Tom Hanson: Faust feels Willingham's, Irish's pain

Last month, Faust was walking the South Bend campus before the Irish's game against Florida State when a fan stopped him and said, "Coach, I wish you were back."

Faust, who was 30-26-1 during his five-year reign, replied, "Boy you have a short memory. Ty (Willingham) has a better record than me right now, so you better stick with him."

You can't blame Irish fans for not remembering. This year's start has the Four Horsemen turning over in their graves. Notre Dame lost six of its first eight games for the first time in 40 years.

That makes it easy to forget that the Irish got off to an 8-0 start last year, Willingham's first season.

But the facts speak for themselves. Willingham's 20-game record, 12-8, is the third-worst of Notre Dame's 13 full-time head football coaches since 1913. He is ahead of only Faust (11-8-1 in 1981-82) and Joe Kuharich (7-13 in 1959-60).

After getting shut out in back-to-back weeks against Michigan State and Florida State for the first time in 43 years, the rumor around campus was that the alumni wanted to downgrade "Touchdown Jesus" to "Can We Get A First Down Jesus."

Faust, who was a guest speaker at a fundraiser for Ave Maria University Tuesday night, said he can empathize with Willingham.

He thinks Willingham just needs time to get his own players for his own system.

"It is the same mistake I made when I went from coaching high school to college," Faust said. "I tried to change the offense to what I thought was a great offense, rather than keep the offense that my predecessor, Dan Devine, had recruited."

Even though he didn't leave behind a winning legacy, Faust never regrets his days at Notre Dame. It was his dream job. As a kid, he grew up whistling the fight song and later dreamt of playing for the Irish, but much like movie character Rudy, he was too small.

So when the coaching job came available, Faust didn't hesitate. After facing Michigan, Florida State, Miami, Penn State, LSU and Air Force in his first year, he realized he should have done some research.

"I always wondered why Dan Devine stepped down when I was offered the job, but I just took it. I just wanted to coach at Notre Dame," Faust said.

"My first year, we played nine teams that went to bowl games and that was unheard of because there was just 15 bowls, but that was unbelievable. What a schedule."

While making the jump from an Ohio high school to the big time -- way before LeBron James made it famous -- was the easiest decision of his career, calling it quits was the toughest for Faust.

Faust loved Notre Dame so much that he resigned after just five seasons.

"When you love a place, it's even tougher because you don't want to hurt it," Faust said. "Football is important at Notre Dame and it hurts when you lose a game. A coach hurts after any loss, but a Notre Dame coach hurts even more after a loss."

So Faust can really feel Willingham's pain.

You can e-mail staff writer Tom Hanson at tahanson@naplesnews.com