Gerome Sapp was going for breakfast like he always does on Friday, when the lady that checks meal cards at the campus cafeteria asked the Notre Dame junior a question that caught him completely off-guard.

"What do you think about not having a football coach?" the lady asked.

"Huh?" Sapp responded. "What are you talking about?"

Darn the fact-checkers

Thinking of padding your résumé? If George O'Leary isn't lesson enough, recall these recent sports world fact frauds: Al Martin: Was discovered this past season that the outfielder never played football in the 1980s for Southern Cal, which he had claimed in media guides for several teams. Frank Gansz: The Chiefs' head coach in 1987 and '88 was found to embellish his experience in the Navy, telling folks he'd been a fighter pilot (he flew, but not in combat) and played football at the Academy (he played only on the freshman team). That's not what got him fired, however. Seasons of 4-11 and 4-11-1 did that for the Jaguars' current special-teams coach. Tim Johnson: Managed the Blue Jays to third in the AL East in 1998, then fired because he had lied about serving in Vietnam as a member of the Marines. Ron McKelvey: Texas reserve was suspended before 1996 Sugar Bowl because his real name was Ron Weaver and he'd used up his eligibility at Sacramento State. He'd used the Social Security number of a Salinas, Calif., man named Joel McKelvey to change his identity, entered a Los Angeles JC and then transferred to Texas. Danny Almonte: Dazzled all while pitching Bronx, N.Y. Little League team into last summer's LLWS. For good reason -- he was 14, two years too old to play Little League. Mark Mendez: Was hired as Fresno (Calif.) City College men's hoops coach last summer after telling school officials, among other things, he was 265-90 and won two conference championships in six years at South Mountain Community College (Ariz.). Actually, he was 76-95 with no titles ... and he'd left the program on probation after playing an ineligible player twice in the same season.

The lady went on to explain, but Sapp still didn't believe the news about the resignation of the five-day-old head coach George O'Leary. "Thought it was one of those crazy Notre Dame rumors," he said.

Soon after, Sapp bumped into teammate Grant Irons in the cafeteria, and realized it was no rumor.

"Shock," Sapp said of his reaction. "Complete and utter shock. I'm still in shock. Some people in the public might look at it that he just told a little lie. And it might be. But Notre Dame doesn't appreciate things like that."

Sapp's reaction was echoed by his teammates. Junior cornerback Courtney Watson received the news from his girlfriend via a 9 a.m. phone call that woke him out of bed. He told her to stop playing games and tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't. A callback to his girlfriend revealed the news was true.

"As soon as you're starting to get comfortable and you think a coach is in place and stuff and you're getting used to the change, he's gone," Watson said. "He's not going to be here. And then you hear the reasons and you're like, 'What? Are you serious?'"

O'Leary resigned from Notre Dame after problems with claims about both his academic and athletic background were discovered. As of midday Friday, a number of the players received phone calls from various athletics administration officials. Sophomore receiver Omar Jenkins was told there would be a team meeting with athletic director Kevin White sometime in the next couple days, not necessarily Friday.

"I understand the reasoning," Jenkins said of O'Leary's resignation. "I just don't see the point about why you would lie what school you graduated from or what degree you have. Why? That's going too far. Obviously here at Notre Dame they are big on academic standards. So if your academics aren't right on, they aren't going to be too happy."

It couldn't have happened at a worse time, what with this being finals week in South Bend and players preparing to head home for holiday break.

"Who knows what's going to happen now?" Watson said. "First they said we'd have the entire staff in place by Christmas and now we have nothing."

On the outside, the process of O'Leary acclimating himself to his new job appeared to be underway. On Wednesday, he met with players from each individual position to help explain his coaching philosophy and answer questions. And on Thursday, he announced that three coaches from the previous staff -- Greg Mattison, Bill Sheridan and Steve Addazio -- would be retained.

	“	Who knows what's going to happen now? First they said we'd have the entire staff in place by Christmas and now we have nothing. ”
		— Notre Dame CB Courtney Watson

Now everything is thrown up in the air.

"A big concern of the players was which assistant coaches were going to be rehired and which ones were going to be let go," Sapp said. "Now what's going to happen? Are they going, are they staying? Nobody knows."

Both players said the team's initial impression of O'Leary was mixed when they met him on Wednesday. While former Notre Dame coach Bob Davie was seen as a player's coach that had cut back on practice intensity in recent years, O'Leary, a noted disciplinarian, insisted things were going to be different under his regime.

In the defensive backs meeting, Sapp said O'Leary's first words to the unit were, "Sit up straight and open your eyes."

"He seemed different," Sapp said. "We're used to a coach that, you know, is a quote- unquote ND guy. Clean-shaven, the perfect tie, real professional. With Coach O'Leary, his demeanor was so much different. Not that it made him a lesser person -- he just seemed like a hard-nosed guy who wasn't going to take anything from anybody. I think a lot of the guys had mixed feelings about what was to come."

Sapp said that O'Leary promised his players that the first team defense would practice against the first team offense. And that players would lift four days a week, as opposed to the three under Davie.

"In my three previous years here, people got hurt so (Coach Davie) cut back quite a bit," Sapp said. "Once we heard it was going to be the goods against the good, everybody's head was like, 'Oh no.'"

The re-opening of the coaching search couldn't be more frustrating for players like Sapp and Watson, who will both be seniors next year.

"I hope this time, they take a little time to search and get a coach," Sapp said. "I think last time they maybe rushed it a bit. I'm sure Kevin was acting in what he thought was a good way. But some of the players thought he rushed it a bit. Hopefully they do a better job and are more thorough."

Though it's an obvious longshot, both players said the team would be more than willing to welcome back former coach Bob Davie.

"I was just thinking about that," Watson said. "Since he's left, only worse things have happened so far. I don't think the team would be negative about that at all. We didn't want to see him go in the first place."

Wayne Drehs is a staff writer at ESPN.com. He can be reached at wayne.drehs@espn.com.