SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- At first glance, everything seems the same. The cushy Berber carpeting. The plush, navy couch. Even the knick-knacks on the end tables have gone untouched. But look more closely and it's clear that plenty has changed over the past seven months. The gold nameplate on the door now reads "Ty Willingham, Head Coach." The taupe walls, seven months ago covered with pictures and portraits of Bob Davie, are now bare.

And above all, there's a feeling of excitement. Of anticipation.

Change does that. See, this is no longer Bob Davie's Notre Dame. Or even that of Lou Holtz. Instead, it's Willingham, the school's first African-American head coach in any sport, sitting behind the most talked about desk in South Bend. And he's not doing things the Notre Dame way -- chit-chatting with the media, schmoozing at endless alumni functions and keeping a somewhat loose reign on players.

"This place is unmatched," Willingham said. "The students think football, know football and love football. Football is king. And I respect that, I respect the tradition, but at the same time, I have a job to do."

	Tyrone Willingham finally kicks off the season Saturday night against No. 20 Maryland.

At its simplest, that means win football games. But also, it means restoring the image of this once-proud program. A tumultuous off-season that included the firing of Davie and the hiring and resignation of George O'Leary left the program, long the standard by which all others were judged, as a late-night punch line.

Enter Willingham and his focused, disciplined, demanding ways, and thus far you have a football team that is unabashedly impressed with its new leader.

"The second he introduced himself as our football coach, we fell in love," senior cornerback Shane Walton said. "At that moment, we were sold. We were on the boat."

'He won’t let that happen'

His players describe Willingham as determined. Focused. Methodical. They say he's upbeat, but serious. Intense, but fun. They talk about his commanding presence. His ability to use a simple look, or better yet, a few seconds of cold silence, to make his point. They talk about his drive, and his ability to unify what was once a divided group.

"I walk into the meeting room a couple Sundays ago, and here's this big table with, like, 10 guys sitting there watching film," senior receiver Arnaz Battle said. "I had never seen anything like that before in my life."

How long the warm, fuzzy, feeling lasts remains to be seen. You can bet it will correlate directly with on-field success. A five-game losing streak, something Willingham endured twice at Stanford, would cause utter panic in South Bend.

"There are a lot of people that root against us, that want to see us do bad so they can blow up the bandwagon," Battle said. "But he won't let that happen."

	“	You could tell instantly that he was going to change things. He had this list of what he wanted, what his demands were, and you could just feel the anticipation in the room. You could tell he was as good as advertised. ”
		— Arnaz Battle on Notre Dame coach Tyrone Willingham

It starts with scrapping the drowsy option attack of the past and installing Willingham's complex pro-style offense. Two weeks ago, at the Notre Dame Club of Chicago's annual Knute Rockne Banquet, Willingham told the crowd there would be no more option. It brought a standing ovation from the 1,500-plus in attendance.

"Now we'll have more balance," said junior Matt LoVecchio, who is competing with Carlyle Holiday and Jared Clark for the starting quarterback job. "If I were being recruited out of high school, this is the type of offense I'd like to be in."

Fans will get the first taste of that offense -- albeit a small one -- during Saturday's Blue and Gold spring game. The game will not be televised as usual though, because Willingham doesn't want opposing teams getting an early look at the Irish attack.

Saturday will also mark the first time a black head coach roams the sidelines for Notre Dame. In college football, where only three out of 117 Division I-A coaches are black, Willingham's presence at arguably the most recognized program in the country, is seen as monumental to some. Others consider his race a non-issue.

"I can see it both ways," Willingham said. "I am able to exist with all of those opinions flying around. What I try to understand is that my ability to reach whatever heights I will in my life, is because of the people that challenged me in my career and helped shaped me. It's not a Tyrone Willingham thing. It's an African-American thing."

Thus far, Willingham's reception in South Bend has been overwhelmingly positive. Everyone from employees in the county Sheriff's office to receptionists at the downtown Marriott are excited about the buzz Willingham has brought and unconcerned with his skin color.

His players, too, have been pleasantly surprised that race hasn't become an issue.

"Most people at Notre Dame, I think, are not accustomed to minorities," Walton said. "Minorities here are truly a minority. I thought a lot of other players and people around campus would have a hard time dealing with him. But from those same people, I've heard how much they just love him, and how much of The Man they think he is."

'As good as advertised'

From day one, Notre Dame players realized they were in for a change. While Davie was laid back, Willingham was intense. At his first team meeting, he was armed with an extensive power point presentation, outlining the rules and expectations of a Tyrone Willingham football player.

He introduced concepts like TPS -- time, place and substance, in Willingham's eyes the three factors that contribute to failure either on or off the field.

"You could tell instantly that he was going to change things," Battle said. "He had this list of what he wanted, what his demands were, and you could just feel the anticipation in the room. You could tell he was as good as advertised."

Under Willingham, practices are meticulously organized and precisely prepared. Just last week, during spring drills, Willingham was on the field, pacing off the exact distance he wanted between two blocking sleds for a particular drill and then explaining how to measure it to the team managers.

"He's absolutely meticulous about every little detail," said defensive line coach Greg Mattison, the only holdover from Davie's staff. "Everything you do, every practice and meeting is approached that same way. And it's all done with a set purpose. He never wastes anybody's time or energy."

	Tyrone Willingham is installing a complex pro-style offense at Notre Dame.

Practice is now a fastbreak of endless drills, with players running between stations and in constant movement. Even the slightest hint of laziness won't be tolerated.

"It's like night and day," Battle said. "In the past, you might stand there and wonder, 'When is this going to end?' But now, you are so busy that the whistle blows, Coach calls it up and you're like, 'Whoa. Practice is over already?'"

Off the field, Willingham has changed the way the media interacts with his team, as well. In the past, a bad day at practice might be a headline in the next day's paper. Under Willingham, who will rarely talk about an individual player, the inner workings of the team stay private.

"I love it. Absolutely love it," LoVecchio said. "I think the business of this football team should stay the business of this football team. All the talk, all the rhetoric, it doesn't help any."

But it's a change for the Irish media, who over the past 16 years grew accustomed to the open and often entertaining ways of Davie and Holtz. Already, some of the media have taken soft, playful jabs at Willingham for not doing the media dance and instead answering most questions with vague brevity.

"It's really not vague. It's actually very pointed," Willingham said. "It's just pointed in a direction that doesn't cater to what some people want to write sometimes. But this is a team. And that's what's important."

In seven seasons as head coach at Stanford, Willingham was 44-36-1 and coached in four bowl games, including the 2000 Rose Bowl. But his teams never finished in the Top 10.

Irish fans demand excellence. Davie talked frequently about the awkwardness of having a statue of legendary coach Frank Leahy across the street from his office, seemingly staring in. And Ara Parseghian said the biggest challenge for any Notre Dame coach is saying, "No" -- to the media, to the alumni, to the subway alumni, to anyone who asks for that extra minute you just don't have.

Which is why his players think Willingham is the perfect fit -- he does things his way, no matter what anyone says.

"I think pressure to Coach Willingham is like water off a duck's back," said senior tailback Julius Jones. "I don't think it really fazes him at all. I mean, he's confident in what he can do and what he has to do, and that blends into this overall aura of confidence. The pressure of sitting at that desk won't get to him at all."

And wouldn't that be a change.