Should Tyrone Willingam take out Grady Little and buy him a few "bibos"? It seems now that Grady Little was in the exact same spot this year as Willingham was in December of 04.
Tyrone Willingam was 21-16 in 3 years at ND. (So far Weis is 20-14 at ND for reference) Willingham was not given his full "cycle" of 4-5 years at ND in order to properly play and recruit his own players (Quinn was his recruit).
Willingham was fired not because of his poor performance or because of his race, but because a new hot coaching name came on the market. Coach Urban Meyer with his roots seeded deep within South Bend, having served as an assistant for Lou Holtz and receivers coach for Davie, was finished with his time at Utah and was looking to move up in the coaching world. ND promptly fired Willingham for the chance at Meyer. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for the Irish, but Ty was unjustly fired.
Did the same occurence just happen with Grady Little and Joe Torre? Grady Little, whose reputation is scarred thanks to Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS, did a solid job with the Dodgers in LA. Did he win immediately? No, however he field a competitive team who was in contention until the final month of the year and the Dodgers did set the NL record for attendance this year. Grady Little was in the process of creating a solid squad in LA but was bit by the injury bug (recall the signing of Jason Schmidt who then subsequently blew out his arm).
Joe Torre was the hot new name on the market and while his reputation speaks for itself, Grady Little was fired without good reason. (some may say there was a mutual resignation, but we all know thats bunk)
So my argument is that Little and Willingham were both unjustly fired because a hot new coach came on the market. Is this fair to them? Should ND and the Dodgers be reprimanded for these quick decisions? Thoughts?
4 comments:
I do not think either was unjustly fired. You do not pass up the chance to have a potential hall of fame coach manage your team. You do not pass up the chance to upgrade.
Nobody will claim that Little has a better record than Torre, the Dodgers saw a chance to sign one of the top 5 coaches in baseball and they took it.
With ND, Urban Meyer proved that he was a better recruiter, and a better game manager and coach than Willingham. Willingham was not the new hot coach, he was a solid alternative to what they had so ND could wait to hire the next Lou Holtz. Former players and significant ND alumni never embraced Willingham, he was dead before he started, the only reason people complain about the firing is because of his first year.
For that same reason, Weis will get one or two more chances than Willingham because Notre Dame administration and former players believes he is that next great coach.
I have to admit, I'm a little confused by these last two posts. For 2 reasons:
1) Why is Flip posting in response to Mikey? Can't he just walk into the living room and tell him?
2) If reason 1 is valid...why did it take 5 hours to respond?
I have to say, I agree with Mikey that Ty was not given a fair shake, and frankly, I think this season is ND's karmic adjustment.
I completely agree that both coaches got a raw deal...but I contend that both teams made a move in the best interest promoting their program/team and getting the only thing that counts in professional sports...championships! Where is it written that sports business is supposed to be fair? Sports just so happens to be a business where you can hold coaches up next to each other and legitimately compare their abilities and if you get a Joe Torre or an Urban Meyer on the market, you cut your losses and go for broke to get them. Team pride and accomplishment holds far more weight than if a manager/coach got a fair shot---plus its hard to feel bad when Willingham had another job mere months later. I'm sure Little will not take long to find employment either.
By the way, that was a great Navy vs. ND football game!
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