Outgoing Notre Dame President Criticizes Firing Of Willingham

[WizardOfAz]

Notre Dame's outgoing president criticized the decision to fire Tyrone Willingham after just three seasons, saying he was surprised the coach was not given more time to try to succeed.

``I'm a good soldier and in times of transition, people can disagree,'' The Sports Business Daily quoted Rev. Edward Malloy as saying at a sports conference in New York. ``I don't think there is a lack of goodwill or that anybody else is to be blamed for a racist decision or anything else. I just think there was a lot of pressure in the works.''

The Sports Business Daily and ESPN.com quoted Malloy as saying he was embarrassed by the football coach's firing. His remarks came at a forum on intercollegiate athletics.

``I thought we were going to abide by our precedent, which was a five-year window for a coach to display a capacity to be successful within our system and to fit,'' ESPN.com quoted Malloy as saying.

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news?slug=ap-notredamecoach&prov=ap&type=lgns

 

[Dback Jon]

She's gonna be bald for a long time

Coming clean
Notre Dame aide shaves head to protest Willingham's firing

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -- The assistant to Notre Dame's president shaved her head to protest Tyrone Willingham's firing as football coach, saying she will remain bald until the Irish win a national championship.

"Because when we do, that will be justification for some people of why we fired Tyrone Willingham," Chandra Johnson said. "Not for me, but for some people."

Johnson, 50, assistant to the Rev. Edward A. Malloy, Notre Dame's president, said she shaved her head last Saturday. Johnson, the school's highest-profile black administrator, told the South Bend Tribune she was shocked at the firing of Willingham -- the first black head coach in any sport at Notre Dame.

"The process was flawed," Johnson said. "There weren't enough people in the conversation. And there was little or no consideration of the ramifications of the decision."

Johnson also said the decision has hurt Notre Dame's goal of improving diversity on campus.

"I think the damage that was done by this decision is irreparable in the immediate future," she told the newspaper.

On Wednesday, Malloy said he was surprised Willingham was not given more time to try to succeed and that he was embarrassed by the firing.


http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/football/ncaa/12/09/bc.fbc.notredame.baldpr.ap/index.html

 

[Djaughe]

Hmmm...not quite like the message the black athletes gave during the olympics in mexico city....but still a message....

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[Cheesebeef]

this whole thing is ********. If a new coach came into Miami or Florida and then took the last guy's recruits and went 10-3 and then bottomed out the next two years they would have been canned there also - would anyone have made a stink of it? No because thos eteam don't EXPECT TO BE IN THE INSIGHT.COM BOWL PLAYING IN A BASBEALL STADIUM COME LATE DECEMBER! And neither does Notre Dame.

People talk about Davie - but he got what he got because he held off the dogs getting Notre Dame to a BCS game - period. It's all about wins and wins = money.

It's a money/winning thing for the best programs - not a racial thing and to say so is patently ridiculous.

 

[NickelBack]

Yeah, no issues here. I am sure all of this makes ND a really attractive job!

 

[clif]

this whole thing is ********. If a new coach came into Miami or Florida and then took the last guy's recruits and went 10-3 and then bottomed out the next two years they would have been canned there also - would anyone have made a stink of it? No because thos eteam don't EXPECT TO BE IN THE INSIGHT.COM BOWL PLAYING IN A BASBEALL STADIUM COME LATE DECEMBER! And neither does Notre Dame.

People talk about Davie - but he got what he got because he held off the dogs getting Notre Dame to a BCS game - period. It's all about wins and wins = money.

It's a money/winning thing for the best programs - not a racial thing and to say so is patently ridiculous.

here's the problem with that cheese. for the first time in the history of the school the coach was fired after not completing his initial contract of 5 years. He was not given the same amount of time as other coaches before him were given, even after most will agree that he graduated his players and keep a clean program.