Looks like you got your wish! 
jwm
Notre Dame Fires Football Coach
By PETE THAMEL
Published: November 30, 2004
Joe Raymond/Associated Press
Coach Tyrone Willingham was fired today by Notre Dame.
Notre Dame fired Tyrone Willingham as its football coach today after a 6-5 season that culminated in a 41-10 loss to top-ranked Southern Cal on Saturday night.
The Fighting Irish played well enough this season to win an invitation to play in the Insight Bowl on Dec. 28, their second bowl appearance in three seasons under Willingham. But his overall record of 21-15 was below the expectations of a school that considers itself one of the premier programs in college football.
"We simply have not made the progress on the field that we need to make," the athletic director, Kevin White, said at a news conference this afternoon, The Associated Press reported.
"From Sunday through Friday our football program has exceeded all expectations, in every way," White said. "But on Saturday, we've struggled. We've been up and down and sideways a little bit."
White said he didn't know who would coach the team in the Insight Bowl game, The A.P. reported.
Among those expected to receive strong consideration for the job are Urban Meyer, who was an assistant at Notre Dame under Lou Holtz and Bob Davie and has attracted the attention of big-name programs with his unlikely success at Utah. The Utes are ranked fourth in the nation this season with an 11-0 record.
In its 116-year football history, Notre Dame has made cultural icons of the Four Horsemen, George Gipp and Knute Rockne, as well as winning 11 national titles. But the Irish last won a national championship in 1988 and have had difficulty finding anyone who could meet those high standards in recent years.
Davie, Willingham's predecessor, was fired after compiling a 35-25 record in five seasons.
The disappointment of Davie's tenure was only heightened when the school hired George O'Leary to replace him, then fired O'Leary five days later when it discovered that he had lied about his athletic and academic qualifications.
The O'Leary incident turned out to be the latest in a string of public embarrassments for Notre Dame. The most prominent involved a former booster who gave gifts and money to players after embezzling $1.2 million from her employer. She was sentenced to jail in 1998, and the football program was placed on probation for the first time in December 1999.
After the Leary debacle, Notre Dame turned next to Willingham, who had done well at Stanford, going 44-36-1 and playing in four bowl games in seven seasons. He was the first African-American hired as a head coach of any sport at Notre Dame and he got off to a promising start, becoming the only coach in school history to win 10 games in his first season and winning recognition as coach of the year from several organizations.
But that season ended with a 28-6 loss to North Carolina State in the Gator Bowl and there were few highlights thereafter. His team was a disappointing 5-7 in his second season.
This season was a reflection of the inconsistency that has plagued the team. Notre Dame opened with a surprising loss to Brigham Young, then came back to upset Michigan the following week. The Fighting Irish also beat Tennessee on the road, but for every big victory there was a deflating loss: 41-16 to Purdue, 41-38 to Pittsburgh and, finally, this week's blowout loss against top-ranked Southern Cal.
Willingham was one of only five African-Americans head coaches among the 117 in Division I-A college football this season. He is the third to be fired, leaving only Sylvester Croom at Mississippi State and Karl Dorrell at U.C.L.A.
Few head coaches in college football had as high a profile as Willingham did, though. He has been seen in the company of Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's national security adviser, who was a spectator and post-game visitor at several Notre Dame games last season. She and Willingham got to know each other when they were at Stanford, where Willingham was the head football coach and Rice was the provost.
Willingham grew up in Jacksonville, N.C. His mother was a school teacher and his father owned residential properties that he rented and maintained. When asked which football coaches he admired most, Willingham said, "My best two coaches have been my two parents."
Willingham did not earn a college football scholarship, but he made the Michigan State team as a volunteer and played briefly as a quarterback in the 1970's before beginning his coaching career.
In an interview earlier this season, he was asked what he would be if he were not a football coach. "A football coach," he said with a chuckle. "No, but that's a very serious answer to your question. Because, sometimes in life, you feel like, 'This is exactly what you were meant to do."'
jwm
Notre Dame Fires Football Coach
By PETE THAMEL
Published: November 30, 2004
Joe Raymond/Associated Press
Coach Tyrone Willingham was fired today by Notre Dame.
Notre Dame fired Tyrone Willingham as its football coach today after a 6-5 season that culminated in a 41-10 loss to top-ranked Southern Cal on Saturday night.
The Fighting Irish played well enough this season to win an invitation to play in the Insight Bowl on Dec. 28, their second bowl appearance in three seasons under Willingham. But his overall record of 21-15 was below the expectations of a school that considers itself one of the premier programs in college football.
"We simply have not made the progress on the field that we need to make," the athletic director, Kevin White, said at a news conference this afternoon, The Associated Press reported.
"From Sunday through Friday our football program has exceeded all expectations, in every way," White said. "But on Saturday, we've struggled. We've been up and down and sideways a little bit."
White said he didn't know who would coach the team in the Insight Bowl game, The A.P. reported.
Among those expected to receive strong consideration for the job are Urban Meyer, who was an assistant at Notre Dame under Lou Holtz and Bob Davie and has attracted the attention of big-name programs with his unlikely success at Utah. The Utes are ranked fourth in the nation this season with an 11-0 record.
In its 116-year football history, Notre Dame has made cultural icons of the Four Horsemen, George Gipp and Knute Rockne, as well as winning 11 national titles. But the Irish last won a national championship in 1988 and have had difficulty finding anyone who could meet those high standards in recent years.
Davie, Willingham's predecessor, was fired after compiling a 35-25 record in five seasons.
The disappointment of Davie's tenure was only heightened when the school hired George O'Leary to replace him, then fired O'Leary five days later when it discovered that he had lied about his athletic and academic qualifications.
The O'Leary incident turned out to be the latest in a string of public embarrassments for Notre Dame. The most prominent involved a former booster who gave gifts and money to players after embezzling $1.2 million from her employer. She was sentenced to jail in 1998, and the football program was placed on probation for the first time in December 1999.
After the Leary debacle, Notre Dame turned next to Willingham, who had done well at Stanford, going 44-36-1 and playing in four bowl games in seven seasons. He was the first African-American hired as a head coach of any sport at Notre Dame and he got off to a promising start, becoming the only coach in school history to win 10 games in his first season and winning recognition as coach of the year from several organizations.
But that season ended with a 28-6 loss to North Carolina State in the Gator Bowl and there were few highlights thereafter. His team was a disappointing 5-7 in his second season.
This season was a reflection of the inconsistency that has plagued the team. Notre Dame opened with a surprising loss to Brigham Young, then came back to upset Michigan the following week. The Fighting Irish also beat Tennessee on the road, but for every big victory there was a deflating loss: 41-16 to Purdue, 41-38 to Pittsburgh and, finally, this week's blowout loss against top-ranked Southern Cal.
Willingham was one of only five African-Americans head coaches among the 117 in Division I-A college football this season. He is the third to be fired, leaving only Sylvester Croom at Mississippi State and Karl Dorrell at U.C.L.A.
Few head coaches in college football had as high a profile as Willingham did, though. He has been seen in the company of Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's national security adviser, who was a spectator and post-game visitor at several Notre Dame games last season. She and Willingham got to know each other when they were at Stanford, where Willingham was the head football coach and Rice was the provost.
Willingham grew up in Jacksonville, N.C. His mother was a school teacher and his father owned residential properties that he rented and maintained. When asked which football coaches he admired most, Willingham said, "My best two coaches have been my two parents."
Willingham did not earn a college football scholarship, but he made the Michigan State team as a volunteer and played briefly as a quarterback in the 1970's before beginning his coaching career.
In an interview earlier this season, he was asked what he would be if he were not a football coach. "A football coach," he said with a chuckle. "No, but that's a very serious answer to your question. Because, sometimes in life, you feel like, 'This is exactly what you were meant to do."'
