Okay friends. So M gave us a little warning from the future. Now here is an eerie look back into the past. Read this actual article from AP/ESPN newswire dated December 1, 2004 and tell me if this feels eerie:
AD cites lack of on-field progress
ESPN.com news services
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Coach Tyrone Willingham was fired by Notre Dame on Tuesday after three seasons in which he failed to return one of the nation's most storied football programs to prominence.
Willingham went 21-15, including 6-5 this season. The Fighting Irish lost 41-10 to No. 1 Southern California on Saturday.
"We simply have not made the progress on the field that we need to make," athletic director Kevin White said in a news conference. "Nor have we been able to create the positive momentum necessary in our efforts to return the Notre Dame program to the elite level of the college football world."
Players now are considering not playing in the Insight Bowl on Dec. 28, and White said he didn't know who would coach the game. Notre Dame accepted the invitation from bowl officials on Sunday.
The Notre Dame players met Tuesday evening. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the team had decided to play in the bowl game, but school officials said Wednesday afternoon that they remain uncertain.
The decision to sever ties with Willingham was made during an emergency meeting of the university's board of trustees Monday night, ESPN.com's Ivan Maisel reports. At the time, seven assistants were on the road recruiting. Upon learning of the decision Tuesday afternoon, Willingham called his coaches and, according to one source, said to them "come on in, we're done."
The team attended an emotional early-afternoon meeting with Willingham and White, who said they "decided to go in different directions."
"I feel bad for the seniors," sophomore free safety Tommy Zbikowski told ESPN.com's Wayne Drehs. "First they have to go through the [Bob] Davie firing, then [George] O'Leary and now this. Those guys have constantly helped the underclassmen and they've been so selfless, and now they have to go through this again. The other bad part is most of the coaches were out recruiting, so we didn't even get to talk to them.
"The best way to describe it is shock. You hear about this stuff on the message boards, but no one thinks it can happen, and then there's a meeting called out of nowhere and it happens."
Willingham's firing comes after a season in which the Irish pulled off upset victories over Michigan and Tennessee but also were beaten badly by USC and Purdue. Student groups were planning a protest on campus Tuesday evening to call for Willingham's firing; he faced criticism from fans much of the season.
White praised Willingham's handling of the team, especially the Irish's strong academic record.
"From Sunday through Friday our football program has exceeded all expectations, in every way," he said. "But on Saturday, we struggled. We've been up and down and sideways a little bit."
Does this remind of you something? Here is a hint. For starters, just switch up Willingham's name with Dorrell's, and then substitute TW's record with KD's record at the end of the season if he fails to win more than 7 games and beat Southern California. What do we get? A 29-20 coach with a .592 winning percentage compared to Willingham who had a .583 winning percentage after 3 years at ND. And their records (should KD win less than 8 and fail to beat Southern Cal) will be almost identical. Both will have similar records devoid of big victories and peppered with embarrassing and disgraceful losses, and a less than excellent track record in the recruiting world. Both of these coaches have been great from Sunday through Friday, but their teams keep falling short on Saturdays.ESPN.com news services
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Coach Tyrone Willingham was fired by Notre Dame on Tuesday after three seasons in which he failed to return one of the nation's most storied football programs to prominence.
Willingham went 21-15, including 6-5 this season. The Fighting Irish lost 41-10 to No. 1 Southern California on Saturday.
"We simply have not made the progress on the field that we need to make," athletic director Kevin White said in a news conference. "Nor have we been able to create the positive momentum necessary in our efforts to return the Notre Dame program to the elite level of the college football world."
Players now are considering not playing in the Insight Bowl on Dec. 28, and White said he didn't know who would coach the game. Notre Dame accepted the invitation from bowl officials on Sunday.
The Notre Dame players met Tuesday evening. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the team had decided to play in the bowl game, but school officials said Wednesday afternoon that they remain uncertain.
The decision to sever ties with Willingham was made during an emergency meeting of the university's board of trustees Monday night, ESPN.com's Ivan Maisel reports. At the time, seven assistants were on the road recruiting. Upon learning of the decision Tuesday afternoon, Willingham called his coaches and, according to one source, said to them "come on in, we're done."
The team attended an emotional early-afternoon meeting with Willingham and White, who said they "decided to go in different directions."
"I feel bad for the seniors," sophomore free safety Tommy Zbikowski told ESPN.com's Wayne Drehs. "First they have to go through the [Bob] Davie firing, then [George] O'Leary and now this. Those guys have constantly helped the underclassmen and they've been so selfless, and now they have to go through this again. The other bad part is most of the coaches were out recruiting, so we didn't even get to talk to them.
"The best way to describe it is shock. You hear about this stuff on the message boards, but no one thinks it can happen, and then there's a meeting called out of nowhere and it happens."
Willingham's firing comes after a season in which the Irish pulled off upset victories over Michigan and Tennessee but also were beaten badly by USC and Purdue. Student groups were planning a protest on campus Tuesday evening to call for Willingham's firing; he faced criticism from fans much of the season.
White praised Willingham's handling of the team, especially the Irish's strong academic record.
"From Sunday through Friday our football program has exceeded all expectations, in every way," he said. "But on Saturday, we struggled. We've been up and down and sideways a little bit."
Well, it is pretty clear at this half way point of the season there has been no on-field progress during KD's four year term at UCLA. Unless something dramatic happens rest of the way, i.e. winning 5 of his last 6 (including a victory over Southern California), it will be pretty clear to the rest of the world that there hasn't been any sort of discernible progress after four years of Karl Dorrell.
Will the UCLA athletic director have the courage to make the right decision and save our proud football program?
You can ask him the question by emailing him at dguerrero@athletics.ucla.edu. As always please be respectful and polite when writing these emails. Thanks.
GO BRUINS.