By Tom Deignan

My father was neither a particularly avid football fan or particularly public about being Irish. But the guy had himself a big Notre Dame “Fighting Irish” football jacket for as long as I could remember.

In a way it was a bit odd. First of all, my friends used to call him “the quiet man,” not only because of the very Irish John Wayne movie but also because my dad was, well, a very quiet, peace-loving man. 

Yet his jacket stressed that the Irish were fighters. And to members of his generation, following Notre Dame football was just something most Irish Catholic men did. It was like voting for John F. Kennedy.

Perhaps for these reasons it is hard for Irish-born people, and even younger Irish Americans, to grasp the intensity of the heated debate currently roiling the storied Notre Dame campus at South Bend, Indiana. 

Many people out there might not even realize there is, at the moment, a heated debate roiling the home of the Fighting Irish. But make no mistake about, for Irish Americans who have made the Fighting Irish part of their cultural heritage — and there are thousands upon thousands of people who have done just that — this seems to be a very dark moment in the history of Notre Dame football.

The latest problem to hit the Fighting Irish was the recent firing of head coach Tyrone Willingham.

As Notre Dame philosophy professor and prodigious author Ralph McInerny put it in an Op-Ed piece in last Saturday’s New York Times, “Painful losses, a decline in national rankings, too few prestigious bowl bids — all lay behind the move. Clearly, the university wants to get back to its glory days in football.”

Many, however, feel those glory days are too far away by now.

Willingham was canned after just three seasons. He still had two years on his contract. 

Perhaps problem number one people have with the firing is that Willingham is a stand-up, classy kind of guy.

Chris Zorich, the past Notre Dame defensive great, spoke for many recently when he said he was “embarrassed” by the firing. 

“It really tarnishes what Notre Dame is all about,” he added.

Another sensitive area surrounding the firing is that Willingham is black. On the one hand, Notre Dame would seem a place welcoming to minorities. 

As McInerny noted in his Times article, the reason so many Irish Americans embraced Notre Dame was because it was their way into the American elite.

But having spent so long fighting the WASP element in America, the Fighting Irish never found time for a black coach. And now they’ve gone and abruptly fired their first.

Of course, other people point out that while Willingham had a good first year, 2003 was a very bad year. And this year the Irish are playing in a minor bowl game, a far cry from their years as a major powerhouse.

On the Irisheyes.com web site — one of many devoted to the rants and raves of Fighting Irish fanatic fans — one fan said, “After three years the football program at Notre Dame has not progressed and does not seem to be headed in the right direction. Some media talking heads are all over this firing stating that (Willingham) didn’t have enough time...and he didn’t have a fair chance. 

“Again, these people need to go back and watch the last 23 Notre Dame football games, a span in which Notre Dame went 11-12, and tell me exactly how the program is in any better shape than it was when Willingham took over.” 

Either way, Notre Dame’s next coach faces some serious obstacles. The university maintains stricter academic standards than other football powerhouse schools. Many top athletes cannot cut it in South Bend classrooms.

More troubling, however, the powers-that-be at Notre Dame need to face an important fact. Let’s not forget how Willingham got hired in the first place. 

The Irish’s first choice was George O’Leary who, after he was hired, admitted that he told a bunch of lies about his past.

Two coaches. Two blunders. It looks like the Irish climb back to prominence will be an uphill one. 

(Contact Sidewalks at tdeignan@irishvoice.com)