Tyrone Willingham inks five-year deal with Washington

Jet, Jan 10, 2005

It didn't take long for ex-Notre Dame football coach Tyrone Willingham to find another job.

Just weeks after he was fired by the Fighting Irish, Willingham was hired by Washington University to restore the school's sagging football program to national prominence.

"I couldn't be prouder at this moment to be the head coach," said Willingham, who agreed to a five-year deal worth up to $1.6 million a year.

Willingham knows the Pac-10 well-he went 44-36-1 with a Rose Bowl berth for Stanford from 1995-2001. This will work out for a team who is coming off its worst season of 1-10.

Willingham made history at Notre Dame by becoming the university's only Black coach in school history. Now, with his latest position, Washington becomes the only Division I-A school with Black head coaches in the two major sports. Men's basketball coach Lorenzo Romar is in his third season leading the Huskies.

At Notre Dame, Willingham posted a 21-15 record in three seasons, the shortest tenure of any full-time Notre Dame coach in 70 years. He had three years left on his initial contract and the firing raised questions about whether he was given enough time to succeed.

Notre Dame president Rev. Edward Malloy criticized Willingham's firing because Notre Dame had made a tradition of allowing its coaches to work at least through the length of their first contract (JET, Jan. 3).