Tyrone Willingham and The Myth of "The Molder"

The reputation of coach Tyrone Willingham is a myth built by those in the media that selectively ignore his 76-84 overall record. They choose to overlook the fact that if he loses one more game this year, he will accomplish in 14 years what it took Paul "Bear" Bryant to do in 39—reach 85 career losses.

They disregard the fact that the Coach who replaced him at Notre Dame has two more wins against the Pac-10 then he does in the last four years. Rather, they cling to the two “feathers in his cap”: taking Stanford to the Rose Bowl and winning 10 games in his first season at Notre Dame; neither of which is as impressive as the media would have you believe.

The facts behind each myth on which the foundation of this "great reputation" is built are below. The author apologizes in advance that they get in the way of the fairy tale.

The Myth of the Rose Bowl Success

Coach Willingham did lead Stanford to the Rose Bowl; however, the Pac-10 of 1998 was equivalent to the Big East of 2004, when Pitt went 8-4 and made it to the Fiesta Bowl. All ESPN could talk about for a month was if the Big East should still have even have an automatic bid because the conference was so bad.

It was not like they navigated the Pac-10 of today or even the Pac-10 of 2001, which was drastically different.  Stanford got to the Rose Bowl when the Pac-10 was beyond mediocre.  The league was pre-Pete Carroll and only had three teams with winning records, Stanford, Oregon and Washington. Stanford avoided Oregon on their schedule and lost to Washington.

Stanford opened up the season with a 69-17 loss at Texas and then proceeded to lose at home to San Jose State later in the year. The season was not exactly barn-burning.

The Myth of the 10-win season at Notre Dame

Coach Willingham won 10 games at Notre Dame in his first year—10 wins largely because of a Bob Davie-built defense.

The double standard is glaring: Coach Weis did it with Coach Willingham's players, the media constantly reminds its audience, but somehow that logic does not carry over to Coach Willingham. He won with his brilliant coaching, not with Bob Davie’s players.

Coach Willingham brought his West Coast offense to Notre Dame yet did not score an offensive touchdown until Game Four and still won the first four games, all on the backs of special teams and defense.

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