Willingham Out at Washington

SEATTLE (AP) — Washington coach Tyrone Willingham says he will step down at the end of the 2008 season.

The Huskies fell to 0-7 on Saturday after a 33-7 loss to Notre Dame. Willingham and athletic director Scott Woodward made the announcement at a news conference Monday.

Willingham has been under fire for being unable to turn around the Washington program. He is 11-32 overall in his four seasons. Washington currently has a nine-game losing streak dating back to last season, tied with North Texas for the longest in the country among major schools.

Woodward has said he did not want to change coaches during the season. But he said Monday's announcement ends speculation of what is going to happen and lets the team focus on the final five games.

Avoiding Downfall in South Bend

Since the Irish are traveling to Seattle to take on the Vicious Animals, it's the time of year to play the "what if" game.  What if Notre Dame had kept Ty Willingham around to give him a fair shake to stay as coach longer than three years?  What if the Irish football team was allowed to go through a full cycle of Willingham recruiting classes?  I think it's pretty clear what would have been the outcome - the total dismantling of Notre Dame football.

Willingham apologists like to point out that he was 21-15 at Notre Dame through three seasons.  He was also National Coach of the year in 2002 after somehow leading the team to an 8-0 start (which was followed by the nightmare at home against BC and a drubbing on the road against USC).  What his supporters don't seem to quickly point out is that he lead Notre Dame through five blowout losses of 30 points or more, had an offense consistently ranked towards the bottom of 1-A (now FBS) schools, and his last two recruiting classes following his "standout year" ranked 32nd and 40th respectively.

Now let's look at Willingham at Washington to see where Notre Dame could have been headed.  Washington is 11-30 under Willingham, has not had a recuriting class ranked above 24 (the current one is 90th), and is the only FBS school without a win halfway through the season.  The direction Notre Dame was being led by Willingham would have put the Irish in the position where just making a bowl would have been a significant achievement and staying within four touchdowns of USC would be a moral victory.

While in Weis' first three years he finished with a comparable record to Willingham at 22-15, he did lead a record setting ND offense under Brady Quinn that is looking to return to form under Clausen (currently ranked 17th of FBS school in passing yards per game), and the Irish have gone to two BCS games with a bowl berth looming in year four.  The biggest division between Willingham's capabilities and Weis' relates to the fact that Weis has pulled in two classes ranked 8th nationally, last year's class was ranked 2nd a year ago and is putting together another great class for next year.

So where are we left now?  We play the what if game and realize that Notre Dame would be in much the same position as Washington currently is, a consistently losing school with angry boosters and a massive rebuilding effort needed to become competitive again.  Without a doubt Notre Dame is better off sans Willingham, and I hope for the sake of college football he isn't awarded the opportunity to tear apart another program after Washington.  Unless Pete Carroll leaves and he gets hired at USC, I'd make an exception.