Shame_Jake.jpgOn a day in which America is reminded that progress is still very much needed in our race relations let me remind you that none of us are above reproach. In December of 2004 Notre Dame fired Tyrone Willingham after three years of service and two years left on his contract. He was replaced by Charlie Weis, a Notre Dame graduate and a member of multiple Super Bowl winning coaching staffs. A more qualified candidate? Maybe. But to replace Willingham after three years…I question that decision. The white majority often times likes to hide behind the fact that blacks are given opportunities and that race is no longer a factor. And black coaches might be presented with more coaching opportunities today than 20 years ago, but getting hired for a job is different than given the opportunity to succeed, more importantly, given the opportunity to FAIL. Willingham was replaced because he couldn’t duplicate in his second and third years what he did in his first. He was criticized for poor recruiting classes and getting blown out with regularity (in his last season in which the team finished 5-7, the team lost four games by a minimum of 26 points). The alumni and boosters were furious and called for his head. After their blow-out loss to USC, they got what they wished for.

So in comes the Genius and within his first year, and more specifically after HIS FIRST SEVEN GAMES they give him a ten year extension between 30 and 40 million! Tyrone Willingham went 8-0 and what did he get?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?! Can you comprehend this at all?! Tyrone Willingham goes 8-0 and the campus and the nation declare Notre Dame has returned to glory. Charlie Weis goes 5-2 with loses to MICHIGAN STATE!!! and USC and they give him a ten year extension!!! For Notre Dame’s sake they should be so lucky to use the excuse of racism!!! Notre Dame was essentially defending their blatantly racist decision by saying “But I have black friends.” They spit in the eye of America. Charlie went to Notre Dame, he had NFL experience he was “one of us” and by “one of us” they apparently didn’t mean an alumn…“Hey, Jerome Bettis went to school here! Look at us, we’re not racist!” “Hey, Rocket Ismail went here…” (which of course is also their retort for not being homophobic.) They defended the extension by saying, “I just had a black guy over for dinner last night, how can I be racist?”

But in fairness to the institution, they might not be racist. After all that’s a pretty bold accusation but they sure as hell look uncomfortable around black folk. You don’t mind taking the black man’s money or even giving them an education, after all, isn’t that the right thing to do? But giving them the keys to your car? Well, shoot, you wouldn’t want them to steal it! No Notre Dame, you’re not racist, just a little uncomfortable. After all, who wouldn’t rather have a white man with a bad record than a black man? Deep down inside you feel safer don’t you? But the argument of course was “he’s got NFL experience.” And not with just any NFL team, the Patriots, home of the top head coach and quarterback in the world! And who made the sixth round pick the best qb in the world? The Fat Man did, of course! So when he comes to ND, and duplicates the “success” of his previous coach what does the school do? Gives him a ten year extension of course, wouldn’t you?! After all, look at all his experience?!

Here’s a quote from Charlie Weis when he got hired (thanks to brian at mgoblog…)

“They’re going to have to learn about us, OK? Let them try to stop a pro-style offense, which has multiple personnel groups and multiple formations. Let’s see how they are going to do. They’ve had their advantage because I’ve come into recruiting late. Well, now it’s Xs and Os time. Let’s see who has the advantage now.”

Well Charlie, congratulations, you have done what only one other coach in THE HISTORY OF ND has done, started a season 0-3. Well done. You and Bob Davies. And Tyrone Willingham? What happened to him? Well he still seems pretty mediocre to me but in my world beggars can’t be choosers. He was certainly a more accomplished coach prior to working at Notre Dame and continues to be afterwards…So if you’re the University of Washington you’re sitting pretty thinking, man glad we’ve got Ty Will instead of Charlie Weis!

Notre Dame is stuck in the middle ages. They think they’re still a premiere program with impeccable academic standards. You see, it’s not that their racist its that they have “high academic standards.” And it’s these standards that have started to inhibit their ability to recruit. However, if education was a recruit’s primary goal why wouldn’t they go to an Ivy? Jay Fiedler did. Or if you’d like a balance of both why not UT Austin or Florida or heck The University of Michigan? I guess people think “why go to an Ivy school for an education when I could play football at a school with a mediocre div 1 football program that has single sex dorms?” Maybe it’s just their proximity to Gary, In…So while Notre Dame and Coach Weis are out there bringing in the next Ron Paulus they forgot about finding the next Luke Petigot. Football’s played on the field. You need people to block and stuff. Maybe a running back or two. Don’t pass the buck. Don’t blame Tyrone Willingham. You fucked up. All of you. Notre Dame, Charlie Weis, the Students.

Today there are people finally standing up for injustice. Injustice that isn’t comparable to what happened to Coach Willingham because this deals with life and death. This deals with the inherent racism that is still prevalent in the deep south, in areas like Jena, Louisiana. But as different a story that is, at least it’s visible. We know where the problem is. A problem like Jena is easier to tackle. Notre Dame is hiding behind their own tree in South Bend and no one’s calling them on it. Hopefully that changed today. Now you get to live with the decision you made back in 2004 when you forgot the part about giving a coach a chance instead of just giving him a job. Unfortunately you’re going to give the wrong coach the chance to recover…

Follow your own text book…Give, and it shall be given to you. For whatever measure you deal out to others, it will be dealt to you in return. This goes both ways as you reap what you sow. As I said in the open, I am not above reproach. But I will stand up for those who have been wronged and here we have seen the most egregious of examples.

And finally, some excerpts from mgoblog…

And thus the House of Weis comes crashing down. Notre Dame, in year three of the Weis regime, is 119th — last — in rushing, total offense, and scoring offense. The pass offense, Notre Dame’s bright spot, is 115th. Notre Dame has been blown out by more than twenty points for the past five games. NDNation begins to turn in on itself, and even Stewart Mandel — generally the last person to realize anything — has caught on to the sleight of hand Weis parlayed into a ten year, 40 million dollar contract. Losing to Appalachian State seems like small potatoes in comparison.