Resume-SS. (Here Below).

UPON CHECKING THE internet at 8:30 am on Friday, December 14, we were startled to learn that "George O'Leary has resigned his job at Notre Dame after admitting that he had lied (on his resume) about playing football at the U. of New Hampshire and earning a master's degree at a non-existent university (NYU - Stony Brook)."

We understood why this was so embarrassing to Notre Dame and its brand new coach, but why was everyone making a federal case out of a couple of little white lies?

Was George O'Leary the first football coach in America to distort or lie about something in his resume? Who was kidding whom? Nearly every coaching resume contains some mild distortions.

What exacerbates the problem is that the public and our saintly reporters don't have a clue about what is happening. They don't know how tough it is for a beginner to find a job on the college level. Dozens of bright people come out of college with no particular accomplishments or a contact who can put in a good word for them with a college coach.

Just how are such job hunters going to sell themselves to people who don't know them or have any idea of their love for the game, burning desire to coach it, and actual knowledge of the game and willingness to work at it?

So forgive us for not dropping dead whenever we hear about those little white lies in high-class resumes. How can we be so forgiving about such "sins?" Because they have been part of the game forever and because we know a secret about resumes. They may get you a job, but they cannot keep it for you.

If you can't cut it, you are gone. If you have anything on the ball, the coach will be happy to give you a shot -- and forget everything that appeared on the resume.

All we know about George O'Leary is that his resume may have given him a shot, but once he had the ball in his hand he ran with it all the way to the top of his profession. That, friends, takes enormous talent, personality, and a terrific work ethic -- things that cannot be wiped out by the disclosure of a few youthful missteps.

Practically every public entertainer and politician will have two or twelve such glitches in their resumes. Typical: "John Wayne was an All-American tackle at USC who earned his degree in physical education." The truth: John Wayne was a third-string lineman, who never lettered, never graduated, and whose real name wasn't even John Wayne.

Everyone grins about such things because they know that people outgrow such harmless exaggerations.

Why is a football coach denied such tolerance? We can understand how Notre Dame was snowballed into firing its coach. We only wish it had followed its first instinct -- one of forgiveness.

What is so scary about such incidents is how a basically harmless little lie can seek a person out and tarnish an honorable and well-deserved reputation.