ND Coaching Candidates

No, George O'Leary Is NOT Available
First of all, Kevin White should have been shown the door before even Willingham. My hope is that perhaps Rev. Jenkins had a hand in this and it is a positive sign for the future of striving towards higher achievement than the status quo (i.e., "a winning record"). Tyrone Willingham is and will be a fine person and will succeed...just not under the ND microscope.

As such, a somewhat checkered past since the early 80s (Faust, Davie, O'Leary & Willingham vs Holtz) presents an interesting predicament for which direction the administration may pursue for their next head coach. The leading candidates:

1. Urban Meyer, Utah. PRO: He has only four years under his belt as a head coach at the college level, but a cumulative 38-8 record. From '99-'00, Bowling Green was 7-15. In his two years as head coach ('01-'02), they went 17-6. Similarly, Utah was 13-10 from '01-02. In his two years as head coach ('03-'04), they are 21-2, ranked #6 in the nation and headed to a big-time BCS bowl game. Those are the kind of results alumni and administrators drool over. And much like Holtz at Minnesota, Meyer so coveted the ND head coaching position that he has an escape clause in his current contract. CON: Only four years head coaching experience, and even that at smaller conference schools while playing against few teams making cameos in the Top 25.

2. And the rest...Butch Davis (likely headed to UFlorida), Kirk Ferentz, Dan Hawkins, Bobby Petrino and Jeff Tedford.

One last item for the conspiracy theory file: NBC Sports chief Dick Ebersol was on his way back to ND (with his sons, one of whom is a senior there) when their plane crashed on Sunday. Did he plan to meet with anyone at ND to discuss the current state of affairs?