Ty Willingham: Stay or Go?

[Vince Young]

Jon Gruden? You mean the same Jon Gruden who took Tony Dungy's players to the Super Bowl the first year and then took the exact same roster to the cellar the next year? To echo the frequent cries of the Fire-Ty crowd, when you have championship talent on your team but can't win, the coaching is the problem. And the Bucs sure ain't looking too sharp this year either. Yeah, he's just perfect for turning Notre Dame around, sure.

At least Urban Meyer made Bowling Green and Utah better in his 2 years at each school, but so what? The MAC and MWC conferences aren't much to crow about. And as embarrassing as it was to watch Ty lose to BYU this year, it could've been worse: it could've been a division I-AA team. Just ask Urban Meyer about losing to South Florida some time. Then there's his tenure as receivers coach at Notre Dame, and I don't recall his receivers exactly terrorizing opposing defenses. Urban Meyer still has a LOT to prove.

Oh, Gruden and Meyer both love Notre Dame? Well, so did Gerry Faust and Bob Davie. 'nuff said.

Firing a head coach is disruptive to a team. If you're going to do it, you have to be darn sure the new guy is going to be better, or else all you've done is sacrificed stability in exchange for an even worse record. (6-5 is bad, but it can still be worse.) In 1958, Irish fans figured that ANYBODY could coach better than Terry Brennan had, but Joe Kuharich was about to prove them wrong... big time.

 

[Guest]

Jon Gruden? You mean the same Jon Gruden who took Tony Dungy's players to the Super Bowl the first year and then took the exact same roster to the cellar the next year? To echo the frequent cries of the Fire-Ty crowd, when you have championship talent on your team but can't win, the coaching is the problem. And the Bucs sure ain't looking too sharp this year either. Yeah, he's just perfect for turning Notre Dame around, sure.

At least Urban Meyer made Bowling Green and Utah better in his 2 years at each school, but so what? The MAC and MWC conferences aren't much to crow about. And as embarrassing as it was to watch Ty lose to BYU this year, it could've been worse: it could've been a division I-AA team. Just ask Urban Meyer about losing to South Florida some time. Then there's his tenure as receivers coach at Notre Dame, and I don't recall his receivers exactly terrorizing opposing defenses. Urban Meyer still has a LOT to prove.

Oh, Gruden and Meyer both love Notre Dame? Well, so did Gerry Faust and Bob Davie. 'nuff said.

Firing a head coach is disruptive to a team. If you're going to do it, you have to be darn sure the new guy is going to be better, or else all you've done is sacrificed stability in exchange for an even worse record. (6-5 is bad, but it can still be worse.) In 1958, Irish fans figured that ANYBODY could coach better than Terry Brennan had, but Joe Kuharich was about to prove them wrong... big time.

Gruden does a great job with average Qb's. Look what he did with rich gannon turned him into a mvp, did a good job with brad johnson, and look at how well Griese is doing, he couldn't even start for the dolfins last year. Gruden would help Brady big time!

 

[Vince Young]

A good job with Brad Johnson? Are you kidding me? Johnson was average at best during Gruden's first year and was consistently cited as the weakest link on the team. During the 2nd-year meltdown, Gruden didn't do a good job with anybody, let along Johnson, and he finally had to bench him this year in favor of Griese, who really isn't doing all that much better. The Bucs had obviously lost confidence in Johnson, and Griese looks better than he really is... and he didn't look all that good on Sunday.

Gruden is not the guy for the Irish. Taking the exact same roster into a free-fall after winning the Super Bowl does not instill confidence in one's coaching abilities.

 

[dudexcore]

i would've liked to see ND honor Ty's contract...

 

[Rocket25]

why woudl u of liked to see that...2 more years of wasted talent and 6 wins at best/year....i want to see results and with a new coach next year the irish are gonna take off....the offense is goin to thrive if we get the urban legend

 

[Vince Young]

...the offense is goin to thrive if we get the urban legend

Because we all KNOW that 11-0 against the powerhouses of the Mountain West Conference instantly qualifies you to take on the likes of Michigan and USC. Ohhhhh yes.

 

[NDLyght37]

Because we all KNOW that 11-0 against the powerhouses of the Mountain West Conference instantly qualifies you to take on the likes of Michigan and USC. Ohhhhh yes.

Definitley a legit point, VY.

People, it took Willingham 2 years to start to get his offense in place. It's going to take Meyer some time as well. So for everyone who has been calling for Willingham's head, let's try and show some patience when (if) Meyer gets the gig. We can't be USC or FSU or Oklahoma overnight.