<p>This is true, the students will all wear blue this year (I am pretty sure, I don't think they will be ****ed like last year, we will be one). </p>
<p>As for Coach Willingham, I politely disagree. He is a great man, there is no doubt, but all he has to show for his coaching abilities is two good years, one at Stanford and one at ND. As someone who follows ND's recruiting closely I can tell you that the extra time would not have helped Coach Willingham, we were going in the wrong direction fast. A big part of the problem is that he just doesn't put the effort into recruiting honestly. He also was too loyal to his assistant coaches. A widely known rumor which I believe is true is that he was asked to fire his offensive coordinator (which needed to happen) and he refused which is why he was fired; ND didn't want to fire him but his loyalty to the coaches was more important than improving the team and ND went in a different direction.</p>
<p>Coach Willingham was a great coach academically and is a great guy but he just was not the right fit for ND and Weis is. I personally have no problem with the firing of Willingham and I wish him the best of luck at Washington (but unfortunately the recruiting has been iffy there too). Coach Weis is just a better fit for us. Also, when you look at Willingham's good season at ND it is easy to say that we got really lucky in a lot of those games, like REALLY lucky. With Weis, it seemed like we went 9-3 without the luck (see USC game). I don't know, we will see as time goes on, but I am excited about where we are and I think it was the right move. It doesn't mean that ND is a football factory or anything, ND just had to do what was best for it at the time and it did. It didn't break the contract, it just used a buyout clause, so I see nothing horribly dark about it personally. However, I respect your opinion on it and you are very much entitled to it (you aren't the only one, it is still widely debated). </p>
<p>ND had MANY lucky bounces in 2002. We were ranked somewhere in the 100s in offense that year. We got by on our defense.</p>
<p>Tyrone Willingham was playing golf while he could have been recruiting (true story look it up). Weis spends 20 hours a day on ND football, and you can see the differences between the teams.</p>
<p>During the Ty era, we lost many, many blowout games, including all of the USC games, Fl St 37-0, Mich 38-0, etc.</p>
<p>Think about the games we lost in the regular season in 2005, see the difference yet?</p>
<p>If not just look at our recruiting classes. Ty failed to reach the Top 25 for the first time in many years, Weis is shooting for a number 1 class every year now. Jimmy Clausen, James Aldridge, soon-to-be Arrelious Benn. I could go on and on. Ty had Reggie Bush in the palm of his hand (for no consequence of his own) but lost him to USC. The number one college running back since OJ Simpson was verbally commited to Notre Dame, and Ty lost him. I could tell you about the many other recruits Ty lost, but I don't want to try in case CC puts a maximum character setting on these posts. </p>
<p>So, I respect your opinion as it is your right, but please explain to me why we should have kept Ty.</p>
<p>Ryan, on the shirts - last year there was an ton of green spots in that sea of p*** yellow. I know a lot of it was in protest of the bad yellow, but still, I think green is the favorite. They won't be 100% uniform until they go back to green, imho.</p>
<p>I guess our differences have to with what we think the Notre Dame football philosophy should be. Ty's classes weren't ranked very high by scouts, but he wasn't looking for just football players; he recruited his players looking for character and academic prowess as a higher priority than most college coaches. This is his philosophy, something I highly respect, and I agree with him that football championships are won based on the intangibles as much as just athletic skill. He revitalized the Stanford program, and I just would have liked to see him getting a fair deal by being given the standard amount of time to build up the program, as every past Notre Dame coach has. Maybe you are right, they were heading in the wrong direction, but we can never know what would have happened, he was just fired too soon to see any real results.</p>
<p>I respect both your opinions too. but i'm not arguing that they should have kept ty, I'm arguing that Notre Dame should have given him time to prove himself and his philosophy, a treatment that has been given to all past Notre Dame football coaches. To my knowledge Willingham is the only nd football coach to ever not given the standard 5?(i think) years to show results.</p>
<p>Well I know at least some of the green were past year shirts. But whatever, it was spotty and didn't look good. And I guarantee you there'll be navy with green mixed in this year, too. The green rocked, and a sea of navy is just not as impressive as a sea of green, and the students get that, too.</p>
<p>Ty was the first one who was in his first contract though the Davie situation as I understand it was a bit iffy too because we gave him an extension and fired him the next year.</p>
<p>I disagree with one part of your post and that is the recruits. If you look at the guys we are bringing in, they are top quality guys who, as Charlie says, can read and write. These guys are not worse academically or worse individuals than the guys that Ty brought in and Ty was not limited by these factors because Charlie is playing the same game and bringing in amazing athletes.</p>
<p>A couple of examples; Barry Gallup who will be a freshman next year was said to have gotten into Ivy League schools without football! Also, Jimmy Clausen, our latest and greatest commitment, carries a 3.3 GPA. For a college football player, that is really good.</p>
<p>The restrictions are the same, Weis is just doing more within them. I certainly understand why you may feel that Ty should have gotten the whole first contract, however.</p>
<p>DOCMOM I agree there were green "the shirts" in the past but I am not passing judgement on the blue as of yet. We will see how it looks but you may be right.</p>
<p>Another reason Ty and his staff were not a good fit for us was their development of players. Think about all of the players that suddenly broke out last year. Jeff Samardzija for instance. Maurice Stovall was considered by fans a huge disappointment at wr because he couldn't catch anything. After a year with CW, being taken at 90th in the NFL draft was the disappointment.</p>