I hadn’t heard about this, but a guy who left threatening voice mails for Ty Willingham when he was the head coach at Notre Dame was fined $2,000 and put on probation for a year.

French has said he was drunk, under peer pressure and not using good judgment when he made the 3 a.m. call and left a message for Willingham.

He said that he said “terrible things” during that call, including using racially charged terms about Willingham and threatening to burn a cross in the coach’s yard.

I’m thinking jail time is appropriate here. A phone call like that… that’s something can honestly make a man and his family afraid for their safety. A fine and probation isn’t enough for that. What he did had to have caused caused serious harm. I’m sorry, but jail time isn’t unreasonable for that.

Now, in this article, I should point out… the guy who made the call sounds genuinely remorseful. He seems aware of just how messed up it is to make a phone call like that, and he seems to have learned from the situation. I don’t know, though… you could make the argument that anyone capable of making such a phone call in the first place is not a stable person, and I couldn’t disagree with you.

I just hope he’s sincere about his remorse.