In addition, it reduces the number of African-American Division I-A head coaches to two -- a travesty considering the 117 positions available. Perhaps more importantly, it might very well serve as the death knell for college football at Notre Dame as we know it.

The two characteristics that have long distinguished the Notre Dame football program, tradition and academic excellence, could both be in serious jeopardy.

Notre Dame has stood out from its dominant college football brethren for its unyielding view that its players maintain the integrity of that complicated compound noun, "student-athlete." While admission requirements for athletes are stretched somewhat, to the same extent they are for children of faculty and staff at the university, they still remain higher than nearly all I-A schools, with Stanford, Northwestern and Duke being perhaps the only exceptions. None of those schools has as iconic a football legacy to live up to, or plays such a rigorous independent schedule.

It is to Notre Dame?s credit that they rank consistently in the top ten for football graduation rates, and often in the top five. As recently as 2001 they had a phenomenal year, with a 100% football graduation rate. Unfortunately, they went 5-6 on the field during what would be Bob Davie?s last season, ushering in the era of change that has seen Willingham?s ceremonious arrival and equally ignominious departure.

Hired on the heels of George O?Leary?s embarrassing resignation due to a resume debacle, Willingham was viewed as a leader that exemplified all that was right about Notre Dame football. He seemed to possess both the football acumen and the unshakable integrity that have characterized legendary Irish head coaches from Frank Leahy to Lou Holtz. As his immediate predecessor, Davie certainly didn?t leave an insurmountable legacy. In his first three seasons, Davie compiled a 21-16 record, nearly identical to Willingham?s 21-15 mark at his termination.

Notre Dame posted a 10-2 record in his dramatic inaugural season while playing with house money, the enthusiasm Willingham brought to the program and little else. Although exciting to watch, fans and school officials alike had to admit reluctantly that there would be a return to earth, which 2003?s 5-7 mark certainly was.

Despite a mediocre 6-5 record this year, it looked at moments like Willingham might have put in place enough skilled recruits, such as Brady Quinn, for his system to reap big dividends in the future. In a season of mixed fortunes that included upset wins over top ten programs Michigan and Tennessee and crushing defeats of over 25 points to Purdue and USC, Notre Dame seemed to show flashes of brilliance. Whether they were simply overachieving or displaying signs of enormous potential under Willingham is something that can now only be speculated.

Realistically, though, what could Notre Dame administrators have expected? Willingham inherited from Davie a program that had failed to recruit the kind of players necessary to compete on the national stage, yet was thrust into the spotlight on a weekly basis, thanks to its exclusive and obscenely hyped NBC television deal.

As offensive and off-base as Paul Hornung?s comments were this spring regarding relaxing Notre Dame?s admission requirements for certain athletes, one has to wonder if they didn?t somewhat hit home with school officials. What else could be their rationale for firing a head coach that exemplified everything the school used to be about?

Ty Willingham would certainly have succeeded in keeping Notre Dame?s integrity intact, but it is almost equally certain that he would finish his tenure with a mark that closely resembled Davie?s 35-25 career record. Fatalistic as it may seem, the era of Notre Dame?s Catch-22 of exacting academic standards and on field excellence might be coming to a close.

College football fans, particularly those that live and die with the Irish on Saturday afternoons, should begin to wonder about the direction of this country?s most storied football program. In an era in which accusations of scandal seem as prevalent as bowl game births, Notre Dame has long held its head high about being above the "football factories" that mark the college landscape. Notre Dame players don?t enroll in three credit courses on football taught by the coaching staff, nor are their closets bursting with an obscene number of fur coats for anyone not named P. Diddy.

Despite this air of superiority, Notre Dame?s actions this week are perfectly in-step with the marching order of the college football elite. Tasking a head coach with the responsibility for rebuilding a long, proud tradition, and dismissing that coach 60% into his contract is just the kind of move that defines so much of what is wrong with the current state of the college game. It didn?t used to define Notre Dame.

Bill Palmer is a college football fan who's never pulled for Notre Dame, but is going to start pulling for Ty Willingham. He welcomes responses of all kinds at wmwarrpalmer@hotmail.com