Willingham will get the job done

After failing in its first attempt to replace Bob Davie, when George O'Leary admitted to lies on his résumé, Notre Dame is close to hiring Stanford coach Tyrone Willingham to revive its football program. CNNSI.com spoke with Sports Illustrated senior writer Ivan Maisel about the pending move.

CNNSI.com: How will Willingham fit in at Notre Dame, both in terms of personality/coaching style as well as being the school's first black head coach in any sport?

Ivan Maisel: I have lot of respect for Tyrone Willingham. He's proven that he can win and that he can win under the academic strictures that Bob Davie bristled under. While it's a nice sidestory that he is African-American and that he is Notre Dame's first African-American head coach, it is only a sidestory. To me, that shows progress has been made. A lot of times things seem to move so slowly, but in fact Tyrone Willingham got an opportunity at Stanford and proved he can win football games. Now he's being rewarded. That's how it should work. The only question I have about him going there is that there is an awfully harsh spotlight in South Bend and he is a private person. Or, that is, he was a private person; he won't be any longer.

CNNSI.com: Why didn't Notre Dame hire Willingham to begin with?

Maisel: Because the school screwed up. I still think George O'Leary would have been a good fit there, but prior to O'Leary's hiring I'd expected Notre Dame to go after Willingham first. I'm told that Irish officials never spoke with him before hiring O'Leary, and that was part of the reason they spoke to so many other coaches upon O'Leary's dismissal. The list is a who's who of college football, many of whom were not interested: Mike Bellotti, Rick Neuheisel, Dennis Franchione, Frank Beamer, Nick Saban. The only guy they did not contact was Joe Paterno. The entire search was a fiasco, but it does have a happy ending.

CNNSI.com: From what you said, it sounds like Willingham still was far down on Notre Dame's list.

Maisel: His friends have said that he was peeved when Notre Dame did not contact him initially, and you have to assume that he rebuffed overtures between then and now. But if the reported contract numbers are right, then Notre Dame paid heavily for its social faux pas.

CNNSI.com: Does he have what it takes to be successful in South Bend?

Maisel: The football part is not an issue at all. The only issue in my mind is his willingness to live under that spotlight. It can get awfully warm.

CNNSI.com: Are we overstating his accomplishments at Stanford? After all, he was only 44-36-1, and winning at Notre Dame is a lot different from winning at Stanford.

Maisel: That's a good question. But the fact is that in 1999 he guided the team to a Pac-10 championship, which Stanford hadn't done in nearly 30 years. Then this year he had the Cardinal ranked in the top 15 nearly all season. Another measure of his success in Palo Alto is the respect people in the business have for him and the job he did there.

CNNSI.com: Willingham's name has come up previously in regards to NFL openings, and he's known to be a hot commodity. Why take this job rather than wait for an NFL position?

Maisel: I think he enjoys working with young people, and at Notre Dame he gets to do that and make an NFL-sized salary. In terms of prestigious coaching jobs, let's look at the equation: Notre Dame or San Diego Chargers? You decide.

CNNSI.com: Does this mean some level of commitment to South Bend?

Maisel: You have to assume that. Though it seems like five-year deals at Notre Dame only last three games, so I wonder how long six years gets you?

CNNSI.com: How long before Willingham turns the program around?

Maisel: The schedule remains relatively difficult for the foreseeable future, which is a legacy left by former athletic directors Dick Rosenthal and Mike Wadsworth. But Willingham is very good in the living room, and NFL scouts I have spoken to say the level of talent at Notre Dame did increase under Davie. So I don't suspect the Irish are very far away.

Join Sports Illustrated senior writer Ivan Maisel for a Rose Bowl chat on Thursday at 2 p.m. ET. Click here to submit a question in advance.

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