Irish football program needs to repair damage
By Mike Lopresti
Gannett News Service
WANTED: Position suddenly open for football coach at well-known Midwest university. Must be able to deal with nosy media, merciless fans, stubborn admission officials and lake-effect snow. Salary is negotiable. Won-loss record is not.
Send resume to University of Notre Dame.
But one suggestion: Proofread it first.
The New Hampshire Wildcats never had a fullback named George O'Leary.
Not many people noticed that or cared before, but now the whole world knows. As a result, Notre Dame twists in a chilling wind, its football program looking sloppy at best. The luck of the Irish apparently is locked somewhere in a closet.
Times are tough these days for Notre Dame football coaches. Bob Davie was canned because he lost too many games. George O'Leary never even got to the first kickoff.
His fib broke on Friday. Somewhere on O'Leary's resume — which he prepared decades ago as a hungry man looking for a job, and foolishly never corrected — mentioned he had been a football player for three years at New Hampshire. Turns out he never was on the field. Rudy at Notre Dame saw more action.
Nor did he get a master's degree from New York University. Another fudged fact.
Now, as deception goes, this doesn't quite rise up to Watergate. Bigger whoppers get told at fishing banquets. And I doubt if service in New Hampshire ever played a very prominent role in O'Leary being hired at Georgia Tech or Notre Dame or anywhere else.
But a new guy can't get away with brain lock like this. Not when he's trying to build up trust with unfamiliar fans, players and administrators. A coach at Notre Dame would want a batch of wins and a couple of bowls behind him before it was discovered he came to town with false advertising.
O'Leary hadn't unpacked yet. And now he is gone, a sad case indeed. He is 55 and an accomplished coach, and started the week by being named to one of the most glittering positions in sport.
Now he has no job and a bizarre blemish. Talk about your roller-coaster ride.
(That sound you hear is desk drawers all over the country being opened, as football coaches take a quick look at the resume they keep on file to check for landmines).
Meanwhile, this brings up anew a pertinent question.
Does anyone out there want to coach football at Notre Dame?
To review, before O'Leary's hiring several notable coaches had taken a pass on any chance with the Irish.
Oklahoma's Bob Stoops closed the door. So did Jon Gruden of the Oakland Raiders. Mike Bellotti chose Oregon over Notre Dame.
Oregon!
O'Leary's choice hardly was met with mass roaring applause in the first place. And now it smacks of something of a rush job, though Notre Dame is hardly the first place not to ask all the right questions.
But this is when Notre Dame must pay once more for being Notre Dame. More is expected, including an honest resume.
This aborted O'Leary regime won't make the job any more attractive. Whoever is hired clearly moves into the office as Plan B. A lot of coaching egos would struggle with that.
Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White, meanwhile, has an urgent task of damage control.
There might be one escape. Tyrone Willingham. The Stanford coach who, by all accounts, is successful and solid and stainless. Plus, Notre Dame's hiring a black coach would make a powerful statement.
No matter the decision, it had better be right. Notre Dame's unending quest is to look good. The Irish are a long way from that right now.
