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I think it was in the spring and there were not a lot of viable candidates who didn't already have a job, so I think that's how Willingham was hired. In other words, Willingham was nobody's first choice.
Willingham May have been Malloy’s choice at that point.
iND n his book.
White approached Willingham early in the process and Willingham turned him down. White then moved on eventually to O'Leary. After O'Leary bombed out, White went back to Willingham who, in retrospect, had decided it was a mistake to turn down the job in the 1st place.
During his hiring press conference, I believe Willingham mentioned how he told White that he should have picked him the first time.
This would imply Willingham never turned down the job.
White and Willingham knew each other for a while and White knew him because they were both in the PAC 10. TW dithered on the 1st approach. The job was never offered to him at that time. White had to move on knowing that he couldn't hire a coach who wasn't fully committed and went with O'Leary. TW regretted his initial dithering having been lobbied by family and friends that he should take the job. He didn't pass up the job the 2nd time.
I don't have a link because I know this due to who I knew at ND. Granted it is 2nd hand stuff but my connections at ND were pretty strong then. I only learned this after TW was fired because the person(s) who told me were p.o.ed at TW's disingenuous constant self - myth making which rivaled those of CW.
“In December of 2000, White offered football coach Bob Davie a contract extension after going 9-2 in the regular season. The Irish then proceeded to get spanked by Oregon State in the Fiesta Bowl. The next season, Davie and the Irish went 5-6 and Davie was fired by White.”
“The next coaching hire was truly a fiasco. White eventually had to go with his third choice. First choice was apparently Jon Gruden, an NFL coach. His father was once an assistant at Notre Dame and everyone thought the job was Gruden’s.“
“ However, many believe that Notre Dame President Monk Malloy favored Georgia Tech coach George O’Leary. O’Leary was hired — for one week! O’Leary falsified his transcripts, saying he had a Master’s degree, when, in fact, he did not. O’Leary was forced to step down after one week on the job.
Next came the hire that might be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. After failing to get Gruden and after the O’Leary scandal, the powers that be thought it would be great to have a little social experiment. Why not hire an African American as head coach? It would be groundbreaking. Notre Dame could lead the way in the hiring of more African Americans as head coaches. Monk Malloy prodded Kevin White to get Stanford coach Tyrone Lionel Willingham. Willingham, after all, had moderate success at Stanford.
“28 games later, Willingham was 21-15. He was 13-15 over those 28 games. He was fired. Kevin White, ashen at the announcement, wanted everyone to know non-verbally, that he was not responsible for the firing. Most agree that is was the decision of the majority of the Board of Trustees as well as incoming president Father John Jenkins.“
Then there was the fiasco of striking out on Meyer and settling for Weis who had never been a head coach and throwing a bunch of money at him to extend his contract.
Leaving ND on the hook for $10mm even after he got another job.
He'd already lost two games, but Weis's agent used leverage that he would return to the NFL unless he got more money and more years....thus the payments to Weis that just ended recently.
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