NOTRE DAME FIRING Irish players defend Willingham

The coach said he didn't meet expectations and it made him vulnerable.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -- Tyrone Willingham blamed himself Wednesday for his firing as Notre Dame coach, saying he failed to meet the school's expectations of producing an elite team.
But Willingham, whose three-year tenure was the shortest of any non-interim coach at the school in 70 years, wouldn't say whether he was given enough time to turn the storied program back into a football power.
"I don't get into what's fair and what's not fair. I am an optimist by nature, but I am also a realist, and that makes you deal with the events as they occur," he said. "So I will deal with the events."
Willingham was fired Tuesday with three years remaining on his initial six-year contract after going 21-15. Notre Dame had made a tradition of allowing its coaches to at least work through the length of their first contract.
"I understand that I did not meet the expectations and standards I set for myself and this program," he said. "When you don't meet your own expectations you make yourself vulnerable to the will of others. So today I am no longer the head football coach at Notre Dame."
Players upset
His players, though, left no doubt they thought three years wasn't enough time for Willingham.
"Think about it," quarterback Brady Quinn said. "It's not even allowing one of his recruiting classes to get all the way through."
The hardest part about being fired for Willingham is leaving Notre Dame without meeting the goals he set and leaving behind the players he recruited.
He said there is just one thing he wished he had done differently.
"Win. That's it," he said.
Willingham knew some discussions about his job were under way Sunday, but said he was still surprised by the firing.
The university's outgoing and incoming presidents, the provost, the executive vice president, athletic director Kevin White and two board of trustee members met Monday night and Tuesday and decided it was time to fire Willingham.
Keeping quiet
Willingham, the first black head coach at Notre Dame, was asked if he had any thoughts on the number of black head coaches in Division I-A being reduced from five to two.
"Plenty, but none of them will be discussed now," he said.
Willingham said he will take a "moment" to decide what he will do next.
The Notre Dame players voted Wednesday to play in the Insight Bowl in Phoenix on Dec. 28 with defensive coordinator Kent Baer as interim coach. The school had already accepted the invitation, but wanted to make sure the players' hearts were in it.