I sincerely hope that a segment of Notre Dame alumni and boosters and current students are satisfied. I understand that not everyone associated with the school feels this way, but that loud, vociferous bunch has gotten their wish.

The man that many did not want to be coach will be coach no more. Tyrone Willingham was fired on Tuesday after going 21-15 in three years.

Notre Dame, the school that had never released a coach before the completion of his first contract, has now done so. This is a radical shift in thinking and in action for the Fighting Irish, made all the more curious thanks to the comments by Athletic Director Kevin White.

White, who hired Willingham, said, "In a lot of ways, this program hasn't been this healthy in a long time."

But that wasn't enough for the Golden Domers, because only one thing truly matters in the end: wins and losses.

In his first three years, Bob Davie went 21-16. He had taken over a program from Lou Holtz, who had won a national championship. Willingham then inherited the program from Davie, and went 21-15.

Willingham, however, was the victim of expectations, both external and internal. Fans looked to Norman, OK and Columbus, OH and Los Angeles, CA and saw coaches winning (or sharing) national titles within their second and third year at the new school. They looked at Bowling Green, OH and Salt Lake City and saw Urban Meyer winning game after game with perceived lesser talent and name recognition.

However, what the fans at Notre Dame, and at Penn State and Nebraska fail to recognize is that the landscape of the game has changed. The power has shifted from a handful of schools, and the talent has distributed itself all across the country. Great skill players live in Florida, Texas and California, giving schools in those regions a recruiting advantage. The scholarship limit has allowed talented players to go to such diverse outposts as Louisville, Boise State, Miami (OH) and Utah.

Programs go through cycles. There are upswings and downswings all the time. Yes, Willingham was 11-14 in his last 25 games after an electric start with Bob Davie's players. But his offense would have been in place for a fourth year, and he was returning with Brady Quinn, who has been the starter for a season and a half now.

The team was inconsistent, but they did have flashes of brilliance. With one more year to recruit, I think Notre Dame would have turned a lot of heads next year with Willingham. Now? We'll never know.

There is, of course, the 800 pound gorilla in the room when discussing what went down at Notre Dame, and the number I present to you is two. That is the number of African-American head coaches in Division 1football (combined 1-A and 1-AA): Karl Dorrell of UCLA and Sly Croom of Mississippi State.

To think that race is not a part of this is to be naive. Like it or not, race is always a factor when it comes to sports. Willingham was the first African-American head coach at Notre Dame. For him to be terminated before getting the full run of his contract-while other Caucasian coaches were allowed to serve their full four or five year with lesser winning percentages-tarnishes that golden dome somewhat.

In any case, no matter what the factors, this is a sad day in college football. Willingham will land on his feet somewhere, perhaps back at Stanford. Notre Dame will get a coach again, whether it is Urban Meyer or someone else.

But Notre Dame has lost something that may be bigger than games on the field. They have lost some respect from people around the country. Because with all of the glory, and the mystique, and the national television contracts and all of the hype, the one thing that Notre Dame had was the belief that you honored a commitment and you showed patience.

Now? Notre Dame is just another football factory that appears bitter, irrational and impatient. And negative images certainly last longer than positive ones.