So they fired Ty Willingham. At the risk of coming across as actually caring about Notre Dame football, I'm going to say a few things about this anyway. First of all, I am really disappointed by the news of Willingham's dismissal, primarily because it says something about the state of the current American university system that I don't like: It's all about the money, baby. Now, what I find particularly irritating about this situation is that we lowly employees have only been getting 1.5% salary increase over the last few years because "there's not enough money" to give higher increases. But there doesn't seem to be any financial repercussions involved with coughing up the few million dollars the university will have to give Willingham for firing him before his contract was up. I don't begrudge Willingham a cent of that money, I do resent being told that the university with the country's largest endowment doesn't have the cash to pay its employees a decent rate. That burns my butt.
Secondly, I don't think Willingham got a fair shake. Whether or not the board of trustees wants to believe it, it does take longer than three seasons to build a strong football program. Let's see, three years was just enough time for Willingham to get through the last of Davie's recruits and to just start developing his own recruits. I don't know about the average observer, but I'm saying that doesn't seem like enough time to show what you can really do. And I am the average obverser. Actually, I'm probably the sub-average observer because I don't really care about football in the whole scheme of things.
Third, Willingham seemed like a real decent guy to me. Someone who realized football is just a game, but leaving with a good education is something that lasts a lifetime. Maybe I have that wrong, but I dont' think so. He seemed like a real guy to me. I'd see him biking up campus to practice with his clipboard in hand. I liked that because it showed that he considered himself just an ordinary guy. I like ordinary people. I think the powers that be should have at least given him the length of his contract.
I'm also a little sensitive to this because there are similar sorts of concerns whirling around Joe Pa at Penn State. I like Joe Pa. I met him when I was in college and I know he's a decent guy. Joe Pa IS Penn State football and people who are saying he should be booted out because we're not winning as much as we should are jerks. Joe Pa has earned the right to walk away when he chooses. I don't care how many games we lose from now until then. He's done right by the football players he's guided over the years and he's done right by the university, as far as I'm concerned. You don't turn your back on loyalty like that. But, of course, money means too much for some people to worry about common decency. Well, you can suck my ass, you greedy bastards.
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