Oh, what a time the early-2000s were for Notre Dame football. After an unexpected Bowl Championship Series appearance in 2000, 2001 produced a major regression and Bob Davie’s dismissal.
In came George O’Leary from Georgia Tech. Days later, O’Leary went out: He was fired for lying on his resume.
The man chosen to fix the Notre Dame football mess was Tyrone Willingham who the Irish hired away from Stanford. Willingham had success early, but he was fired three years into his tenure as head coach.
How quickly did some guys in the room see that coming?
Former Notre Dame captain and linebacker Mike Goolsby was on “The Two Irish Brothers” podcast and shared it didn’t take long for him to feel out on Willingham.
“I can truly remember sitting there having that inner dialogue with myself saying ‘this guy is full of —-,” said Goolsby, “But I was like, I’ve got to go along with it because I haven’t started yet.”
When you hear a story like that it’s hardly a surprise Willingham’s tenure ended like it did. We’ve heard the stories about his passion for golf, and how it was reflected in Notre Dame’s awful recruiting rankings under him. But to hear from one of the Irish leaders from that time puts those three seasons in even a worse light.
How the heck did he get Brady Quinn, Jeff Samardzija and Tom Zbikowski to buy into his act?
That was perhaps the most impressive thing he did while at Notre Dame.
Check out the full cut of Goolsby discussing Willingham here.