The only race that was a factor in Willingham's firing was against time. ND wanted a shot at Meyer before Florida locked him up. Way to get your predicatable anti-American sports jab in there though, billy. I was wondering when it was coming, you had me worried for a bit there. What is ND academically known for, really? Is a degree from ND (athletics aside) really that much better than one from Michigan or Ohio State? I don't see it. Many of the top schools mentioned and others will and do have separate standards of admission for athletes, acknowleged or not. Very noticeable at major basketball schools and probably as prevalent in football. Only ones that don't are the Ivy League, as they don't really do athletic scholarships. Like the old saw for a project: It can be done cheap, fast, or correct: pick two. Notre Dame needs to pick two out of academic standards for football, staying independent, and being a football power. They can no longer have all three. Meyer is a good coach, but in the current situation in South Bend and the NCAA, I don't think anyone can win there. Knute Rockne could be reincarnated and would still go 6-5, 7-4.
What is ND academically known for, really? Is a degree from ND (athletics aside) really that much better than one from Michigan or Ohio State? I don't see it. You are correct that Notre Dame can't have it all and that if they don't relax academic standards for football players they will continue to struggle regardless of their coach. But there certainly is a difference between ND and Big 10 schools. Notre Dame is a private school, which makes it far more exclusive and costly than any public institution such as the ones listed here. ND admits less than 2,000 students per year, as opposed to the mass admissions at Big 10 schools. Furthermore, Notre Dame admits less than 30% of all people who apply to attend. Michigan and Ohio State are to Notre Dame as Wal-Mart is to Neiman Marcus, academically speaking. I don't say this because I love ND, in fact I graduated from Michigan State, which on this scale wood be the Goodwill store, and my degree is working just fine for me, but I think ND is in a whole different league than any big 10 school, Northwestern included.
What is ND academically known for, really? Is a degree from ND (athletics aside) really that much better than one from Michigan or Ohio State? Well, I'm a little biased here, but it is. ND has been consistently in the U.S. News & World Report Top 20 Universities, and considering that its concentration is still on teaching undergraduates, it can be argued that a four-year degree is one of the very best in the country (in the same league with the Dukes, Stanfords, and all but the best Ivies). It's probably one of the few universities that still emphasizes a liberal arts background, with a stringent First Year of Studies Program that every student must pass. ND grads, from business majors to engineers to english majors tend (on average, though you can always find the exception) to be more well-rounded than their peers from other universities. This however is not a knock against my BigTen friends who have all recieved excellent educations themselves. But that's beside the point. A day later, I'm still sick over this. There are a lot of alumni who would rather have a pretty good (though not necessarily consistently above .500) football team whose student-athletes are on the same academic level with the rest of the student body, but they are out-shouted by older (read: wealthier) alumni that were in school when ND was The Powerhouse, though the academic standards weren't up-to-snuff.
Sorry, forgot to respond to bill: Why would Meyer make such a difference over quite a few good alternatives? I don't really see the other alternatives bringing the same package of football-smarts and integrity that Meyer does. I also think that Meyer has a higher ceiling than the other potential candidates presently available. Keep in mind that the pool of candidates is not as deep as some would think; when Davie was fired, it became apparent that some of the best candidates (Gruden, for example) were turned off by the ND pressure cooker.
billsaythis: basketball teams are a totally different beast than football teams. Duke has to find 1-2 kids across the entire country who can play solid ball and get through class, and 1 decently academically minded superstar every 1-2 years. In college football, you need 20 every year. That's a lot harder. And I wouldn't really cite Cal as in the same football class exactly with ND or Duke; it's basically in the same class academically but it also enrolls more than twice as many undergrads as Duke and 4-5 times as many as ND. Even if the quality of the faculty is identical or superior at Cal, larger schools always have an easier time squeezing in more 'student-athletes' who are held to lower standards both at admission time and during class.
I still don't buy more expensive and private = better, but we'll leave it at that ;) Not a personal slight on any ND grads but that "we're Notre Dame" arrogance is what is dooming their football program to a painful death. They should have joined a conference back when they had a chance, because now it wouldn't benefit them near as much. The Big East could/will lose it's BCS status and they are lower middle of the pack if put in a Big-10 schedule. Good point on the pool availability avogadro. The pundits seem to think ND can get any coach they want and folks are lining up to take the job. ND football is a rapidly sinking ship and I think most of the coaches realizethey want no part of that. Who would want to be forced to win in a no-win situation. This is why they are being so hasty in a grab for Meyer. Alumni would have been calling for Willingham's head next year (if not sooner) and Meyer is a good coach with a ton of upside who actually wants to be at ND. Willingham should be happy too. My money would be on him landing at Washington. That gets him back in the West (he likes it) with a chance to bring a flagging program back to glory. A much easier task at UW than ND. And face it, where would you rather live Seattle or South Bend :)
I still don't buy more expensive and private = better, but we'll leave it at that ;) I think some of it is the Catholic nature of the school too. Whatever the alumni or coaches may think, sports should always be a recreation, not a focus. ND would be much better off in a conference now, but when they purposefully cut themselves off from that option (late '80s), they did it because they were powerful enough that it made sense.
Pivo, way to throw in the ad hominem attack, very cool! Note that I didn't write the linked article and am hardly the only person to hold the perception that Willingham's color was a factor; the recently fired coach of San Jose State (Fritz Hill, another man of color) has done extensive studies for his Ph on the topic and the blunt truth is that with TW and Hill fired in the last week, there are only two Div 1-A football teams with black men at the top. Further I am not biased against American sports though I don't enjoy some of the more popular ones especially baseball.
