Ty Willingham let go by Notre Dame

This came as a surprise to me. Sure he was just 21-15 in his three years and sure he got smacked around by USC 41-10 last Saturday night but he wasn't Bob Davie bad (at least so I thought).

Of course one of my first thoughts was that now there are only 2 black head football coaches at the NCAA 1-A level and that is a sham. Universities are the most liberal bastions in our society and for university president's to allow this to happen is criminal (compared to major college football - Bull Connor's Birmingham of the sixties was fully integrated).

The discrimination against black head coaches is a disgrace but it is also a separate issue. Notre Dame felt a change was needed and it wasn't because of the color of Willingham's skin.

The leading candidate to replace Willingham is rumored to be Utah's Urban Meyer who was an ND assistant coach from 1996-2000. Meyer would be a good choice but I would like to mention another possibility - New England's offensive co-ordinator Charlie Weis (who is an ND alum).

Another coach who deserves a look-see by ND would be Boston College's Tom O'Brien who has beaten ND four years running and is used to running a program that both has high academic standards but still manages to turn out many NFL caliber players. Think about it - the players O'Brien is recruiting today all have to pass BC's entrance requirements but he still manages to win. The high academic standards of ND have been a fool's excuse for too long. The New England Patriots have more college graduates than any team in the NFL and are probably the smartest team. You want a smart team! Teams don't lose because they were too smart.