Bob Kravitz
Notre Dame really owes Willingham an apology
Indy Star
C'mon, Domers, let me hear it.
Sorry, Tyrone.
I'm sorry, can you repeat that?
Sorry, coach Willingham.
Come on, people, let me hear it, this time with gusto, and sound like you really mean it.
Sorrrrry, Ty! We were wrong! We were out of line! We never should have run you out of Notre Dame after just three years!!
There, then.
That's better.
Excuse me if Notre Dame's fall from grace strikes me as a dose of karmic retribution. This goes all the way back to 1990 and the Domers' flagrantly self-serving decision to blow off the College Football Association and fly solo through the college football season. More recently, the big-dollar alums ran Willingham out of town, the first time a Notre Dame coach has been fired before the end of his first contract.
Turns out Willingham, who is starting to restore the University of Washington to its old luster, was a pretty good coach. And his replacement, Charlie Weis, is looking sadly and suspiciously like a fraud.
How bad is it?
Last in the nation in total offense. Last in the nation in rushing. Last in the nation in sacks allowed. They've lost five consecutive games, with five tough games coming up on the schedule. They've lost all five by 20 points or more.
This is Year 3 of the Weis regime. This is supposed to be the first year his recruits, whose classes have earned high marks from the various recruiting services, step up and take ownership of the program.
At Notre Dame's media day this summer, Weis was asked about the chance this might be a "rebuilding year.''
He answered, "May God strike me dead if I use that word. I never use that word. I have nine fifth-year seniors that came back for another year. Don't you think I owe it to them to try to win this year?''
This week, Notre Dame isn't just rebuilding; it's giving itself a do-over. It's declaring itself 0-0 and holding a training camp in late September. Can you begin to imagine the reaction if Willingham had tried such a stunt? He'd have been run out of town.
Oh, wait, he was run out of town anyway.
Can the Domers declare a do-over on that foolish 10-year contract extension they gave Weis in 2005? It really goes without saying, but we'll say it anyway:
This is all on Weis.
It's one thing to be the victim of an upset; we've seen lots of those this season. But Notre Dame has been humiliated. The Irish have been inept. A punch line.
The Domers fell in love with the idea of Weis, a former Notre Dame guy who sounds like them and looks like them, coming down from the NFL summit to scheme Notre Dame's way back to glory.
Now they're stuck with him.
Hard to feel much sympathy, really.
There are a lot of theories on Notre Dame's precipitous decline. And there's some truth to all of them:
Willingham's last full recruiting class, from 2004, was miserable, barely a top 50 class, according to the people who care about that sort of thing. One analyst said the talent level was worthy of a lower-tier MAC team. Those are the players who would be upperclassmen now.
On the flip side, Weis' first two recruiting classes have been highly rated, and his 2008 class, with 19 early commitments, rates as one of the country's best. There's always talent at Notre Dame.
Weis was guilty of over-thinking. Instead of giving his team a basic offensive foundation, he seemed to take a grab-bag approach to these early games. Weis is one of those coaches who believe their Xs and Os are better than yours. So far he has used three quarterbacks -- the first, Demetrius Jones, is transferring to Northern Illinois -- and three offenses. None worked.
Not to sound like Paul Hornung, but Notre Dame's heady academic standards limit the players the Irish can recruit.
There might be a hint of truth to that. The last time Notre Dame won a national title, in 1988, Tony Rice, a Prop 48 guy, was their quarterback. Lou Holtz was able to get kids into school that his successors could not. It was an issue often brought up by Bob Davie, although the Domers weren't particularly eager to accept it.
College football has entered the age of increased competitive parity. Appalachian State beats Michigan. Boise State beats Oklahoma last year. Central Florida nearly takes out Texas. Virtually every big-time program has gone through a dry spell in recent times. Even Miami and Florida State are struggling.
This, though, never should happen at Notre Dame. Never. Not when they have their very own network beaming all their games to the far reaches of the universe. The cupboard in South Bend should never be bare, no matter how high the academic standards might be.
Now then, Domers, wake up those echoes and scream it loud, so they can hear you all the way out in Seattle:
Sorry, Ty!!!!