Notre Dame did a bad, bad thing.  In 2004, they let go of a coach after he was only 3 years into the job.  He was the only coach in history that the school fired before his original contract was up.  He also had a little more pigment in his skin than others who had coached before him.  They said it was unjust and unfair to treat someone like this, and not even give the man a chance to build his program.   They said Notre Dame sold its soul to become like every other football factory out there.  They said that Notre Dame thought differently about people who had some extra pigment in their skin.

But then, Notre Dame did something even worse.  After firing a coach so unjustly, they awarded their next coach with a huge multi-year contract, before he was even finished with his first season.  This was the ultimate sign of hypocrisy, to be so fast to judge one, and so quick to accept another.  Nothing could be more despicable.

That’s what they said.  Here’s what I say.  Notre Dame got caught up in the moment.  Caught up in emotion.  In the fall of 2005, Charlie Weis and Notre Dame had a different feel to them.  (If you had watched them for the last 10 years, you felt it too.)  Huge strides were made by players like Brady Quinn, Maurice Stovall, and Jeff Samardzija.  They weren’t up and down, they were consistent.  They played USC closer than they had in years, and stood face to face with the best team in the nation.  It felt like the early nineties when ND could play with anyone.

Yes, Ty Willingham had early success.  But it didn’t feel different.  It felt surreal.  Whether it was the fact that it took until game 3 to score an offensive touchdown, or that the other team always managed to cough up the ball to Courtney Watson at just the right moment.  It was magical.  Ty Willingham was like Houdini, awing us with his victories, just as the escape artist awed with his ability to escape from straitjackets.  Only they both benefited from illusion.  Ty benefited from the lucky breaks, Houdini from the fact that he had keys and picks hidden on his person.

Yes, Weis and Willingham felt different.  One like an act, and the other like the real thing.  Notre Dame felt these differences and made a decision.  It wasn’t despicable, it was emotional.

That is all they are guilty of.