Tyrone Willingham has done the impossible.

	Tyrone Willingham has Notre Dame unbeaten, but more amazingly, he's made the Irish likable.

He's made Notre Dame likable.

This is not to be confused with turning the Irish back into winners. Winning only makes them popular. But by teaching the Irish the difference between ego and pride, he's made them likable, win or lose.

Before Willingham's arrival, Notre Dame was possibly the most polarizing program in the nation. You either loved the Irish or downright despised them. Don't get me wrong, their traditions and past success are to be admired and respected. But for a team that has lost five straight bowl games -- in fact, it hasn't won a bowl game since the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1, 1994 -- Notre Dame has been incredibly full of itself. There was nothing more sacred about the Notre Dame program than any other (don't let the TV deal with NBC fool you). Hadn't the Irish shared in the recent trend of booster and sex scandals? Yet, despite those blemishes and the losses, Notre Dame continued to ooze attitude that simply said to all outsiders, "We are Notre Dame and you're not." For the purposes of this story, let's call that "ego."

Now, if you looked up pride and ego in the dictionary, their definitions are quite similar. But everyone knows they connote different things. Ego is solely, and perhaps ignorantly, concerned with nothing but the self (eg. self-love, self-worth, etc.). Pride is not so self-absorbed in this sense: One typically takes pride in "something" (eg. pride in one's work, pride in one's country, etc.).

Tyrone Willingham being in South Bend this season, in my eyes, is quite simply a story of a proud man's ego not getting in the way.

Let's recall his journey.

After Bob Davie's firing, Notre Dame athletics director Kevin White went for his top choice, then-Raiders head coach Jon Gruden. Although Gruden was never officially interviewed, there was interest and communication. Gruden, though, would not leave the Raiders in midseason.

	Despite the embarrassment, the Fighting Irish were lucky to dump George O'Leary for fibbing.

Then 49ers coach Steve Mariucci issued a quick, "no thanks," as did Oklahoma's Bob Stoops. Thrown by all the rejections, White quickly settled on George O'Leary ... who compounded White's problems when he was forced to resign only days later after "inaccuracies" were discovered on his résumé. Other names were swirling about during this time -- Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, though earning $4.5 million a year, had expressed interest in the college game; so had Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin and Boston College's Tom O'Brien.

Oh, and occasionally the name Tyrone Willingham, then head coach of Stanford, found its way into the conversation. In fact, before O'Leary was ever hired, Stanford had given Notre Dame permission to talk to its coach. Willingham put himself out there, publicly expressing interest in the job. The response of the Irish? They said Willingham's buyout was too expensive. That must have come as a surprise to Willingham; he says numbers were never discussed. Actually, nothing was discussed, because Notre Dame never talked to Willingham before settling on O'Leary.

So when Notre Dame came calling after O'Leary's resignation, I wonder how hard Willingham had to bite his lip? For just a moment, he must have wondered how wonderful it would have felt to tell Notre Dame, "Too late." And a more "egotistical" person would have done so.

Willingham, understanding the "business" -- monkey and otherwise -- instead took the job he always dreamed of.

The first we saw of Willingham's team was in The Kickoff Classic against Maryland on Aug. 31. They shut out the Terps, the feel-good story of last year, 22-0. Heck of a start from an unranked Notre Dame team that received just a single vote in the preseason polls. That's about as much respect as they gave to Baylor ... or, to put it another way, that's about as much thought as Notre Dame gave Willingham the first time through the interview process.

What we saw against Maryland was not beginner's luck. Willingham had correctly identified the team's strength -- its defense. Through the first month, it seemed he made sure the offense did not lose the game -- until finally against Air Force two weeks ago, it was ready to help.

The Irish are fourth in the country in strength of schedule, have won all eight of their games and are in virtually everybody's top six. More important, they're No. 3 in the BCS rankings, only a hair behind defending national champion Miami (Oklahoma is No. 1 by a substantial margin). With their next three games against BC, Navy and Rutgers, the Irish's strength of schedule and BCS ranking might take a small hit, but they could be 11-0 when they face rival USC on the road Nov. 30.

This week on ESPN Radio, Lee Corso said about Willingham, "No question in my mind, Tyrone Willingham outcoached Bobby Bowden. You can't tell me Florida State doesn't have better players! Willingham outcoached Bobby Bowden. It's the best coaching job I've seen in years."

	Willingham could have easily returned the snub when Notre Dame finally came calling.

And that's why Willingham and his players don't have to talk about how great they are. Everyone's seeing it for themselves.

Speaking of coaches, after that win over Florida State, the Irish received a single first place vote in the USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll. During his weekly Tuesday news conference, Willingham was asked about being voted No. 1 in the country by one of his peers. Willingham had no comment. The questioner followed up with a cute, "So we can assume it wasn't you?"

Willingham's response: "You never know."

Everyone laughed ... except Willingham.

If he voted for himself, that's fair. For the first time in years, the Irish aren't paper tigers. They are likable winners who no longer demand our admiration, but simply deserve it. Soon enough, people will want to knock them down a notch -- it's simply human nature. But until then, the Irish are a feel-good story that everyone -- not just themselves -- should feel good about.

Here's hoping if Willingham ever decides he wants to coach in the pros, he takes over a team that needs the kind of dignity he has to offer ... like the Cowboys.

SportsCenter anchor Chris McKendry is a regular columnist for Page 2.