ESPNMAG.com - O'Leary fiasco leaves many searching for answers

Questions to ponder as George O'Leary hides out on Elba, and Kevin White fuels up the Notre Dame jet for another coaching search. . .

How long will Touchdown Jesus have his hands over his eyes?

Did White really tell Bob Davie that he was fired because of "credibility" issues?

If so, does White have access to a nearby Kinko's, where he can update his own resume?

Why is it White was available for comment during the Dec. 9th introduction/pep rally of O'Leary, but nowhere to be found five days later (issued statements don't count) when Notre Dame gets a mug of Guinness thrown in its face?

Did you ever think Irish fans would refer to the Davie Era as, "the good old days?"

Who's going to get stuck paying the buyout money to Georgia Tech -- O'Leary?. . . Notre Dame?. . . or both?

What's more stupid: that O'Leary fudged his athletic and academic credentials, or that he never corrected them every year a sports information department person showed him the page proofs of the media guide?

How many coaching bios will be tweaked between this year's editions and next year's editions?

What was your favorite moment of O'Leary's tenure?

Will O'Leary end up as an offensive coordinator on Frank Beamer's staff at Virginia Tech, offensive coordinator on Ralph Friedgen's staff at Maryland (if Charlie Taafe gets the Georgia Tech job -- and there's a certain irony in that), or return to the NFL where nobody cares if you got a master's at NYU?

Do you think O'Leary wishes he would have never picked up the phone and heard, "George, this is Kevin White?"

Do you think White feels the same way?

Is it true there's a new CD-ROM game called, "Where's White?"

Do you realize that even if Notre Dame had earned a BCS bowl this season, the $13-million or so payoff still wouldn't have covered the cost of this mess? Do the math: at least $1 million to Davie for his buyout, possibly a share of O'Leary's $1.5 million or so buyout (if it ever comes to that), at least $2 million a year for a mininum of 5 years for the next Notre Dame coach, and salary and relocation costs for the new coach's staff. And, oh yeah, O'Leary wants to be reimbursed for that E=MC2 thing he came up with a few years ago.

Can you imagine the fallout had O'Leary's lies been revealed a week before the 2002 season started?

What happens if Raiders owner Al Davis wakes up one day, realizes he has millions to spare because he's worn the same Members Only jacket for 20 years, and offers coach Jon Gruden a fair market deal? Does Gruden leave that team, that money, that Bay Area for South Bend?

If Notre Dame hires Gruden, how long will it take for someone to ask about his no contest plea to alcohol-related reckless driving stemming from an October 1998 incident?

Does it matter?

Nothing against Gruden, but why does San Francisco 49ers coach Steve Mariucci or Stanford's Tyrone Willingham feel like a better fit?

True or false? Backround checks will become SOP for all future coaching hires.

Who's laughing more: Davie or Lou Holtz? And by the way, is Holtz the next coach?

If White knew by midseason he was going to deep-six Davie -- and he did know -- how come he wasn't better prepared for his "search?" Most ADs already have three names in their back pocket. You can't tell us O'Leary was one of those three names.

Darkhorse candidates: Boston College's Tom O'Brien and LSU's Nick Saban?

Seriously, is Notre Dame a better job than the one Willingham has at Stanford? Or Mike Bellotti has at Oregon? All things considered. . . nope.

Will O'Leary get Christmas cards or condolence cards?

What must Notre Dame's players be thinking?

Are the Irish having a nice run of luck, or what? First, Joe Moore's age discrimination suit, which Notre Dame stupidly allowed to go to trial (and where all sorts of embarrassing revelations were made public). Then the Kim Dunbar situation (the booster lavished players with gifts), which landed the program on NCAA probation. Then Davie's 5-year contract extension, which lasted one season.

Forget recruiting. . . how will this hurt Notre Dame's image?

What is NBC going to do with those O'Leary promo ideas?

Isn't this whole mess the BCS' fault?

Gene Wojciechowski is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. Movers and Shakers appears each Sunday during the college football season. E-mail him at gene.wojciechowski@espnmag.com.