Was Tyrone Willingham’s firing from Notre Dame racially motivated? As in, would he have gotten more of an opportunity to right the ship had he been born with less melanin and straighter hair? It’s tough to say. But unless Notre Dame closes out its schedule looking really, really good, that question is gonna linger in the air like a stale fart. While I think it’s a valid question, I don’t know if it’s exactly the right question. That is to say, the racial angle is certainly a possible explanation, but it may not be the best answer.
One thing I think is evading people is the fact that Notre Dame of 2007 is not the Notre Dame of 97, let alone the Notre Dame of 87. That ridiculous exclusive contract with NBC notwithstanding, most people don’t see Notre Dame as this singular football powerhouse any more, least of all the bluest of the blue-chip high school players. As far as the talent level goes, ND is still a strong recruiting draw, but they can’t stock up on all the talent like they used to. That means that a 9 or 10-win season is what they have to look at, for the most part. If they get a whole group of seniors together, they might be able to push into that 11 or 12-win bracket, but that’s gonna be quite rare going forward.
Now. When it comes to Charlie Weiss and Tyrone Willingham, I think there are a couple things to bear in mind: number one, while I don’t think the way ND handled the Willingham situation was right at all, it’s not entirely beyond the pale (no pun intended, of course). Most coaches would’ve gotten a longer chance to turn around their programs, but let’s not front: it’s not like Willingham was tearing up the NCAA and got canned outta the blue. He came in shining, but gradually began to descend towards mediocrity. In football, both college and professional, that can get you fired. Especially in the case of a fading program that’s like a one-time brickhouse who wears low-cut, midriff-baring tops, not realizing that the milk done spilled into the bread basket. She might think she still has it, but the rest of us know better. The administration (and boosters) at ND thought they were gonna be heading for a BCS Championship sometime soon. They didn’t think Ty was gonna get them there, so he got fired.
At the same time, the way they handled Weis was just as bad, only from the other side. I think they bought the hype of the Belichick coaching tree. Now personally, I’m not sure that Belichick is quite the coaching genius he’s made out to be. Oh, he’s definitely a good coach, but even given that we grade coaches by titles, I’m thinking that his rings may have a little more to do with a guy named Brady. More correctly stated, a championship season really lies at the confluence of skill and good fortune. Probably a more of the former than the latter, but make no mistake, there’s certainly a healthy dose of ‘the-ball-bounced-the-right-way’ in any team’s title. Especially at the NFL level.
At any rate, Weis was coming off the glory of a Super Bowl win; who doesn’t look good with the gleam of a ring on their face? He won a few games and they swore they had the right one. Not to mention, ND was taking heat for having fired their previous coach prematurely. The correction? Let’s lock this one in. Nevermind that he’s never coached at the college level, which is significantly different than the NFL. Football is football, right?
So essentially, I think you have to take the Willingham and Weis situations individually. Yeah, one seems particularly slimy given what happened immediately following, but I think it’s a little too easy to make race the entire basis for the decision. However, given the sheisty way things were done, it’s a reasonable question to ask. And being real about it, yeah I’m still mad at Notre Dame behind that decision, and I hope they get their butts kicked, and I hope that Washington jumps out and becomes the national power Notre Dame thinks they still are.
…but bearing that in mind, why does Charlie Frye have a job while Byron Leftwich does not? Leftwich > Frye. No. Leftwich >>>>>>>>>>>>> Frye.
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