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Irish opening spins coaching carousel
Matthew Zemek
In a move that has just made college football's coaching carousel substantially more dramatic and theatrical than it normally is every December, Notre Dame decided not to retain Tyrone Willingham's contract for 2005.
The ripple effect this will have on the alignment of the coaching stars and the nature of the sport's elite programs is enormous. Just as important if not more so, the move by Notre Dame shows a lot about the university's values and the values of college football itself.
Let's start with the game of "follow the bouncing ball," coaching-style: Utah coach Urban Meyer has a clause in his contract that allows him to leave immediately for Notre Dame without substantial penalty. This was not the case for any other school (namely, Florida), only Notre Dame — the place where Meyer used to work on Lou Holtz's and Bob Davie's staff as wide receiver coach from 1996-2000. Notre Dame wants Meyer and knows the coaching calculus.
If Meyer goes to Notre Dame, he obviously won't join former Utah president Bernie Machen at Florida. (Just think of what might have been had Willingham been sacked oh, a few days after Ron Zook got fired in Gainesville ... would a certain Ol' Ball Coach be wearing Garnet and Black right now?) This means that — presto, change-o — Butch Davis, the man who was pushed out of the Cleveland Browns' coaching job just hours before Willingham got axed, is now an overwhelming and easy choice to be hired by Florida within the next week.
And with Willingham now looking for a job, one wonders if Ty will do what Steve Spurrier wouldn't: have a second act with a former employer. With Buddy Teevens ousted Monday, it is within Willingham's ability to go back to Stanford if asked.
Urban Meyer will be one of the most sought after coaches in the nation after the 2004 season is over. (Douglas C. Pizac / AP)
But that's just a nice literary image more than anything. The place where Willingham would really be loved and embraced would be Washington, a program with more pure football cachet than Stanford, yet a Pac-10 school where Willingham could not only win, but bring character and ethics to a program reeling from a slew of scandals stemming from the Rick Neuheisel era. The Huskies would be pretty dumb to not snag Willingham, given his ability to win a Pac-10 title in the cleanest, most dignified manner possible.
And in the midst of all this — assuming Meyer does indeed leave for Notre Dame — one wonders how Utah's Fiesta Bowl performance will be affected, not to mention the future of the program. Now that the Utes have shattered the BCS' glass ceiling, one can't help but wonder if coaches will look at the job in Salt Lake City with newfound interest and desire.
Obviously, nothing has happened in any of these directions — for now it's in the realm of possibility and not certainty — but the smart money would certainly rest this chain reaction: Meyer to Notre Dame, Davis to Florida, Willingham to Washington, and Utah in ... well ... Tempe, with a lot of emotional thunderclouds and uncertainties.
Matthew Zemek
In a move that has just made college football's coaching carousel substantially more dramatic and theatrical than it normally is every December, Notre Dame decided not to retain Tyrone Willingham's contract for 2005.
The ripple effect this will have on the alignment of the coaching stars and the nature of the sport's elite programs is enormous. Just as important if not more so, the move by Notre Dame shows a lot about the university's values and the values of college football itself.
Let's start with the game of "follow the bouncing ball," coaching-style: Utah coach Urban Meyer has a clause in his contract that allows him to leave immediately for Notre Dame without substantial penalty. This was not the case for any other school (namely, Florida), only Notre Dame — the place where Meyer used to work on Lou Holtz's and Bob Davie's staff as wide receiver coach from 1996-2000. Notre Dame wants Meyer and knows the coaching calculus.
If Meyer goes to Notre Dame, he obviously won't join former Utah president Bernie Machen at Florida. (Just think of what might have been had Willingham been sacked oh, a few days after Ron Zook got fired in Gainesville ... would a certain Ol' Ball Coach be wearing Garnet and Black right now?) This means that — presto, change-o — Butch Davis, the man who was pushed out of the Cleveland Browns' coaching job just hours before Willingham got axed, is now an overwhelming and easy choice to be hired by Florida within the next week.
And with Willingham now looking for a job, one wonders if Ty will do what Steve Spurrier wouldn't: have a second act with a former employer. With Buddy Teevens ousted Monday, it is within Willingham's ability to go back to Stanford if asked.
Urban Meyer will be one of the most sought after coaches in the nation after the 2004 season is over. (Douglas C. Pizac / AP)
But that's just a nice literary image more than anything. The place where Willingham would really be loved and embraced would be Washington, a program with more pure football cachet than Stanford, yet a Pac-10 school where Willingham could not only win, but bring character and ethics to a program reeling from a slew of scandals stemming from the Rick Neuheisel era. The Huskies would be pretty dumb to not snag Willingham, given his ability to win a Pac-10 title in the cleanest, most dignified manner possible.
And in the midst of all this — assuming Meyer does indeed leave for Notre Dame — one wonders how Utah's Fiesta Bowl performance will be affected, not to mention the future of the program. Now that the Utes have shattered the BCS' glass ceiling, one can't help but wonder if coaches will look at the job in Salt Lake City with newfound interest and desire.
Obviously, nothing has happened in any of these directions — for now it's in the realm of possibility and not certainty — but the smart money would certainly rest this chain reaction: Meyer to Notre Dame, Davis to Florida, Willingham to Washington, and Utah in ... well ... Tempe, with a lot of emotional thunderclouds and uncertainties.