SOUTH BEND, Ind. — George O'Leary says he lied about playing football at New Hampshire to pad his biography in the media guide when he was hired as an assistant coach at Syracuse.
The incorrect information was inserted "really, at that time, to puff my bio," O'Leary told ESPN in an interview aired early Monday.
O'Leary, who attended New Hampshire for two years and never played in a game, said the lie never helped him get a job.
He resigned as Notre Dame's football coach Dec. 14 — five days after he was hired away from Georgia Tech — because of revelations he lied about his academic and athletic background.
O'Leary said he's not sure why a false claim that he had a master's degree in education from New York University was printed in the 1987 Georgia Tech media guide. He said it must have been from word of mouth.
Still, he said he should have fixed the lie.
"It's something I should have cleaned up, no question about it," he said. "I'm wrong in not doing that. But in my mind, it had no significance in what I was being hired for."