Tyrone Willingham, Former President - AFCA

Inside the Headset with the AFCA

This week on Inside the Headset, we are featuring longtime Division I Head Coach, Tyrone Willingham. Coach Willingham shares his thoughts on how representation can be better achieved in the coaching world, details his experience working for the College Football Playoff, and highlights what he valued during his time as the President of the AFCA.

Tyrone Willingham's successful coaching career stretched over 30 years and had stops all across the country. After serving as an assistant coach at schools including Central Michigan, Michigan St., North Carolina St. and Rice, Coach Willingham gained his first head coaching job with the Stanford Cardinal in 1995. During his seven years at Stanford, Coach Willingham brought unprecedented success to a program that struggled in the then Pac-10. Coach Willingham lead the Cardinal to their first outright conference championship in 29 years which resulted in a trip to the Rose Bowl.

In 2002 Coach Willingham was hired as the head coach of the Notre Dame where he spent three seasons leading the Fighting Irish. After his time in South Bend, Coach Willingham was named the head coach of the University of Washington in 2005 where he spent a total of four seasons. In his final year of coaching (2008), Coach Willingham served as the President of the AFCA. Willingham is now retired from coaching and currently serves on the College Football Playoff committee.

• [1:50] Start of Interview
• [1:55] The most valuable thing in the world
• [4:17] Laying the foundation for coaching
• [7:13] Building better men
• [9:20] Representation in the coaching world
• [13:15] Improving your skillset
• [14:53] Working on the CFP committee
• [17:25] Future of the CFP
• [21:10] Using analytics in football
• [23:14] Time spent as the AFCA President
• [24:50] Networking through the AFCA
• [26:13] Valuing what is important