The Backer — who actually broke the Ty story; more on that shortly — is all over the latest developments, including the fact that Willingham “will NOT be appearing at the 4:00 eastern press conference.” He also has photos, from Yahoo, of ND players leaving the Joyce Center after hearing the news.

Here I am, trying to post major breaking news about Ty Willingham’s firing, and my website goes down. Sorry. Damn you, Server35!!! Back up now, hopefully for good. (Knock on wood.)

Prof. Dutile (who is the faculty liaison to the athletic department, or some such thing), answering a student’s question about Ty Willingham’s firing: “It’s sad, from a personal perspective. He’s a fine person. He has the right goals, as a role model … On the other hand, at Notre Dame, you gotta win. That’s non-negotiable. I don’t know what else to say.”

Is Meyer next?

It’s official: “The University of Notre Dame announced today that Tyrone Willingham will not be retained as its head football coach.”

I guess that “Call For Change” rally is a bit superfluous now.

It’s official: “The University of Notre Dame announced today that Tyrone Willingham will not be retained as its head football coach.”

I guess that “Call For Change” rally is a bit superfluous now.

P.S. Nothing yet on Google News or ESPN. As a wise man once said, “You’re getting the inside scoop here at BrendanLoy.com!”

UPDATE: Now ESPN has it. Press conference at 4:00 PM.

This is quite possibly the least-paid-attention-to Torts class ever. I’ve gotten five or six IMs in the last ten minutes about Ty.

ANOTHER THOUGHT: This was kept under wraps remarkably well by the university. The first article about it on the Internet (not counting BrendanLoy.com) appears to have been the official press release. ESPN had the story on TV no more than a few minutes beforehand.

Now, two questions must be asked… Will Ty coach the Insight Bowl? And where is Urban Meyer right now? :)

UND.COM BROKE IT? According to the message boards at NDToday.com, the official press release on UND.com was already online by 1:27 PM at the latest. That’s several minutes before Chris’s friend IMed him with the news that ESPN TV had broken the story. So it appears that UND.com may in fact have broken the story — before ESPN, BrendanLoy.com, or anyone else — and there were no leaks whatsoever. Remarkable.

CORRECTION: The Backer broke the story, in a comment on this very site, 15 minutes before my initial post (and 16 minutes before Kristine’s:).

Now, I haven’t seen any news reports… but someone in Torts (shall remain unnamed) let out a gasp during class. Naturally inquisitive (or nosy, whatever) I asked what happened.. and she says-

Ty willingham was fired

So says my roommate, who apparently saw it online somewhere. Update shortly.

UPDATE: Chris says his friend Freeman is watching ESPN TV, and they just reported it.

Just got this email from my roommate, who got it last night from some AOL address:

It’s time to finally do something about the university’s mismanagement of the football team. The players deserve much better, and so do you.

Turn in your “return to glory” shirts or any other reminder of unfulfilled promises, or just show your support, at the administration building on Tuesday the 30th of November at 5.30pm.

Show them that you care.

They’re calling it the “Call For Change” rally. I have to go grocery shopping this afternoon, but I’ll get pictures if I can.

UPDATE: More here.

Notre Dame isn’t the only community feeling the brunt of the Ebersol family tragedy. The Ebersols are from Litchfield, Connecticut, and the town is in mourning over the death of 14-year-old Teddy Ebersol, who is being remembered as a loving and caring member of the community. (Hat tip: my dad.)

P.S. This tragedy actually touches three of my communities: Connecticut, Notre Dame, and USC. Another Ebersol son, 18-year-old Willie, is a freshman at USC. The Ebersols were at the Coliseum on Saturday for the Trojan-Irish game; the ill-fated flight was en route back east from Los Angeles.

BCS officials won’t even try to create an Auburn-Utah showdown of unbeatens as an alternative to a pair of clunkers (Utah vs. Pittsburgh and Auburn vs. the ACC champ), even though they could do so under the “best interest of college football” clause. Apparently they just don’t care:

For Utah and Auburn to play each other, either the Sugar or Fiesta would have to acquiesce.

Weiberg said the BCS could step in to create an Auburn-Utah game, but he isn’t anticipating it.

“I think it would be very unusual to have pairings altered unless there is some compelling reason to do so related to the alignment of interests of a number of parties. I just don’t really at this juncture believe that’s likely to happen,” he said.

Ugh.

Alex: “It would be cool if I could effectively study for all my finals in four minutes.”

Cats and dogs! Illegally living together! Mass hysteria!

Here are two previews of tonight’s Newington-Staples football semifinal, from the New Britain Herald and the Stamford Advocate.

If there were Vegas odds on Connecticut high-school football games, I’m pretty sure Newington would be a heavy underdog in this game. But then again, the Vegas odds probably would have been fairly long on Newington going 9-1 and making the state playoffs after going 13-89-2 over the previous ten years. So who knows? Anything can happen. GO INDIANS!!! Kickoff is at 6:30 PM tonight.

By the way, anyone who doubts the level of my enthusiasm over Newington’s season needs only take a look at my current wallpaper:

:)