By Noah Amstadter

Sports Editor

Tyrone Willingham didn't say much about the social significance of his new job. He didn't have to; his presence said it all.

When Tyrone Willingham stepped to the Monogram Room podium on Tuesday, the 48-year old North Carolina native became the first African-American head coach of any sport in Notre Dame history.

"It [possibly paving the way for more African-American coaches] has been important to me because part of my philosophy is that there's a greater good, that we're out there to benefit not just yourself, that's important, but to benefit others," Willingham said. "So is this significant? Yes. I say it is significant. But I am first and foremost a football coach at the University of Notre Dame."

Willingham later denied that being an African-American coach at Notre Dame was a "major issue". But while Willingham and Notre Dame administrators stressed that Willingham was hired not because of his race but his coaching credentials, the fact that an African-American now occupies one of the most high-profile coaching positions in American has not gone unnoticed.

"Fifty-four years after Jackie Robinson did it, we're breaking another barrier," Jesse Jackson told the South Bend Tribune on Monday. "This is a victory for colleges everywhere. If Notre Dame could do it, it will set a standard for the nation."

The barrier Jackson refers to is the lack of African-American head coaches in NCAA Division I-A football. According to data compiled by the Rainbow/Push Wall Street project, a group that looks to improve minority advancement in the sports industry, of the 156 Division I football head coaching jobs that have opened up since 1992, only 12 were filled with African-Americans.

As of Tuesday only four Division I coaches — Willingham, Michigan State's Bobby Williams, Franz Hill at San Jose State and New Mexico State's Tony Samuel — were African-American. Charles Farrell, the director of Rainbow Sports, told ESPN.com on Monday that he thinks Willingham's hiring will open up doors.

"Notre Dame was obviously not going to pick a coach — black or white — who didn't have previous success," Farrell said. "But we think that there are other successful black coaches in Division I-A and Division I-AA that will now be looked at. They will be able to get interviews more easily and if they can get interviews, they can get jobs."

Notre Dame received permission from Stanford to talk to Willingham before choosing to hire George O'Leary. White chose to go with O'Leary because of the Georgia Tech coach's natural fit for the program. Jackson thinks that Willingham was always the more qualified candidate and that Notre Dame got its due reward when the former Georgia Tech coach resigned after revelations that he falsified his athletic and academic accomplishments.

"Notre Dame chose less than the best and they got embarrassed," Jackson said.

Last fall, the Black Coaches Association sent out a list of 52 qualified African-American head coaching candidates to all college football programs — a list including Willingham, Williams and many high-profile assistant coaches.

"This is a classic example of taking the initiative and showing leadership by making this appointment," Bob Minnix, Florida State's associate athletic director and the president of the Black Coaches Association, said in a release. "Hopefully it sets a tone that a lot of outstanding minority coaches are out there - Tyrone Willingham is just one of many. Perhaps it will set the tone for other universities to give consideration to other worthy minority candidates."

But despite Willingham's hire and the efforts of the BCA, some high-profile black assistant coaches don't expect a rapid influx of black head coaches.

"I think it would open some more opportunities," Nebraska quarterbacks coach Turner Gill told the Chicago Tribune Monday. "I don't think it's going to be a floodgate of African-American coaches. Hopefully, presidents and athletic directors take a little deeper look at minorities at a lot of universities—head coaches and coordinators."

Notre Dame President Father Edward Malloy also stressed that Willingham was hired not because of his race but his essential characteristics. But Malloy was quick to point out that Willingham's hiring fits within Notre Dame's mission to create a multi-cultural environment.

"Universities, and this university in particular, have been working very hard on being a very high-quality, multi-cultural environment and in my administration we have a number of outstanding people that have been added to the university community to help bring us in that direction," Malloy said. "There's no doubt in my mind that Tyrone will be a tremendous asset."

In the end, it all comes down to wins and losses and as Farrell astutely pointed out, the more success Willingham has at Notre Dame, the greater the benefit for both the Irish and the African-American coaching community.

"The best thing Tyrone can do for other African-American head coaches waiting in the wings is do the same thing he did at Stanford, win," Farrell said.

E-mail Noah Amstadter at namstadt@nd.edu.

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