Poor Notre Dame.

You would think that some day it will finally get its hiring of football coaches correct.

The past three years haven't been the greatest for Notre Dame - actually, the past eight seasons, for that matter.

The Fighting Irish made a huge mistake last week when they sacked head coach Tyrone Willingham.

They figured this year's hottest coach, Utah's Urban Meyer, who guided the Utes to a 12-0 record and a Fiesta Bowl matchup against Pittsburgh on New Year's Day, was in the bag.

Meyer served as receivers coach for five years at Notre Dame before putting Bowling Green and Utah football on the map.

Willingham went 21-15 in three seasons at Notre Dame, including a 10-3 record his first season, and guided the Irish to the 2003 Gator Bowl.

But then a 5-7 season last season and a 6-5 campaign this year were enough for the higher-ups at Notre Dame to dismiss Willingham.

Willingham, however, didn't do much to disappoint. The past two seasons, the Irish didn't have the greatest talent in the country and were at best a mediocre team.

Willingham, a man of principle, character and great integrity, did the best with what he had to work with. The sad part of this is he wasn't even Notre Dame's top choice three years ago.

That would be George O'Leary, the Georgia Tech coach who was hired and received his "dream job" - remember that phrase, we'll come back to it later - only to have Notre Dame fire him a few days later after discrepancies in his resume were revealed.

Notre Dame didn't check out all the facts, then looked foolish letting him go.

I still don't understand why the NCAA allows universities to pursue coaches who still have teams playing games. Meyer still has a bowl game to play.

Florida, which fired Ron Zook, was looking for a replacement. After toying with the idea that former Gators coach Steve Spurrier was interested, as well as Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops and Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, Florida pursued Meyer.

Notre Dame must have thought it had Meyer in its pocket. By releasing Willingham, they were now free to go after him.

One problem, though. Meyer, who said coaching Notre Dame would be his dream job since he was a little kid, spurned the Irish and accepted the Florida job.

Of course, a 7-year, $14 million contract is tough to say no to, but Notre Dame could have tried something similar.

Also, Notre Dame's recruiting standards are tougher than most Division I schools, so there are a lot of talented athletes the school has to pass on if their grades are borderline or below.

Now, the Irish will continue looking for the next Lou Holtz and hope they don't get another Gerry Faust or Bob Davie, but it won't be easy.

Knowing you might have three years or less to return the Irish to prominence is a tough albatross to carry.

Good coaches are hard to find. They got burned by one - and they let a pretty good one go in Willingham.