On the spot: Tyrone Willingham, Notre Dame's new coach, has taken on one of the toughest assignments in all of football

Football Digest, April, 2002 by Steve Richardson

IF YOU DIDN'T KNOW MUCH about Tyrone Willingham prior to New Year's Day, you probably do by now. When Willingham was introduced as Notre Dame's 28th head coach that day, he was thrust into the most high-profile job in college sports.

And perhaps the most difficult one. Consider what Willingham is up against:

* The former Stanford coach will try to resurrect an Irish football program that hasn't won a national football championship since the 1988 season and hasn't finished among the top five since 1993. Former coach Bob Davie lost 25 games in his five seasons, an unacceptable number for the Irish faithful.

* The 48-year-old Willingham is the school's first black coach in any sport, which means the spotlight will be even brighter. He is one of only four black football coaches in all of Division I-A.

* He entered Notre Dame at a time when the program was mired in controversy and blushing with embarrassment. George O'Leary was the school's original hire, but he resigned after only five days when inaccuracies on his resume surfaced. What's more, recent NCAA problems have tarnished the Golden Dome and divided the alumni.

"There is no question that this is the most high-profile university in the country, and with that, it brings a bright light," says Willingham, who compiled a 44-36-1 record in seven seasons at Stanford. "But I have always said to my wife, `If you are going to do the right thing, it does not matter how bright the lights or how many lights. But if you are doing the wrong thing, it only takes a flashlight.'"

Willingham appears to be the right man for this difficult undertaking. He has the political savvy and the people skills to survive at a school that tries to achieve the precarious balance of academic and football excellence. Notre Dame has won 11 national titles in its storied history, but in recent years it has had trouble finding student-athletes who can flourish both on the football field and in the classroom.

Willingham, however, is unfazed by that type of challenge, having coached at Stanford, another academically stringent university. In 1999 he took Stanford to its first Rose Bowl in 28 years, and he is the only coach in school history to win Pac-10 Coach of the Year honors twice.

"His track record for graduating student-athletes is outstanding, and he will be just as successful in that regard at Notre Dame," says Bob Minnix, president of the Black Coaches Association. "With this hire, the opportunity to turn the Notre Dame fortunes around will become very much a reality, given his work ethic and talents in terms of recruiting. And his game-time preparation is second to none."

The Stanford experience taught Willingham how to turn academics and big-time football into a workable union. Yes, the stage was smaller than it will be at Notre Dame, but the parameters were essentially the same.

"I couldn't help but notice that his record beginning this season at Stanford was virtually identical to another record, another coach brought here from an academic institution some 38 years ago," says Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White. "That coach's name was Ara Parseghian [who was hired away from Northwestern and became a big winner at Notre Dame]."

White, who has been under fire for the ill-fated O'Leary hiring, can only hope that Willingham is another Parseghian. In 11 seasons, Parseghian compiled a 95-17-4 record and won two national championships. Parseghian's winning percentage trails only those of two Notre Dame legends--Knute Rockne and Frank Leahy--so the bar has been set almost impossibly high for Willingham.

Long ago, White saw something he liked in Willingham. The two have been friends for nearly 25 years, since they were both at Central Michigan University. Willingham was Central Michigan's defensive secondary coach, while White was the track coach in 1978 and '79. "We share a rock-solid belief that Notre Dame can play national championship-caliber football without, in the least, sacrificing our high academic standards or the integrity of the program," White says.

White, however, initially passed over Willingham and picked O'Leary. Willingham was the first coach White contacted when Davie was fired on December 2, but the AD didn't talk to Willingham again until after O'Leary resigned late that month. Yet when Willingham signed a six-year deal worth a reported $1.5 million annually, the coach didn't appear to care that he was the second choice. He also didn't see his hiring as a significant social issue.

"I have no control over the way you interpret it," Willingham said. "Part of my philosophy is that there's a greater good. You're out to benefit not just yourself--that's important--but to benefit others. So is this significant? Yes, I say it is significant."

A decade ago, Dennis Green, also black, was a hot coach at Stanford, but he wound up jumping to the Minnesota Vikings in the pros. Some of Willingham's football strategy has been gleaned from watching the pros, but Green says the new Notre Dame coach knows that college is a different animal.