UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME MEDIA CONFERENCE

December 1, 2004

Tyrone Willingham

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: First thing is, as you can imagine, this is a very difficult afternoon for me, just a very difficult afternoon for the staff, families of the staff and also our players. To say I am disappointed, I think that very much misses the mark, but at the same time, I understand that I didn't meet the expectations or standards that I set for myself in this program, and when you don't meet your own expectations, you won't meet the expectations of others. Today I am not the football coach, and it doesn't mean that -- life will go forward, as I expect this program to. My goals have always been to inspire people to be the best they could be, on and off the field. I believe that I have been true to that in my time here at Notre Dame and appreciative of the opportunity and appreciative of what we have done, and I am disappointed with what I didn't do more than anything else.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: Well, I became aware that there were some discussions starting Monday afternoon. Yes, I was surprised.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: You've been around me long enough that I don't get into what's fair and what's not fair. I am an optimist by nature, and I deal with events as they occur.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: What conditions are unique at Notre Dame? Gosh, Notre Dame is Notre Dame. There's not another Notre Dame, so uniqueness is to itself, and that is a challenge, to exist and be what Notre Dame is.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: No, I didn't, but my conversation with our team was very much as I started. Okay, I think when I arrived in 2002, I think I told them these words by Dr. Martin Luther King, that said that "If a man is called on to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted or Beethoven played music or Shakespeare wrote poetry." I think I misquoted him, but I said you should sweep streets so well. It is with that attitude that I approached them in 2002 and the same attitude I approached them with yesterday, and they should strive always to be the best they can be, and no matter what you're doing or where you're at or what's called upon you or what the circumstances are, that's what you should do.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: What I will continue to do, I will take a step back. I will relax for a moment. I do not know how long that moment will be, but a moment could be a moment or it could be a week. Then I will reflect on what I need to do, and I'll make that decision. Of course, today there is, I think, what is already taking place, and I was somewhat surprised by what I saw. Two weeks ago I was contacted by University of Washington. There was unofficial contact with the University of Washington. Any contact with anyone, my position would have been very simply straightforward. I am the Notre Dame football coach. I came to do this job and only this job.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: Obviously when I think you work 8:00 in the morning until 11:30 at night for a stretch that probably runs from February, I think it's not just commitment on my part, it's commitment on the staff's part, so gosh, I think that there's a whole lot that you want to be here. I don't think there's any doubt about my commitment to be here.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: Forgive me, but as a football coach -- I think I said this at some point -- there is no security. It doesn't exist. It's not there.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: Yes, they have, and that is exactly what I expect. I don't think anyone in this room, or not in this room, has ever seen me look to anyone else. That is the way we instructed our young men to see things, that we have a responsibility to each other and ourselves in this group, that anything that takes place, we look at ourselves.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: There was informal contact, and yes, I gave you exactly what I told them.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: When you say come back --

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: I haven't left yet, but what's difficult is the young people that you bring into the program and those expectations and standards that you talk about that you didn't allow them to reach, and they won't have my guidance in the future to reach them. That's what's difficult. The other portion of that is just yourself. When you think that you aren't successful, it's like a part of you is ripped out, and when you reach the standards and the expectations that you set for yourself and this program, it's just ripped out of you. That's what's difficult.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: There's only one thing. Win. That's it. That's the bottom line. Win.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: I haven't sat down and looked at all of the experience. Have I done that at this moment, I haven't done that yet, but at some point I'll look back and factor in all the things in my career that I've seen and done and figure out a plan.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: That's not for me to be concerned about, only that there was a decision.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: I'll let you write that up.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: Does it show? (Laughter.)

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: I think pretty much you asked the same question that Mr. Callahan asked, so I'll let you two collaborate on the answer.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: I think that needs to be discussed.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: None of them will be expressed now.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: Those are private conversations.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: I was very excited.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: I cannot respond to that. I think there are parties you should talk to to have an answer.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: Well, I have always said that there are two reasons I coach. One is because of them, and the other one is for them. I always ask them this question: I ask them, "How many of you have been 50?" And when you ask that age group that question, you get an amazing answer: "None." So I can give them experience that they haven't had. I can understand what it is to walk in their footsteps, and I can understand what it is to feel like them. Those are the two reasons I coach, in order to show them growth and become the human beings they want to be.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: No, it hasn't. It is still Notre Dame. It is still, I think, a great place to be.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: I think I answered that earlier. If you missed it, there was informal contact.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: I'll refer you to someone else that asked a very similar question that you could go to another party to try to answer. Forgive me, there is not any anger associated with that, it's just that is the truth. Someone else holds the answers.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: No.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: No, I don't think so. We had some success. We didn't have enough success. That is, I think, the bottom line. We didn't reach the level that I wanted to reach.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: What advice would I give my successor? You'll have to excuse me. My Rolodex is working because there are a lot of things I could tell him, but I'm trying to figure out what would be the one thing.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: It would take too long.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: It would be "Be yourself." That's always what's important.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: No, I've never had a bad day. I've had bad moments, and sometimes those bad moments will run into another day that you'll have hurt, pain, et cetera, but it's still a day. There are so many blessings that Tyrone Willingham has that it's amazing. For instance, I think the day that this happened, okay, there was a young man that had his father pass, a player of mine.

TYRONE WILLINGHAM: For those of you who are close to our program, you will know that Kevin White and I have been very close. We've had conversations weekly, daily. Kevin and I have always been very close and Kevin has always kept me informed everything about our program as I have kept him informed about everything about our program. Thank you, and my wish will be that this program has great success in the future, and that whoever the coach is that he comes in and does a great job because I believe there's some great young men in this program. Thank you.