O'Leary Stumbles Over a Bio-Hazard

By CHRIS DUFRESNE

Dec. 15, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The program whose “Four Horsemen” were once described as being “outlined against a blue, gray October sky” got hit with a thunderbolt Friday in a bizarre leadership rise-and-fall that progressed rapidly from O’Leary to O’Leery to O’Liar.

Less than a week after the nation’s most hallowed college football school had named Georgia Tech Coach George O’Leary to replace the fired Bob Davie, Notre Dame accepted O’Leary’s resignation late Thursday night, after it was revealed that the coach had fabricated biographical information about his playing and academic careers.

This connect-the-dots downfall started innocently enough when a newspaper reporter in New England, collecting anecdotal information about O’Leary’s playing days at the University of New Hampshire, learned that O’Leary had not played football there.

O’Leary’s biography in the Georgia Tech media guide listed him as a three-letter winner at New Hampshire. Questions raised by the Union Ledger in Manchester, N.H., on O’Leary’s background prompted Notre Dame officials to ask their new coach if there might be anything else they should know about his past.

O’Leary then confessed that he had not obtained a master’s degree from New York University in 1972, as claimed in the media guide information Notre Dame inherited from Georgia Tech.

According to NYU, O’Leary attended its school of education for two semesters in 1970 and 1971 but did not earn his degree.

“I regret that I did not call these facts to the attention of the university during their search,” O’Leary said in a statement released by Notre Dame on Friday. “It now seems, therefore, that in keeping with my philosophy of personal accountability for these errors, I resign my position and deeply apologize for any disappointment I have caused the university, my family and many friends.”

O’Leary said he had embellished his resume years ago to help him in the pursuit of his dream to become a major college football coach. O’Leary said he regrets not informing Notre Dame of that before he accepted the job last Saturday.

“These statements were never stricken from my resume or biographical sketch in later years,” O’Leary said.

Initially, Notre Dame appeared eager to dismiss information about O’Leary’s playing career as an innocuous mistake.

“It sounds like, at some point, somebody in our [sports information] business put that in there and it wasn’t right,” John Heisler, Notre Dame’s associate athletic director, told the Associated Press.

In fact, O’Leary had provided the information himself in 1980 while filling out a biographical form three months after he was hired as assistant football coach at Syracuse. O’Leary had written, “Univ. of New Hampshire--3 yr. lettered.”

O’Leary said this week that, after transferring from the University of Dubuque in Iowa, he was a member of the 1967 and ’68 football squads at New Hampshire but missed his first year because of mononucleosis and the second year because of a knee injury.

Steve Stapin, New Hampshire’s sports information director, said Friday the school does not have a letter-winning system.

“And as far as looking at rosters from those teams, he was not on our roster,” Stapin said of O’Leary.

Friday’s news rocked the Notre Dame family only five days after Athletic Director Kevin White had introduced O’Leary as Irish coach at a Sunday news conference in South Bend, Ind.

In introducing O’Leary, White had said, “I believe we’ve found a man who is ideally suited to become a part of Notre Dame, to energize our football program and to lead us, as someone once said, ‘onward to victory.”’

Unfortunately for White, it’s now onward to the next coaching search.

In one press snippet used by the Irish to promote the hiring, Georgia Tech quarterback George Godsey was quoted as saying of O’Leary: “He’s a man who’s going to be straight up with you.”

ESPN The Magazine had said of the hiring, “What you see is what you get with O’Leary.”

Well, apparently not.

“I understand that these inaccuracies represent a very human failing,” White said of O’Leary’s fabrications. “Nonetheless, they constitute a breach of trust that makes it impossible for us to go forward with our relationship.”

O’Leary was already immersed in his new position when his career took the drastic turn. O’Leary had met with Notre Dame players Wednesday, retained three Irish coaches and was doggedly trying to keep Irish recruits to their commitments.

There is now significant pressure on White to find a suitable replacement. It was White who extended Davie’s contract through 2005 last December, when the Irish advanced to the Fiesta Bowl.

In firing Davie on Dec. 2, the day after his team had beaten Purdue to finish 5-6, Notre Dame was forced to pay Davie $1 million as part of a buyout--$200,000 a year for five years. To hire O’Leary, Notre Dame also had to negotiate the terms of the $1.5-million buyout clause in the coach’s Georgia Tech contract.

What’s more, O’Leary wasn’t White’s first choice as a successor or a particular favorite among Notre Dame fans. After Davie’s firing, White hopped on a private jet and traversed the country in search of a new coach, turning to O’Leary only after Oakland Raider Coach Jon Gruden, Oregon’s Mike Bellotti and San Francisco 49er Coach Steve Mariucci all said they were not interested.

White asked for, and received, permission to speak with Stanford Coach Tyrone Willingham, but made a midweek beeline to Atlanta to open negotiations with O’Leary.

O’Leary, 55, is respected in his profession, having led Georgia Tech to five consecutive bowl appearances, but his 2001 team finished only 7-5 after being touted as a possible national title contender.

O’Leary also wasn’t the big-name hire many Irish fans had in mind. He never defeated Florida State, the Atlantic Coast Conference power, in his seven seasons at Georgia Tech, and lost his only game against Notre Dame, the 1997 season opener at South Bend in Davie’s Irish debut.

What does Notre Dame do now?

There will be pressure, both inside and outside the program, for the Irish to make another run at Gruden, who has two years left on his Raider contract but has long professed his love for Notre Dame football.

The South Bend Tribune reported last week that White made another run at Gruden last week, even after the Raider coach had announced he was no longer a candidate for the job.

In the end, though, Gruden reportedly was not willing to leave the Raiders during a playoff run, and Notre Dame felt it could not afford to wait for the end of a season that might not end until early February if the Raiders made the Super Bowl.

“The timing could be different this time,” a Notre Dame source said of Gruden.

White felt he needed to make a quick hire to shore up Notre Dame’s recruiting. However, this weekend begins a “no-contact” period with recruits that lasts until Jan. 3, meaning the Irish can be more deliberate in hiring the next coach.

The Notre Dame program, however, is in apparent disarray. Three assistant coaches were called off recruiting trips Friday after news of O’Leary’s resignation broke. One was reportedly recruiting in Southern California.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Notre Dame Football * Not So Gold Year

It has been a long year for Notre Dame football, from the Fiesta Bowl loss to Oregon State to the embarrassing resignation of George O’Leary. Here’s a look at Notre Dame’s year:

Jan. 1: Loses to Oregon State, 41-9, in Fiesta Bowl, ending 2000 season at 9-3.

July 25: At a news conference with coaches from the state of Indiana, Bob Davie says he has the most talented team since arriving at Notre Dame.

Aug. 11: Ranked No. 18 in AP preseason poll.

Sept. 8: Loses season opener, 27-10 at Nebraska.

Sept. 22: Loses to Michigan State, 17-10--a fifth consecutive loss to the Spartans.

Sept. 24: Matt LoVecchio loses starting quarterback job to Carlyle Holiday.

Sept. 29: Falls to 0-3--worst start in school history--with 24-3 loss to Texas A&M.;

Sept. 30: Students begin calling for Davie to be fired.

Oct. 6: Wins first game of season, 24-7, against Pittsburgh.

Oct. 20: Fans start wearing “Dump Davie” T-shirts at USC game, which Notre Dame wins, 27-16.

Oct. 27: Loses to Boston College, 21-17, and falls to 3-4.

Nov. 3: Falls to 3-5 after 28-18 loss to Tennessee.