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Tyrone Willingham |
| Tyrone Willingham | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Title | Head Coach | |
| College | Washington | |
| Sport | Football | |
| Team record | 11–36 | |
| Born | December 30, 1953 | |
| Place of birth | Kinston, North Carolina | |
| Career highlights | ||
| Overall | 76–87–1 | |
| Bowls | 1–5 | |
| Coaching stats | ||
| College Football DataWarehouse | ||
| Championships | ||
| 1 | ||
| Awards | ||
| 2002 Coach of the Year 2008 American Football Coaches Association President |
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| Playing career | ||
| 1975-77 | Michigan State | |
| Position | QB / WR | |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | ||
| 1977 1978-79 1980-1982 1983-1985 1986-88 1989-91 1992-94 1995-2001 2002-2004 2005-2008 |
Michigan State (GA) Central Michigan (DB) Michigan State (DB/ST) NC State (DB/ST) Rice (WR/ST) Stanford (RB) Minnesota Vikings (RB) Stanford Notre Dame Washington |
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Lionel Tyrone Willingham, or Ty Willingham (born December 30, 1953 in Kinston, North Carolina) is the terminated head football coach at the University of Washington. He is one of only a few African American head coaches in major college football. On October 27, 2008, the University of Washington announced that he will not be retained as head coach after the completion of Washington's 2008 football season.1
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A football/baseball player and 1977 graduate of Michigan State University with a degree in physical education, Willingham held assistant coaching positions at his alma mater (1977, 1980–82), as well as at Central Michigan (1978–79), North Carolina State (1983–85), Rice (1986–88), and Stanford (1989–91). When Stanford Coach Dennis Green was hired as the Minnesota Vikings head coach in 1992, Willingham followed him as running backs coach (1992–94).
Following the 1994 season, Willingham was appointed head coach of the football program at Stanford. In his seven seasons (1995–2001) as coach, he led the Cardinal to a 44–36–1 record, a Pac-10 conference championship and four bowl game appearances, including the 2000 Rose Bowl. His 44 wins were the most by a Stanford coach coach since John Ralston who left the school after the 1971 season. On December 31, 2001, Willingham was hired as head coach at Notre Dame.2
Willingham began the 2002 season by going 8–0, becoming the only first-year coach in Notre Dame history to win 10 games. For his efforts he was named the ESPN/Home Depot College Coach of the Year,3 the Scripps College Coach of the Year, the Black Coaches Association Male Coach of the Year and the George Munger Award College Coach of the Year by the Maxwell Football Club.4
In the 2002 regular-season finale, ND was defeated by arch-rival Southern Cal, 44–13, and was outgained 610–109 -- the worst such margin in school history.5 That loss knocked ND from a likely Bowl Championship Series berth down to the Gator Bowl -- where they were summarily routed by North Carolina State, 28-6.6
The 2003 team finished 5–7 and was beaten badly in four of those losses, getting shut out twice in one season for the first time since 1960 and finishing with a point differential of 243-3157 -- the worst of any Fighting Irish team since the 2–8 team of 1956.
In 2004, Notre Dame posted a 6–5 record in the regular season, including a 41–16 loss to Purdue (ND's only home loss to PU since 1974, and the second-worst home loss ever to PU) and ending with Willingham's third consecutive loss to the University of Southern California for his fifth loss by 30 points or more, and eighth by 22 points or more, in his three seasons. The following Tuesday, November 30, after an overall record in South Bend of 21–15, Notre Dame terminated Willingham as head coach.8 Defensive coordinator Kent Baer served as acting head coach for the Insight Bowl, a 38–21 loss to Oregon State.
On December 13, 2004, Willingham was hired as the new head coach at Washington, succeeding Keith Gilbertson. The Huskies returned 19 of 22 starters from the previous season, in which they had gone 1-10 (0-8 in conference play). As chance would have it, Willingham found himself facing his former team on September 24, 2005. Notre Dame prevailed, 36–17. His first season at Washington ended with a 2–9 record (1–7 in conference play, tied for 9th place), capped by a scuffle after a close loss to Washington State that left Willingham "embarrassed" and vowing that it would not happen again.9
His 2006 Washington team started October with a 4–1 record, with its most notable victory a stunning 29–19 upset over previously undefeated UCLA, before losing its next 6 games after starting quarterback Isaiah Stanback suffered a season ending foot injury in a loss to Oregon State in their sixth game. The Huskies ended the season at 5–7 (3–6 in conference play, 9th place), this time defeating state rival Washington State University (WSU) by 3 points. This win held WSU from defeating the Huskies for three years in a row, something the team has been unable to do in the history of the century-long rivalry.
The 2007 Washington Huskies football team faced what a preseason CBS Sports opinion piece called "the toughest schedule in the country" 10 Washington went on to a 4–9 record overall (2–7 in conference play, 10th place) with wins against Syracuse, Boise State, Stanford University, and California. There was considerable debate after the season was over about whether Willingham should be fired as no other coach in the history of the program has had three straight losing seasons. 11 In the end, it was decided that he would return for the upcoming season with the expectation that the team become more competitive. Man, was that ever a mistake...12
The 2008 season started off inauspiciously with #21 Oregon soundly beating Washington 44–10. This marked the first time Oregon had ever beaten Washington five times in a row in the history of the century-long rivalry.13 The second game against #15 BYU was a nail biter and Washington scored the final touchdown in the final minute. The PAT would have tied the game, however an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was called against Jake Locker (QB) who had thrown the ball up in the air in celebration after scoring the touchdown. This moved the PAT attempt to 35 yards which was blocked and the BYU escaped with a 28–27 victory. The third game was a sound beating (55–14) by the #3 Oklahoma Sooners, giving the overmatched Huskies their greatest margin of defeat at home since 1929.14 In the fourth game, the Huskies lost to Stanford leaving them as the only team in a BCS conference without a victory. The Huskies were without a sack leaving them as the only school without a sack at this point of the season.citation needed It was the second 0–4 start in the last 5 years and only the fourth time ever in the history of the program. In the fifth game, Arizona put Washington away early and ended with a 48–14 wipeout of the Dawgs. This was the biggest margin of victory by Arizona over Washington ever. The 0–5 start was the second time in the history of the program. The Huskies had a flat performance in their sixth game to lose to Oregon State 34–13. This was the fifth consecutive loss to the Beavers, something that had never happened in the long history of the series.15 Game 7 was another loss versus his former team Notre Dame. The Huskies were nearly shutout in suffering a 33–7 loss that left them 0–7 and not eligible for a bowl game yet again. Game 8 was a shutout by powerful USC, with USC playing second stringers and walk-ons by the latter part of the game. At 0–11, Tyrone is the only coach without a win in FBS, and the owner of a 13 game losing streak stretching from the last season. In trying to explain the loss to 1–10 WSU, Tyrone blamed Rick Neuheisel.
On October 27, 2008, seven games into the 2008 season, Willingham announced that his contract was being terminated and he would be leaving UW after the regular season. 1 Tyrone's firing was long anticipated as in the 4 years at Washington, he had never gone to a bowl game, his teams had never been higher than tied for 9th in Pac10 standings and were never in the top 20. Statistically, Tyrone is the worst coach in Husky History. Due to his attitude and personality, he is also the most unpopular coach of all time. Historically, Tyrone is one of the worst head football coaches in Pac-10 history.
Willingham attended Jacksonville Senior High School in Jacksonville, North Carolina and lettered in football, basketball, and baseball.citation needed The school is now known as Jacksonville High School.
Willingham currently serves as President on the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Board of Trustees. Willingham is married and has three children, Cassidy, Kelsey and Nathaniel, with his wife, Kim. Cassidy was a gymnast at the University of Denver from 2003 to 2006
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl | Rank# | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stanford Cardinal (Pac-10) (1995–2001) | |||||||||
| 1995 | Stanford | 7–4–1 | 5–4 | 4th | L 19–13 Liberty Bowl | ||||
| 1996 | Stanford | 7–5 | 5–3 | 3rd | W 38–0 Sun Bowl | ||||
| 1997 | Stanford | 5–6 | 3–5 | T–7th | |||||
| 1998 | Stanford | 3–8 | 2–6 | T–8th | |||||
| 1999 | Stanford | 8–4 | 7–1 | 1st | L 17–9 Rose Bowl | 24 | |||
| 2000 | Stanford | 5–6 | 4–4 | 4th | |||||
| 2001 | Stanford | 9–3 | 6–2 | T–2nd | L 21–14 Seattle Bowl | 17 | |||
| Stanford: | 44–36–1 | 32–25 | |||||||
| Notre Dame Fighting Irish (Independent) (2002–2004) | |||||||||
| 2002 | Notre Dame | 10–3 | — | L 28–6 Gator Bowl | 17 | ||||
| 2003 | Notre Dame | 5–7 | — | ||||||
| 2004 | Notre Dame | 6–5 | — | ||||||
| Notre Dame: | 21–15 | ||||||||
| Washington Huskies (Pac-10) (2005–present) | |||||||||
| 2005 | Washington | 2–9 | 1–7 | 10th | |||||
| 2006 | Washington | 5–7 | 3–6 | 9th | |||||
| 2007 | Washington | 4–9 | 2–7 | 10th | |||||
| 2008 | Washington | 0–11 | 0–8 | 10th | |||||
| Washington: | 11–36 | 6–27 | |||||||
| Total: | 76–87–1 | ||||||||
| National Championship Conference Title Conference Division Title | |||||||||
| †Indicates BCS bowl game. #Rankings from final Coaches Poll of the season. | |||||||||
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