Rebutting Jason Whitlock isn't all that popular to Ball Staters, because Whitlock is a proud BSU alum who mentions the Cardinals whenever possible. He even wrote an entire column before the season about how the mighty bird would crash a BCS bowl game.
I confess that I used to HATE Whitlock. I thought he was just another one of those race-baiting big black dudes that play the race card all the time whether it makes sense or not. I now know better - he doesn't play the race card all the time. He does so too much, and even when he doesn't, he considers it, but he's not just another one of 'those guys', and is an open disliker of one of the guys who is - Scoop Jackson. Naturally, in ESPN's wisdom, they dumped the guy that's not and have kept the guy that is.
Anyway, he wrote an article this last week after Tyrone Willingham was finally fired at Washington, a move that would've taken place last year if UW wasn't scared of getting the business from the media about firing him after three years like Notre Dame did. This, of course, would never have happened because Washington is not Notre Dame. Now we have L.A. Times columnists actually saying, "Ty deserved to get fired from Washington, but he was still wronged by Notre Dame".
I am a huge Notre Dame fan, as most of you know, so I feel I need to clear things up.
Deconstructing Whitlock's article on, as he calls Charlie, "The Great Weis Hope" v. Ty Willingham (Whitlock in bold):
Fair enough. I didn't read Whitlock at the time of Willingham's firing, so I couldn't say if he blasted ND or not, but he's not the type to just lie, so I'll buy it.
However, I consumed more media than I ever have in my life during the 2005 football season and saw little evidence of this "reach-around" ND supposedly got. Most personalities - Jim Rome, both "PTI" co-hosts, everyone on "Around the Horn" - were busier trying to justify why Notre Dame should not have gotten a BCS bid over Oregon, ignoring that a) it wasn't the BCS's choice (under existing rules, the Irish got an auto-bid by being ranked top 6) and b) Oregon played a horribly weak schedule, even weaker than ND's surprisingly toothless 2005 slate. It was all about 10-1 (Oregon) vs 9-2 (ND).
But I can understand why Whitlock thinks of it as a reach-around, given that he's an ND-hater (and I suspect he was before this whole thing happened).
I have never disagreed with those who believe Weis's contract extension was undeserved, but I have also never gotten any indication from anyone in the know that the extension was for any reason other than Weis wanting to diffuse any "he's going to the NFL" rumors. People forget this now (the anti-ND media doesn't want to say so), but Adam Schefter of NFL.com - a Michigan alum, by the way - floated a story before the extension that Weis was headed to the Giants after the season to replace then-embattled Tom Coughlin. This rumor was later debunked, but it was the catalyst for the extension. Weis, who is ironically a lot like Whitlock, is a very honest and open guy who I don't believe would tell the media his extension was to avoid negative recruiting by others if it wasn't true.
Notre Dame fans are having trouble grasping either column. They somehow think that Willingham's failure at Washington justifies giving Weis a record contract at Notre Dame.
This is simply wrong. ND fans are not trying to justify giving Weis a record contract. I can personally say that my open rooting against Ty during his entire Huskies tenure had nothing to do with it, and in fact often forget about the contract fiasco entirely until someone else brings it up.
ND fans' hatred of Ty stems from most of the media harrassing ND for being racist after firing Willingham. The media spreads lies like "violated a contract", when Ty's contract had mutually agreed-upon buyout terms after the third year. They ignore proven facts like Willingham having met with Washington about their upcoming vacancy during the bye week before ND's 2004 matchup with USC (instead of, you know, recruiting), or Willingham's utter refusal to fire horrible defensive coordinator Kent Baer having played a large role in Ty's axe. (The ever-loyal Ty would eventually axe Baer anyway at Washington.)
Their/my hatred of Ty stems from an interview that played on ABC before ND faced Washington in 2005 - the first Weis/Willingham matchup. Here's a link to the transcript. John Saunders - who, by the way, is a skunk and is the lowest form of "journalist" - blatantly floats racism accusations against ND to Ty. Willingham - who is also a skunk - coyly doesn't confirm or deny the accusations (keep in mind Ty knew damn well why he was fired and that it had nothing to do with racism). This enabled Ty to keep the heat on ND without coming off bitter. It was played brilliantly by the man, who knows how to spin the P.R. machine in his favor. He still does not receive his share of blame for his horrid recruiting at ND, which helped contribute to the historically awful 2007 season (look at the starting depth charts from those games and play Find the Upperclassman). And now he is getting largely let off the hook for his horrible job at Washington, where recruiting has been even worse and Ty will leave as the worst coach - by percentage - in Huskies history.
So, Jason, that's why we hate Ty. Has nothing to do with Charlie's contract.
(Ty Willingham replaced a guy who got fired after 20 games at UW. Keith Gilbertson. He was white. No one defended him. Not one person.)
Even with the Irish sitting at 5-2, every word in those columns still rings true. Notre Dame and a hefty percentage of the sports media overreacted to Weis' hot start, and Weis' complexion played a role in the overreaction.
Did the media overreact to Charlie's hot start? Probably. At the time, we didn't know how bad the teams he was beating were, though.
Did Weis's being white have anything to do with it? Bullshit. Absolute 100 percent pure non-alcoholic bullshit. I will give anyone 1,000 dollars if they can name a black coach at any school or pro team in the entire universe who is a good coach and doesn't get enough credit for it. If everything else at ND were exactly the same, except Willingham was white and Weis was black, I guarantee nothing ND would've done changes.
As of today, we have little evidence that Weis is a better college football coach than Willingham.
This is one of the worst and most indefensible sentences that Jason Whitlock has ever written. Charlie took two ND teams to BCS games his first two years. Yes, he was using Ty's recruits, but he was also GETTING PERFORMANCE out of Ty's recruits that Ty never even came close to getting. He was using guys like Jeff Samardzija, who caught like 14 passes in Ty's two years with him. And Darius Walker, who wasn't even taken on the team plane to BYU for his first game (ND lost by three) before running for 100 yards in like a quarter against Michigan. Hell, Walker never did get the starting job from Ryan Grant, even though he proved himself to be better repeatedly in 2004.
Even this year, Charlie is 5-2 with a team that still has virtually no senior presence, thanks largely to Willingham. Against a weak schedule, yes, but imagine what would be happening if Ty were still here (hint: look at Washington's 2008 season so far).
Meanwhile, Ty has a career record that hovers around .500, has never done anything of consequence except for taking one Stanford team to the Rose Bowl in a horrible Pac-10 football year, and can't recruit ANYBODY. Whitlock should be ashamed of himself for writing this sentence.
Notre Dame fans are repeating the same mistake they made in 2005 when the school overpaid for Weis. They're turning conceited based on a glossy record compiled against weak competition.
San Diego State, Michigan, Purdue, Stanford and Washington — ND's victims — have a combined record of 9-32. Only Stanford, 4-4, has more than two victories.
No argument here. As I just wrote, no one is denying ND's schedule thus far has been pretty weak. Although I don't know many Irish fans who are getting "conceited" about it. Rooting against our former coach, who tried his best to destroy the program, is not being conceited.
I'm not saying that the Irish haven't made progress. Hell, a year ago the Great Weis Hope finished 3-9 and lost back-to-back games to Navy and Air Force. Although, if you listen to Notre Dame fans, those losses, like all ND losses under Weis, were a byproduct of Weis having to play with Willingham's pathetic recruits.
The "all ND losses under Weis" addendum is an unnecessary and false potshot at Irish fans. ND's loss to Navy last year might not happen if Charlie Weis decides to kick a makeable field goal of 42 yards with Brandon Walker instead of going for it on a 4th down. That was what led to the now-infamous flying sack of then-QB Evan Sharpley. ND ended up losing in triple OT, because of another poor Weis decision, running Travis Thomas off-tackle on ND's two-point attempt.
See? I just blamed an ND loss on Weis without any potshots at the guy I hate. Was that so hard, Jason?
However, as much as Whitlock doesn't want to hear it, ND's 3-9 season WAS caused in part by "Willingham's pathetic recruits". Now, if Charlie had done a better job with that team, it would not have been the embarrassment it became, and I think Charlie, if forced to take truth serum, would tell you that himself. But you take away essentially two years of decent recruiting and replace them with upper-echelon MAC-type classes, and try and play ND's schedule, and yes, you're gonna have problems. I doubt even the best coach could've done much more than 6-6 or 7-5 with that ND team. People forget the first 10 teams the Irish played in 2007 were bowl teams (including "Navy and Air Force"). ND beat the only two nonbowl teams they played, Duke and Stanford, in the final weeks of the season.
You know, Navy and Air Force routinely pluck four- and five-star recruits from across the country. A great coaching mind like Weis' couldn't be expected to overcome ND's obvious talent deficiency against the service academies.
More unnecessary potshots, but point taken.
Has The Great Weis Hope so lowered expectations at Notre Dame that a 5-2 team incapable of cracking the top 25 is worthy of celebration and I-told-you-so e-mails?
No. Your buddy Ty Willingham did. With some help from Bob Davie. Davie could at least recruit though. He was just an idiotic coach.
Charlie claimed he'd never get outcoached, he'd never lose to Michigan State again and that after his first 5-2 start every team in the NFL was ready to fire its coach and land the offensive coordinator who carried Bill Belichick and Tom Brady to the Super Bowl.
The MSU comment came at an alumni function. Come on, man. And you find me the quote where Charlie said every NFL team wanted him. You find it, and I'll apologize, Jason.
Stoops won a national championship in his second season at Oklahoma. Carroll won titles in his third and fourth seasons.
As I've gone over, both those guys had much more well-stocked cupboards than Charlie did. Easier schedules, too. While you're at it, why not bring up Urban Meyer, who won one in his 2nd season at Florida? (He replaced Ron Zook, who entered Florida coaching the same year Willingham came to ND. Zook was fired half a season before Ty was. What color is Zook's skin?)
Notre Dame fans need to get over their fixation on Tyrone Willingham. He's not their problem anymore. His inadequacies don't strengthen Weis' resume. Willingham's resignation at Washington isn't going to make Notre Dame a national-title contender or justify Weis' bloated salary.
He does have a point here. Some ND fans care far too much about Ty. I myself like to laugh at him and will miss that. Did you know he once ended a statement about this season and how it's gone wrong with "...but not everything is microwave popcorn?" Apparently that's a well-known simile I just missed somewhere. Willingham was fired, by the way. Not resigned.
He can begin to do that over the last month of the season. Notre Dame's last five opponents — Pittsburgh, Boston College, Navy, Syracuse and USC — own a combined record of 22-14.
He certainly can. This five-game stretch (six with the expected bowl game) is very big to ND and laying the groundwork for what many Irish fans expect to be a possible title-contending team in 2009. Take out pathetic Syracuse from that quintet, by the way, and the record is 21-8. Whitlock and I agree on this thought.
If he goes 3-2, I'll consider it a passing grade and abstain from taking another potshot at him until next season. If he goes 4-1, I'll call it progress and agree that he's the coaching equivalent of Frank Solich. If the Irish overcome Weis' shortcomings and run the table, I'll strongly consider writing an apology column.
I personally think ND's going 4-1 to end the season. The Pitt game is at home and the Panthers will be without their starting QB. BC is not very good, Navy should be a layup for the remainder of Charlie's tenure (although they have a road win at Wake on their resume) and Syracuse is Syracuse. I like the backhanded compliment of calling Weis Solich's equal. Very nice.
If they fall on their face and lose three or more games, I'd speculate that most Irish fans would prefer Willingham be named Notre Dame athletic director than read my follow-up column.
Notre Dame would have to refrain from getting on the team plane to BC and Navy to do that in all likelihood. But if that somehow happens, I'll be ready for you, Jason.
