Dr. Giganto

All day I've been reading about this firing, and it upsets me more and more every time i hear about it.

Notre Dame has always prided itself on being a higher-class and higher-dignity institution than the other football powerhouses. They have more rigorous academic standards for their athletes, and have always put integrity ahead of wins of losses. Back in the day, when Notre Dame and Miami became rivals, ND students used to wear shirts that read "Catholics vs. Convicts"

During Willingham's three years as coach, he compiled a record of 21-15. not incredible, but respectable nonetheless. The academic performance of the average ND football player also increased during his three years as coach. Willingham refused to recruit players with questionable characters (such as Miami's prized recruit, Willie Williams, who has numerous arrests on his record, including an arrest for groping a woman and vandalism during a recruiting trip). The Athletic Director himself said that Willingham was everything they could have wanted as a coach, except that the team didnt win enough.

It doesnt matter, of course, that Notre Dame plays one of the toughest schedules in Division 1-A football, as opposed to Oklahoma, who loads up on home games against creampuffs to boost their BCS ranking. Notre Dame played 4 teams in the Top 15 (including top-ranked USC), and two others that were in the top 25 at points this season.

On top of all that, Willingham is the only coach in the history of Notre Dame to be fired before his contract expired, including a few recent predecessors whose performances were not as good as Willingham's. He was also one of 5 black coaches this year in Division 1-A football (out of 117 teams), 3 of whom have been fired, leaving only two black head coaches. Thats a shame as well.

So, you can throw all that dignity out the window. It's a sad day in sports, when Notre Dame sells out

End rant