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Associated Press

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Coach Tyrone Willingham was fired by Notre Dame on Tuesday after three seasons in which he failed to return one of the nation's most storied football programs to prominence.

Willingham had a record of 21-15, including 6-5 this season. The Fighting Irish lost 41-10 to No. 1 Southern California on Saturday.

It was not immediately clear whether Willingham would coach the team at the Insight Bowl on Dec. 28. Notre Dame accepted the invitation to the game on Sunday.

Athletic director Kevin White scheduled a news conference for later Tuesday.

Willingham's firing comes after a season in which the Irish pulled off upset victories over Michigan and at Tennessee, but were also blown out by USC and Purdue.

Notre Dame's loss to top-ranked USC on Saturday marked the fifth time the Irish lost by 31 points or more under Willingham – three of the losses coming to the Trojans. By comparison, former coach Bob Davie's team had just one such loss. Lou Holtz and Dan Devine had none.

Notre Dame hired Willingham, the first black head coach in any sport for the Irish, away from Stanford to replace George O'Leary, the former Georgia Tech coach who resigned five days after taking the job because he lied about his academic and athletic achievements on his resume.

In his first season, Willingham had many fans recalling Notre Dame's glory days, taking over a losing squad and turning things around immediately. The Irish won eight straight to start the season before finishing 10-3 and going to the Gator Bowl.

But during his second year, the Irish fell to 5-7, with four of their losses coming by 26 points or more. It was Notre Dame's third losing record in five seasons, the Irish's worst stretch in 115 years of football.

Notre Dame has won eight AP college football national championships, more than any other school. The last was in 1988 under Holtz. Players from the school have won the Heisman Trophy seven times, also the most in college football.

The Irish haven't won a bowl game since ending the 1993 season ranked No. 2 after beating No. 7 Texas 24-21 in the Cotton Bowl.

Since then the Irish have lost six straight postseason games.

With Tony Samuel fired by New Mexico State and Fitz Hill resigning from San Jose State last week, there are now only two black head coaches in Division I-A – Karl Dorrell at UCLA and Sylvester Croom at Mississippi State.

He'll have no problem getting another job. Might take a year off. Hell, isn't Stanford looking again? I have a lot of respect for Ty, a no-nonsense type of guy. Don't want to start any realistic discussion, because I doubt he would even listen, but he's the type we need here. Was able to win at a place like Stanford and has a big name, also the fact that he's african-american can only help recruiting.

frankly that surprises me. It seems ND is suffering from some of the same delusions SMU is/has, albeit on another level.

the firing of Willinghame after only 3 years could make the climb even tougher. What a mess? I bet this chills the old recruiting path to a lot of inner city schools.

No doubt. This along with Paul Hornung's (sp?) comments about black athletes and you've got a p.r. nightmare. There has to be more to this story because on the surface it doesn't make sense. Willingham was only given three years....he had a winning record (21-15) and a couple of very impressive wins (Michigan and Tennessee). And it isn't like ND was tearing it up before Willingham got there.

My guess is that ND wanted Meyer before UF took him. That's the only explanation for this move. Meyer will look good next year with Willingham's recruits and be hailed as a savior of the program. Willingham is a good coach and my bet is that he ends up back at Stanford which has a vacancy and he'll laugh at ND's expense.

As an ND fan I am not too happy with the move. Even Bob Davie got more time than that and he was terrible. ND expects too much sometimes, and unfortunately Ty's early success only added to the pressure on him.

I wish Ty the best, from everything I could tell he was a classy coach, and I am sure he will land on his feet soon.

What does it say when a classy coach like Ty is fired and Barnett is awarded Big 12 coach of the year less than a year after some of his comments and the recruiting scandals at CU.

feelan wrote:What does it say when a classy coach like Ty is fired and Barnett is awarded Big 12 coach of the year less than a year after some of his comments and the recruiting scandals at CU.

It says we live in a crazy, mixed-up world where winning means everything and character means nothing.

This wasn't ND's call. This was NBC's call. Over the last three years, with less than spectacular seasons, NBC has had enough. NBC is paying ND to win. Not to do things right or reward a coach for class. ND, like all athlete programs needs money. NBC supplies a huge amount of ND's money. This is all about ratings and winning which equals big bucks

NBC needs ND to win so that ratings will once again improve. ND needs NBC’s money. Therefore, if a coach must go, a coach must go. And guess who is available? That is right, the media darling and last coach to take ND to a national championship…Lou 'the wonder kid' Holtz (in all honesty I don’t se ND rehiring Holtz but the timing is perfect).

I have been caught by surprise by the firing of the ND coach because if seems so politically incorrect, even if it may be the right move. ND needs to wise up and join the Big 10. While I am at it, the Big 10 and Pac 10 ought to have a championship game in order to compete in the BCS cartel. But nobody asked me did they.

ponyte wrote:This wasn't ND's call. This was NBC's call....

Interesting. Hadn't thought of that angle.

Who joins Urban Meyer on the list? My guess is Franocchio will rear his ugly head if Meyer chooses Gainesville.

Darkhorse: Dan Hawkins?

Some of these coaches being discussed for ND better think twice about this opportunity:

[1] ND Admissions are not going to drop to get this team competitive;

[2] An Independent schedule is murder;

[3] You are recruiting kids from 2000-- not the "Good Old Days" when ND wrote a letter to the parents & kids just showed up at South Bend.

It's a great challenge, though, for the egos that are head FB coaches...

ND will never join the Big 10 or any other conference in football as long as they are receiving $1.5million per home game in NBC money soon to increase in 2006. Through in the extra money they get from every road game being televised and you get at least another $2.5 million. This is money that gets shared with no other conference leeches like the Big 10 has.

Figure in that ND has its own Westwood One nationwide radio deal, still controls its own merchandising(though they have retained CLC as the management agency of its trademarks), and had over 820,000+ fans pay to see them play(home and away) you have the wealthiest football program in the nation. ND is the only non-conference school with a special BCS arrangement and unlike the schools that are part of a conference, every time ND plays in one those bowls it is a financial bonanza for them.

So how did all this impact the firing of Ty Willingham you might ask? Quite simply ND expects to win, no excuses. Coaching is the one factor that makes all the difference in collge football and ND was not getting top flight coaching.

So that means that Utah's Urban Meyer, California coach Jeff Tedford, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz and Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden are all being considered for this job.

Cost is not an issue. Why? Because winning feeds the revenue machine that is ND football. A coach demanding a $1.5 million salary also gets his own nationwide TV show, radio show, column in Blue and Gold Illustrated and killer shoe contracts. For a winning coach the ND job can be worth $3 to $5 million a year.

And every CYO, Catholic high school, is for all intents and purposes a feeder system to Notre Dame. Any player from that system that Notre Dame wants, it has a lot of pull to get that player that no other school can match.

But still, this will be a public relations problem for ND. Michael Wilbon's column in the Wash. Post raked them over the coals. I'm sure more will follow. They had a winning season this year and the players are talking about voting not to go to the Bowl game this year after ND accepted the bid. And who would coach that bowl game?

Since Myers has a buyout clause in his contract if he leaves Utah for ND, it is clear that ND thought they had to move now to get Myers before someone else did. Woe unto the NCAA aftr Myers takes over, because ND will become a power again and more independent than ever.