I guess nothing says success like lying about lettering at New Hampshire and getting a masters degree there. What an idiot! http://espn.go.com/ncf/news/2001/1214/1295624.html <b>Academic, athletic irregularities force resignation</b> <i>SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- George O'Leary has resigned as Notre Dame's football coach after problems with claims about both his academic and athletic background were uncovered. ESPN.com's Tom Farrey has learned that, according to New York University, O'Leary never earned a master of science degree in education from the school, as claimed in this year's Georgia Tech football media guide. An assistant registrar at NYU as well as a clerk said that O'Leary attended the school of education for two semesters from Sept. 1970 to June 1971, taking one course each semester, but never completed his degree. Jack Reale, O'Leary's attorney, confirmed to ESPN.com that O'Leary never received a master's degree. Reale said O'Leary told him that he completed 39 hours toward his master's degree, but did not indicate where those 39 hours were achieved. Thursday, it was reported that O'Leary overstated his playing career at the University of New Hampshire. "Due to a selfish and thoughtless act many years ago, I have personally embarrassed Notre Dame, its alumni and fans," O'Leary said in a statement released by the school Friday. The statement offered no specifics as to the act. O'Leary never earned a letter playing football at New Hampshire even though his biography says he earned three. In fact, he never played in a game. "The integrity and credibility of Notre Dame is impeccable, and with that in mind, I will resign my position as head football coach effective Dec. 13, 2001." Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White released a statement Friday morning: "George has acknowledged inaccuracies in his biographical materials, including his academic background," White's statement said. "I understand that these inaccuracies represent a very human failing; nonetheless, they constitute a breach of trust that makes it impossible for us to go forward with our relationship," White said. The search for a new coach will begin immediately, White said. O'Leary, who left Georgia Tech on Sunday to become coach of the Irish, is listed in his biography in the Georgia Tech media guide as a three-time letter-winner at New Hampshire at offensive line and fullback. It also was included in a biography handed out by Notre Dame after his hiring to replace Bob Davie was announced Sunday. But O'Leary went to New Hampshire only for two years, and never made it into a game. O'Leary transferred to New Hampshire after two years at the University of Dubuque in Iowa. He said he was on the New Hampshire team in 1967 and 1968, but was unable to play his first year because of mononucleosis, and did not play his second year because of a knee injury. "It sounds like at some point somebody in our (sports information) business put that in there and it wasn't right. Who knows why?" John Heisler, Notre Dame's associate athletic director, said Thursday. "There was no intent to deceive anyone here. Somewhere along the line someone made a mistake." Though O'Leary has said he was not sure how the information got into his biography, a document obtained by The Union Leader of Manchester indicates he listed the information when hired as a coach at Syracuse University in 1980. According to the school's sports information department, coaches and athletes personally filled out the biographical forms. The newspaper reported Friday that O'Leary's documents lists "Univ. of New Hampshire -- 3 yr. lettered" as part of his athletic background. The sports information department at New Hampshire said it has no record of O'Leary on a football roster, and that it does not keep records of letter winners. O'Leary is listed as a 1968 graduate of New Hampshire with a degree in physical education.</i>
Why resign? That's just stupid. Who cares about a mistake made some 25 years ago. He could have kept his job. Goof ball. He didn't look the part anyway. He looked like bobby Cremins.
Will he be welcomed back at Georgia Tech? Damn, he lost his dream job over this youthful foolishness.
He had other issues, anyway. http://espn.go.com/columns/wojnarowski_adrian/1294704.html <I> Editor's note: ESPN.com's Adrian Wojnarowski wrote this story on Wednesday -- three days after O'Leary was hired and two days before he offered his resignation. His crime was missing a block, Dustin Vaitekunas tells you over the telephone. He let the defensive lineman past him, let him reach Georgia Tech's quarterback, and that tough, old Irishman, George O'Leary, had to teach him a lesson. New Notre Dame football coach George O'Leary as he walked into his introductory news conference. "A missed assignment," Vaitekunas says softly from his Cleveland home. "I forgot what I was supposed do." They want an educator for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, right? Well, they found one. O'Leary taught Vaitekunas a lesson. This was late September a year ago, late in the football life of a 6-foot-7, 315 pound lineman. Here, let Vaitekunas tell the story Notre Dame officials never bothered to call and hear for themselves. "We were running our gassers at the end of practice, the conditioning drill," Vaitekunas says. "I remember the players all turning to me. I couldn't hear him. He was talking to the team. They kept yelling, 'Dustin, go up there, go up there. The coach is asking for you.' I just remember asking, 'What do I do?' 'Just stand there,' they said." Four players started running for Vaitekunas, full speed, with a running start to gather momentum for the hit. They didn't just hit him, they obliterated him. "(O'Leary) tried to say those two guys pulled up," Vaitekunas says. "Two guys hit me. I mean, you can't get four guys to hit one person at the same time." He stayed down for 15 minutes. Doctors rushed to his side. Physical and emotional problems trailed him. His mother considered filing assault charges against O'Leary but let it go. Vaitekunas never returned to the football field. O'Leary stripped his love of the game, his dignity. And no, he will never play football again. He gave back his football scholarship, left Tech and now pays his way to Cleveland State University. This isn't ancient history, but just one year old. Notre Dame president Rev. Edward Malloy is a regular on various blue-ribbon committees to fix college sports. He should start with Notre Dame, where the legacy of Lou Holtz does little to portray the picture of a pristine program. Rev. Malloy insists he probed O'Leary carefully on this issue and was satisfied enough with the coach's explanation to call him "a person of integrity." "They never called me," Vaitekunas says. "But I wouldn't expect they would." This is Notre Dame's new football coach? There's a rule that college and high school coaches are told to follow, just so they don't go over the line with "teaching" these kids lessons: Never do anything to a player that you wouldn't want done to your own kid. "The bad thing about that is I think (O'Leary) would do it to his own son," Vaitekunas says. Notre Dame should be better than George O'Leary. They should be better than his 33 percent graduation rate for players entering his program in 1994, a rate far below the 69 percent for Tech's general student population. Notre Dame should be better than his 7-5 record and Seattle Bowl season, especially when Tech was expected to be a national championship contender. Notre Dame should be better than O'Leary, who has a hard time walking into your living room and telling you he's going to watch over your kid, when Dustin Vaitekunas has dropped out of school, quit football and goes to classes at Cleveland State without ever an apology from that self-proclaimed tough Irishman George O'Leary. "That was the only thing that bothered me in this whole situation: He was never held accountable for anything," Vaitekunas said. "That's the big issue I had with the whole thing. Nobody told him that this can't go on, that this isn't how you run a program. "The coaches just want to keep their jobs. They're willing to do almost anything, but they don't realize what they're doing sometimes. Students are just students. I don't think he would've apologized, because in our society that's an admission of guilt." Across the past 20 months of athletic director Kevin White's stewardship, Notre Dame has never been a bigger joke. The Fighting Irish couldn't lure Jon Gruden, Bob Stoops, Mike Bellotti or Tyrone Willingham. O'Leary wasn't near the top of the wish list, never mind the top choice. And anyway, how could White tell his administration he needed well over $2 million a season to hire a coach from the NFL when it was his bad judgment that gave Bob Davie a five-year extension that cost the school millions in Davie's buyout? Now, they hire George O'Leary. Now, they get the nation to shrug, move on and wonder how Notre Dame football could turn into something so secondary on the national landscape. This was the year people believe O'Leary was exposed without his offensive coordinator, Ralph Freidgen, who happens to the be the national coach of the year for Maryland. A past offensive lineman with inside knowledge of the program sure believes it. "Look at Maryland this year, and look what happened to Georgia Tech," Vaitekunas says. "That's all I have to say." Well, he had a little more to say, but Irish officials never bothered to call and hear him out. It's a shame. Before Notre Dame declared its new coach "a person of integrity," they should've talked to Dustin Vaitekunas and indulged him on the view of George O'Leary's football program when you're laying on your back, out cold, wondering about the next lesson this great educator will teach his student-athletes. Notre Dame was supposed to be better than this. They just seem like everyone else now.
I think it's more then mistakes made 25 years ago and youthful mistakes because more things are popping up. I'm guessing there is more things he is covering up, and after reading that article that Major posted O'Leary in my eyes is a piece of garbage.
Georgia Tech won't rehire O'Leary and if they do they suck! He left them once, what makes them sure he won't leave again?
That was funny. Notre Dame is screwed, who are they going to go after now. The Stanford guy will probably turn them down because they didn't hire him in the first place.
Ty Willingham would have been a better choice to begin with. He consistently overachieves with huge recruiting disadvantages. Now our coach is moving up on their wish list . He turned down Georgia Tech... let's hope the same for Notre Dame. I'm not a big Tom O'Brien fan, but he's won for three years in a row, which is hard at BC.
http://bbs.clutchcity.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=24420&highlight=obrien Maybe you can hire Greg Davis if he goes.
