UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 17, 2002

Tyrone Willingham

COACH WILLINGHAM: I think to be very honest about it, I don't think I've ever avoided the issue. I think I've put it in the perspective of what I view it, which may be less than some others look at it. But I think I consistently said that my situation here at Notre Dame, the fact that two coaches of African American dissent will go against each other this weekend is significant, but it also points to a shortcoming in our system, and that is disappointing.

COACH WILLINGHAM: A great deal, because at that time the opportunity were limited for African American players to go to what is considered a major institution in the south. So door was just being opened in the south. Whereas in the northern schools, it was not an every day occurrence, but I think it was with a greater frequency.

COACH WILLINGHAM: '93.

COACH WILLINGHAM: It would be very nice. (Laughter). I mean, you know, how do you describe it? That's what you want. That's what we're working for, is to win the next ballgame, but so are Coach Williams and Michigan State. It's the next step, and hopefully we'll be able to achieve it.

COACH WILLINGHAM: '76, I think if I'm correct, somebody asked me about it the other day, threw some pictures out, which were not flattering, to be honest about it. But, gosh, I don't know where to go, to reminisce at. I don't do very much of that. You're forcing me into an area that, gosh, virgin, I guess is the best way to say it. Reminisce, '76 might have been the one time that we beat Notre Dame and I'm not sure of that. Was that down here? '75 was down here. Thank you. See, I can reminisce better with documentation, so '75 is good. Gosh, I think that was the year that I held on extra points, field goal. I think Tyrone Wilson had a run of about 75-some yards and Charles Aggy (ph) took it in for the score and we had an extra point for the field goal and we won the game.

COACH WILLINGHAM: It's that intense. I think the coaches in my time knew this was one of the big teams in the country and they always urged our team to play its best football. If you didn't play it any other week, you played your best football against Notre Dame and against Michigan and against Ohio State.

COACH WILLINGHAM: I think so, but they were probably hidden for a large part of my athletic career. I think they slowly emerged about my junior year at Michigan State; that that's something I was really actively seeking, and Coach Rogers at that time was a huge participant of that because I did my brother and sistership under his tutelage.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, it's a little bit different than the experience I had a few years ago when we played in the Bowl game. With this experience, because of the way you travel and the way you play the game, you don't have the encounters that you had in the Bowl game. The Bowl game, you get a chance to visit with old friends and really kind of sit down and go through some memories. In this case, it's just go in, play the game, hopefully win and then you're back out of town.

COACH WILLINGHAM: No.

COACH WILLINGHAM: I think that question has kind of a larger answer to it. I didn't necessarily know if I would ever be a head coach. My goal was to do absolutely the best I could, and if we created those kind of opportunities, then you take advantage of them. You have those thoughts, but what I look towards is just being best I could be.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, as you know, I don't dare go into that. I knew it, but no, I won't touch on any of that.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, I think you could probably go the other way and say that Ryan Grant was a touchdown. I mean, so you guys maybe a little bit of -- I don't spend much time on either one of those, but I will make this statement. I think the officials do a great job in a game that is probably faster that be the human eye can stay with. I think that's why the NFL has gone to the replay, to kind of help them be able to regular regulate the game, but I think the officials do a great job. I think this game, with the size of the young men and the speed of which they play is faster than most of us can keep up with, and I have the luxury of knowing the play and sometimes can't keep up with what's going on.

COACH WILLINGHAM: I think it's prohibitive because of the cost to all of the teams around the country. Are there some major programs that could probably do that? Yes. But at the same time, I'm a fan of the human factor, okay. I think that's what makes it autumn so interesting, whether it's the coaching and the coaching personalities on the sideline or the officials, their involvement or the player and their mistake, I think that's what makes college football so fantastic, that human element.

COACH WILLINGHAM: I wouldn't dwell upon it.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Probably not.

COACH WILLINGHAM: (Laughs.) But you said it was easy, so you already answered the question.

COACH WILLINGHAM: It's probably a little bit of both. But in that particular case, I had no idea if we would get an opportunity for a field goal, so you can't factor that in. But at that time, what is the best situation? If you look at it statistically, it probably says two things about five points. It probably says kick early and go for two points or something to that effect. It could be fourth quarter, it could be early, late, depending on how the game is going, so I think you have to factor all that in.

COACH WILLINGHAM: It's a great term. It's a great term.

COACH WILLINGHAM: You're getting good.

COACH WILLINGHAM: The whole process is really two things. Hopefully you would like to get an easy score from a two-point play, hopefully they fall asleep, usually you don't pay quite as much attention as you should, you don't respond as quickly as you should therefore, you may get an easy score out of it, an easy point. Then the other one is that if you do have a team that is very adept at rushing your kicks, that movement may be a little unsettling. So there's some thought process behind it.

COACH WILLINGHAM: I don't know the other option. The first thing is, again, there were limited options. But the other place that welcomed me as a walk-on was University of Toledo.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Yes. So I don't know if that would have came through. Maybe I might have stayed in North Carolina and went to a smaller school there.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, I also had Duffy my first year, and they all were amazingly different, all amazingly talented. And it was a great opportunity for me at that time. I had no idea I would probably be a coach. But it's a different school with different coaches there. They were all good, but different. Kenny was very intent, Darryl Rogers was very aloof, very casual. Mike (ph) was kind of probably a cross in between those, almost like a grandfather in terms of his approach, the way he saw things for young people.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, you always pay attention. I mean, that's my school. And occasionally, especially for the big games, the Michigan game, you have on your tee shirt under your coaching gear. So we always did those kind of things. But no, I paid attention.

COACH WILLINGHAM: It's probably going to be very difficult for them to not focus on it. Because I'm going to guess that in this room each of you will probably write a story about it, and they will read it; and therefore, it will be on their consciences. But we won't change the way we prepare. And that's the great thing about having a system, in good times and bad times, if you have a system you have confidence in, you can rely on that, you know where you should be, the things you should be doing and that gives you hopefully some stability, not only of action, but hopefully of a thought process. So that's what we'll work on. It will be another great week for us to go out and see if we can notch a victory. No Michigan State tee shirt this week. (Laughs).

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, when I hired Kent, I think that was back in '95, he had just been the coordinator at Arizona State, California and had an extensive experience as a coordinator; and therefore, I was overjoyed to have someone of that stature join our staff because I know that gave us great depth and great experience. So when the opportunity presented itself to change, okay, I rewarded, I think his efforts, acknowledging his experience with moving him to our defensive coordinator and he has done, in my opinion, an excellent job from that day forward and really did an excellent job as an assistant coach in charge of our line.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, I think you do all of the above. We did have a system that we liked, a lot of things that we were doing, but also some great things that were being done here at Notre Dame. So there for you try to incorporate those things that blend with your system and I think I said this before, that coaches do a great job at borrowing information from other coaches. So there's probably no totally pure system that belongs to just up with person or one group because it could be Monday night and we look up and see something that's going on with the NFL and you say, you know what, if we modify that it might work very well with our system and our young men. So you are constantly trying to change and adjust to make sure you have the best thing to make your team be successful and Kenny has done a great job with that.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, he's doing very well. His recovery is going well, and I don't know if I could say he's on pace because I don't know exactly what that pace is. What we were interested in is just getting him healthy, and it's not necessary that he play right now. If he proves to be the best player, then we'll play him.

COACH WILLINGHAM: I would think that is a great thing because you have to have great players to have a great team. And they don't have to be that -- it doesn't have to be that a great player cannot fit within a team structure. I think probably most of the great players have come out of strong team structures, and our team is no different. We want great players. If we can have players that can win every award that is offered in the country, still be 12-0 and the National Champion, that would be absolutely fantastic to me.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Yes, you're always interested in how they are doing, especially if we have to play them.

COACH WILLINGHAM: I am of the mindset that really what happened to Michigan State was probably they were looking ahead, and that's something that all coaches guard against, regardless of how good or how much you try to prepare them not to; young people do that sometimes. So the Michigan State team that we'll see will not be the one that played last weekend.

COACH WILLINGHAM: I would think it is his running skills; that he seems to be more confident, and as he becomes more confident, he becomes -- he sees things a lot better with that confidence. So his reaction is better. His readability is better, allows him to be more aggressive in his play.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Gosh, that one, I don't know. Because I think there were some great qualities that this team already had and to say whether they have taken on my qualities, I don't know that.

COACH WILLINGHAM: There's nothing that's made me feel like an outsider. I think this is a football community that loves football, and we share that. So I felt like at home from day one.

COACH WILLINGHAM: There's probably a few of those that still happen.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Got no specifics, but it does occur every now and then.

COACH WILLINGHAM: The thing is, it's not just Rogers. The quarterback is very good. Probably one of the better quarterbacks in this part of the country and the country in general. The tight end is another outstanding player. And the running game, I think they have got a runner that's averaging pretty hefty in his yardage. So the combination is what makes them as an offensive team most difficult to defend. Usually you can match you pretty well, unless you have obvious weaknesses, but it's when they have a multiple system that is effective. They are running well, the quarterback makes good decisions and they have the excellent big-time receiver. That makes them extremely definitely.

COACH WILLINGHAM: I think he's continuing to get better. He's doing an excellent job -- I think that's been indicated. He may be able to help the quarterback on Saturday. I think it was his holding, or the holding call on him that allowed us to get the safety which was a big play and major contribution to us winning the football game.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, I will take his assessment as he says he's a long way, but he's just got to grow, and I say that -- but I mean, grow in the game. Until you play it, there's so much that you don't understand about it. You can be in it every day, but until you actually play the game, there's so many little things that now he'll begin to factor in: Down and distance, certain releases, things that happen that now mentally he'll gradually begin to be better and better and better; and therefore, the physical talent that he has will express itself.

COACH WILLINGHAM: That is always a dangerous position to be in, and I think every coach around the country fears that at some point during the season. But what we will try to do is be very consistent in all we do, consistent in the manner we work, consistent in our schedule, consistent in how we talk to your young men. And that conversation has started well before the season; that to date, we have not placed any game any larger than any other game. We understand that each victory takes us on the course of where we want to go.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, the thoughts are the same, but obviously when you have players of that caliber, okay, there is in most cases a difference. Jeff Faine is obviously I think the best center in the country, and I don't know if the next guy is of that level. But at the same time, you expect him to come in and be prepared and make a strong contribution to the team being successful; and that thought process, we don't change.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, that's the difficult thing in the manner he that we practice because of the fact that it's a limited number of repetitions that we take, you can't get everyone the reps that would be necessary to play the game. That's why that player has to do more on his own in terms of visualizing and working through the play of the other player during practice. So it's an important skill that they have to learn.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Well, I've said all along I've been pleased with the progress of our offense. At some points we have not executed as we would like to, but the overall progress has been excellent and the job that Coach Diedrick and our offensive coaches have done, I won't say it borderlines on being fantastic because we still have a lot of ground to cover. But at the same time I think it's been a very solid job to bring our offense to a point where it has the potential at some point to really be explosive.

COACH WILLINGHAM: No, I haven't. But it's something that we try to work on every day to ensure that we don't get those. It's just basically built into the structure of our practice.

COACH WILLINGHAM: I thought he did come back.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Later in the ballgame.

COACH WILLINGHAM: No, I don't think so.

COACH WILLINGHAM: You can't -- and Coach Baer, I think hit it right on the nose. Even though having knowledge of how something takes place doesn't allow you to really experience it. You have to have that experience. The overall Notre Dame experience, the intensity of it, yes, I knew of it, but it's greater and larger than what you perceive from the outside.

COACH WILLINGHAM: No. Not just one thing.

COACH WILLINGHAM: I sit down and watch SportsCenter, the 6:30 edition. (Laughter).

COACH WILLINGHAM: That's as soon as I get home.

COACH WILLINGHAM: That's about it. Isn't that enough?

COACH WILLINGHAM: You're welcome.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Terrible. (Laughter).

COACH WILLINGHAM: I think terrible is as descriptive as you can get. (Laughter).

COACH WILLINGHAM: I just wasn't any good. (Laughter).

COACH WILLINGHAM: I enjoy recruiting athletes that play a variety of sports. I think because in most cases you get a young man that is truly gifted and truly talented, and that's what we want in our program, truly talented individuals. The difficulty of the situation lies in how that young man can balance his academics at university more so than it does balance the athletics. So, no, I love having those individuals in our program, but you have to work with them to make sure that they can balance the academics.

COACH WILLINGHAM: I think it was. And honestly, I can't remember all of that, and I don't even try. But if you can document it, I'll accept it.

COACH WILLINGHAM: You know what, I don't remember. And I apologize for that. But it's just something that for me, I don't spend a lot of time -- and it kind of relates to the other question I had earlier about reminiscing, I don't spend a lot of time reminiscing. I much prefer to go forward. But if it was 11 assists and that seems like a great number, then, gosh, maybe I was a little better than I thought.

COACH WILLINGHAM: You're always concerned, especially as it relates to those that are contributed by sacks. We don't want our quarterback sacked because at some point, that means you probably give up what I call a free runner, and that's a guy that just nobody blocks and he's got a free hit at your quarterback and knows the kind of hit that catches your quarterback by surprise that usually result in injury. So we are always very concerned about that and want to see if we can protect him even better, or at least to the point where we don't have any sacks.

COACH WILLINGHAM: We have always said it's a combination. Because what a lot of people don't see sometimes is that maybe a receiver runs a route too deep and the quarterback has to hold the ball; that's something most people cannot see. Maybe a back makes a poor decision on his blocking responsibility. Maybe the line just has a breakdown. Maybe the quarterback is slow with a decision. Maybe it's all of the above.

COACH WILLINGHAM: No. I don't worry about that. That's something that we can't control. What we recognize is that Michigan State is a about football team. As a matter of fact, they are a very good football team. I think in most of the preseason poles, they were probably suggested to be the Big 10 champion. So we know they are a great team. They have great players, a Heisman Trophy candidate in the wide receiver. The quarterback is one of the top quarterbacks in the conference. So this is an excellent team, and Michigan State has always played physical defense. And of course, we know, having been at Michigan State, I know the mindset that they will bring into this game when playing Notre Dame.

COACH WILLINGHAM: Yes, I think I've met him. I'm not sure that my association was very close, but I did remember, I think meeting him, yes.

COACH WILLINGHAM: You're asking about team discipline?

COACH WILLINGHAM: Okay. I think my philosophy is kind of, hopefully fits my personality, but also, learned from the experiences I've had with other coaches, how they have done things and tried to determine what is the best way to do things. Also, I incorporate some of my life in this -- and I say some of my life, when I make reference to my own kids, I think when you have teenagers, you learn that the Willingham Way, as some people might describe in life, or the way of a parent is not always the right way to go. But you have to have some flexibility in all that you do in young people. So I think in our program, we do have some flexibility in terms of the things we asked them to do and the structure of our program that hopefully allows them to be themselves, but you have to understand at the same time, you have to understand the sacrifices that you have to make to be a part of a team.

COACH WILLINGHAM: To be very honest, those comments won't register very high on my mind. I won't pay very much attention to them. As long as we can keep doing what we're doing, I'm perfectly comfortable with anything that they write about us.