith Gilbertson after just 2 (what! no way!), yes, 2 years... then not firing Ty after year 3 when his record was almost identical and his recruiting sub-par.
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Jerry Easterday 9 months ago
Ron,ND no longer follows the 5 yr plan as with faust because he sucked..In Tys last year you could see ND was really bad and not going to get better..The man deserved to be fired..He played tons of golf here and recruited lousy..It was not going to get better..I suggest you look at his stats coaching at
Stanford-1 good year....ND 1 good year..Wash-no good years...Wake up man...Maybe Tys next job will be at Youngstown State....
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Ronald Weathersby 9 months ago
Me thinks thou dost protest too much... It has been four-years and you ND apologist are still attempting to rationalize a bad fire by the Drunken, uh, I mean, Fighting Irish.
Stop attempting to rationalize what is the obvious: There is a serious lack of integrity at ND. (Let's not forget the open laptop in the coach's box. And least we forget your coach is a an accused cheater in the NFL. Lastly, we cannot overlook those comments your coach made last summer about the kind of players he needs to get if he wants to win but refuses to recruit.)
The evidence shows your current coach's record is no better than Ty's AND he won during his first two years with Ty's teams! Projecting a bad year on a program is half-witted at best. Just like you folks projected a 10-game winner this year. What happened? You guys stand to lose four of your last six games (WU, BC, PITT & USC). Maybe if you had WU at home you could get a couple of calls and win but YOU HAVE TO TRAVEL!
By the way, great game at Chapel Hill. Maybe you guys can get to the Poulan Weedeater Bowl this year in beautiful downtown Shreveport, LA if you can qualify.
However, the way your program is being administered these days you deserve to be right where you are...IN THE TIDY BOWL!
Maybe when you guys confess to your sins you will be allowed to have a program that is more than a Mid-Major in talent and performance. Until
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J.C. Hagan 9 months ago
Why does it say comments (87) with no actual comments?
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J.C. Hagan 9 months ago
Okay - now my comments are showing.
I think this article is complete crap. Where do coordinator jobs come from? Position coaches. Willingham has 2 on his current staff who are African-American, in a state with w 4-5% black population. Give me a break - the man's no more or less racist than any average coach. Tons of white coaches have hired only white coordinators - are they racist???
If your answer is no, then you're holding Willingham to a higher standard because he's black which is racism by definition. If it's yes, then you're wholeheartedly agreeing with Willingham.
You can't just look at his coordinators - he's had what, 6 of them? - and decide to evaluate a man's racial beliefs on that. His hiring practices on a microsample of jobs do nothing to undercut his main point about a systematic bias.
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Your Mom's House 8 months ago
"Me thinks thou dost protest too much... It has been four-years and you ND apologist are still attempting to rationalize a bad fire by the Drunken, uh, I mean, Fighting Irish."
Yeah Ronald, a bad fire... who's gone 11-31 at UW, setting historically bad records left and right at UW. They should have kept him for a 4th year-- I hear Washington is really happy with his 0-6 start. Their first 0-5 start in nearly 40 years and perhaps their only 0-6 start in school history.
----------------------------------
Stop attempting to rationalize what is the obvious: There is a serious lack of integrity at ND.
Yes... because firing a coach after 3 years equates to "lack of integrity."
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"The evidence shows your current coach's record is no better than Ty's AND he won during his first two years with Ty's teams!"
Ty's only good year at ND was with Davie's players! In fact, his only good year in the past 6 seasons as coach was with Davie's players! And unfortunately, despite inheriting 3 Top 25 classes at UW (2 of which were ranked higher than the respective ND classes [one of which was Ty's]), he pretty much hasn't one at all there with his or anyone else's players!
--------------------------------------------
"Projecting a bad year on a program is half-witted at best. Just like you folks projected a 10-game winner this year. What happened? You guys stand to lose four of your last six games (WU, BC, PITT & USC). Maybe if you had WU at home you could get a couple of calls and win but YOU HAVE TO TRAVEL!"
I don't recall many ND fans projecting 10 wins this season, but a straw man is just so easy to tearn down, isn't it? I'll tell you this much though-- I've heard plenty of media folks predict this year to be a turnaround year for UW (what happened?).
I hear you though, if only "WU" were a home game-- it's two home games for Ty and zero for Weis and ND.
You got me rolling with the "confess to your sins" part: I do confess that ND fired a coach who has subsequently been an inconceivably bad failure at UW, with an 11-31 tenure at Washington (now tied for 3rd worst in PAC-10 history), and, when finally given that justly deserved 4th year at UW that ND didn't give, has gone 0-6.
I confess for the UW fans also, who have wanted their coach fired since before the end of his 3rd year (blasphemy!) and who have been screaming the same criticisms of Ty that ND fans did years ago.
Not to mention that Ty had virtually the same winning % in his first 3 years that the previous coach got fired for after 2 years (double standards, lack of integrity!), oh I do confess for the sins of UW.
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Bubba Clinton 9 months ago
I think the majority of you folks are really, really misinformed, especially with horrible articles such as this being written. The fact that it seems the vast majority of you are voting for Mccain explains quite a bit. Ty Willingham could be a racist, but what does it matter? Maybe he hired his coordinators based on their knowledge of certain schemes he wanted to employ. Maybe it had to do with his coordinators prior experience. Ty recruited a couple of good players didn't he? Like... Ryan Grant, Brady Quinn, Jeff Smardjisijdjja however it spelled, Anthony Fasano, John Carlsson, Rheema McKnight...went to 1 bowl, and fired before the 2nd. All of those players I mentioned were basically Sophs, and you could see them developing each week, each season. Look at where Notre Dame is now. An overpaid, overweight, overhyped twit of a coach who rode in on Belichick's coat tails, New England's offense was never that great. Both Ty and Weis have the same record through 3 years at Notre Dame. Ty was given a low talent, underachieving team his first year, Weis was handed a BCS bid on a silver platter. Who fared better. I say Ty. Racism will always be a factor, unfortunately, because too many people are unwilling to think logically, look at ALL of the facts, and come to a reasonable conclusion and as a result we get lazy, worthless, articles printed such as this one. And I am assuming alot of the McCain supporters vote for the brilliant, amazing, and totally underappreciated George w. way to go guys!! You are all so brilliant!!!!!!!!!!
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Your Mom's House 8 months ago
"Ty was given a low talent, underachieving team his first year, Weis was handed a BCS bid on a silver platter."
Ty was given a team full of highly-recruited talent, FR through 5th year SR. Davie wasn't a great coach, but was a good recruiter. Ty's only good ND class was his 1st. His 2nd recruiting class was, on paper, one of the worst in memorable ND history. His 3rd wasn't shaping up well, either.
Weis was handed 3 defensive starters from a team that, under Ty, was almost dead last against the pass in '04. ABSOLUTELY NOBODY predicted a BCS bowl for ND in '05. Mark May and Lee Corso predicted 1-5 / 0-6. Trev Alberts put a preseason UNRANKED ND as one of his 5 MOST OVERRATED TEAMS.
Oh how I love miserably circular arguments. Ty was given a no-talent underachieving team (even though the recruiting gurus said the opposite)... because I said so!
Weis was "handed a BCS bid on a silver platter" because, umm, under the assumption that Ty deserves all the credit and Weis is a bad coach who lucked out by being handed good players, well... then the fact that Weis made two BCS bowls at ND must mean that he was handed them on a silver platter by inheriting Ty's players (most of whom did very little while he was coach).
"Racism will always be a factor, unfortunately, because too many people are unwilling to think logically, look at ALL of the facts, and come to a reasonable conclusion and as a result we get lazy, worthless, articles printed such as this one."
Stupidity and a total unwillingness to look beyond some of the simplest facts of the situation and come to a reasonable conclusion will lead to posts like yours. Which brings us to the astounding irony of you commanding us to "think logically, look at ALL of the facts, and come to a resonable conclusion" when you yourself failed miserably in doing so.
"And I am assuming alot of the McCain supporters vote for the brilliant, amazing, and totally underappreciated George w. way to go guys!! You are all so brilliant!!!!!!!!!!"
Yes, stupid political talk rules!
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al asifyouknow 9 months ago
hey Patti you lenguege is full of race "key words" i dont think you can sit around a fire and sing WE WILL OVERCOME...lol (big SMILE)
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al asifyouknow 9 months ago
I'm waiting till the end of the football season to write about ND and their wounderfull 10 year deal with their new coach and ask the political question ..ARE YOU BETTER OFF TODAY THAN YOU WERE 4 YEARS AGO ? diD you give TY AS MUCH TIME AS YOUR GIVEN THE NEW COACH.. ...ND LOST YESTERDAY TO THAT GREAT POWER OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL NORTH CAROLINE ...ARE YOU KIDDING ME !!!!!!
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rob blanker 9 months ago
White people should be forced to do anything for blacks, asians or any body else. The problem with black people is that they are always especting us to sacrafice success for equality and that isn't fair. Losing isn't fair to make people have equal pay. Slavery is over and we are all protected by the constitution. Any body else should get over it. So if we're racist than Willingham is to.
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Parker Murdock 9 months ago
Ty isn't a racist. He's like everyone else--all of us. It is much easier to let 'them' be the problem. He can't win at the level he is coaching at, so it is easier to say, or let it be said, I didn't succeed because 'they' wouldn't let me. He has had 2 major chances and failed at both--as has been stated. If he had been a winner in either place, he would still be there and be getting a raise. As it is, UW will probably let him go because of one simple reason: HE DIDN'T WIN GAMES!!
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Jerry Easterday 9 months ago
So Weis won with Tys players....So What??Ty couldn't win with them...Ty had his good year with Bob Davies players....Charlie has his players now..Most of them anyway a few trinkets from Tys last class..I'll judge Weis after next year...Btw I'm no big N.D fan...I was a big Husky fan till they collected this piece of shit coach that N.D booted...I don't want to hear racism crap..He plain Sucks as a coach
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Joe Sky 9 months ago
I'm sick and tired of all the guys who waved the race card every time things don't go their way.
After this year, I really appreciate Tiger Wood more. When he just arrived at the national scene, he never made it about his race. He never mentioned it at all. When people asked him about the Augusta membership policy, he only said "I let my driver talks". For Tiger, it's all about performance. And by doing it, her preserves the spirit of the game. Thank you Tiger.
The other guys should learn a thing or two from Tiger Wood. He holds himself magnificently in every situation.
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Joe Sky 9 months ago
What an insult to call Tiger Woods Uncle Tom! He was never an Uncle Tom to anybody!
The sheer fact that he excels the game of golf shatter the race stigma. He has proved that anyone one with talents, grit, and determination can win the game. He has opened the door for the generation after him. And he has done that without pulling the race card for a single time in his whole career.
His foundation teaches your kids of all races to plays the game of golf. He has done more than anyone in his generation to address the social issues regarding the race in golf. He has nurtured more black kids to play the game than anyone else has done.
You don't have to pull the race card to address the racial issue. In my experience, the only people that pull the race card are the one that perpetuate the problem in social issue. They whine and whine but done nothing to change the situation.
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Michael Glaessner 9 months ago
I was one of the many finger pointers who called Notre Dame racist for firing Ty Willingham (Paul Hournung's controversial comment about ND "needing to recruit more blacks" sure didn't help.) but this much I am sure of. Ty Willingham as a head coach is incompetent. He helped put Stanford on the map and rode that buzz to the Notre Dame job, only to fail as a head coach there. He's done very little to improve the Washington program, and up and down the line we keep hearing about how "his recruits" are going to turn things around. Well, they're not and the ol' race card people keep pulling on his behalf is about to expire.
Bottom line, if he wants to help minorities in amateur sports, he can help the cause by hiring a few himself.
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al asifyouknow 9 months ago
Somehow you all missing the point , so he sucks , so what , so he is the worst coach in the world , who cares..THE QUESTION IS !!! WHY IS TY A RACIST ? who cares if he got fired becouse of racism , my problem is with the article and its title. The coach has been gone from ND years ago.... .so whats the point ? in my humble opinion i can only guess this author hates Ty with a pasion he has another award winning article he wrote on TY...
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Knox McCoy 9 months ago
Not much to add other than that I loved the article. Great work and great topic.
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Jerry Noonan 9 months ago
Ty wants no competition for the next victim.
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james dougherty 9 months ago
WHY DOES NOT THE GREATEST UNIVERSITY IN THE LAND NOTRE DAME - APPLY THE SAME FACTORS USED BY JOHN JENKINS CSC PRESIDENT AND THE REAL FOOL JOKER DR KEVIN WHITE NOW AT DUKE - IN FIRING TY WILLINGHAME FOR LACK OF PERFORMANCE - TO THE BIG BURRITO - YOU KNOW THE 60 MINUTE FAT FOUL MOUTHED ''NO EXCUSES'' CHARLIE WEIS ??
IS IT THE MONEY ISIT principle ? bernard shaw '' stealing from a blind beggar ! have you no principles ????
the thief ''CANT AFFORD EM GOVERNOR ''
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Francesco Borromini 8 months ago
Now now James...go learn how to post on boards first, then do actual research second, then...maybe then, you'll have something to say that doesn't rely solely on insults.
HINT - the same factors are being used...however, the actual results are different. Pay attention please.
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