Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Gone after only 2 seasons. Buffs went winless at home for the first time since 1920. They should look at CSU-Pueblo's John Wristen. It's taken him less than 5 years to build that program from the ground up into a D-II championship contender.
The situation at CU is getting more painful by the year. In all my years living in Colorado, I've never seen a program like this make such a nosedive.
CU has never been a football powerhouse, but the early 70's Buff teams put good clubs on the field. In 1971 Eddie Crowder got them to rank 3rd behind Nebraska and Oklahoma. And had other good clubs in the late 60's and early 70's. Bill Mallory had some good years with this program, then Chuck Fairbanks ran this club right into the ditch from 1978-81. Thankfully Bill McCartney done a great job building the program back up after the Fairbanks debacle.
This situation right now is as bad as the Fairbanks era, actually worse. Between the many off field issues with players and some stuff with the school in general, CU is at a new low. Coach Embree was in over his head when he took the job, he just didn't know it at the time.
Well, now that they are in the Pac 12, I hope they are happy with themselves. They are going to be the doormat for a while, and I don't take any joy in saying that. Several of my high school friends are CU grads, they washed their hands of this program years ago. Winning one game. One.
Once they were a proud program. Now they are just painful to watch. Just painful.
ADDED: Idlewile is right. Athletic Director Mike Bohn SHOULD fire himself.
I was surprised to see Embree got fired. Although I can't dispute the decision based solely on his record, I would have given him another year to see if he could win some games. I noticed the team this year was extremely young and there were a lot of freshman on the field. You'd think if the AD hired him, he'd at least have some faith in the guy that he could do the job. Not only that, it sends a bad message to the next coach and may push some candidates away that the program has little patience. Anyways, feel bad for Embree but that's the cutthroat business of big-time college football.
I disagree with the OP, a d-II coach is NOT the solution right now. That would be an experiment and a leap of faith. They need someone with head coaching experience at the D-1 level or NFL level. Look at UCLA for example, brought in Jim Mora (former NFL coach) and the team is much improved in one season and competing for a PAC-12 Championship. There's a lot of good coaches out there but they need someone with a "name" like Mora or another coach who has a reputation as a great recruiter.
I don't see Colorado being a difficult place to recruit with the right coach.
I disagree with the OP, a d-II coach is NOT the solution right now. That would be an experiment and a leap of faith. They need someone with head coaching experience at the D-1 level or NFL level. Look at UCLA for example, brought in Jim Mora (former NFL coach) and the team is much improved in one season and competing for a PAC-12 Championship. There's a lot of good coaches out there but they need someone with a "name" like Mora or another coach who has a reputation as a great recruiter.
I agree with this. Its really a no win on both sides. Why would CU take a chance on a coach just because he was able to take a new D2 program into a national contender when D1 is completely different especially when its not a new program but one that is gone is a very bad direction. Also, why would the coach of CSU Pueblo want to leave Pueblo where he is one of the most prominent people not only in the city but the state and where he and his gf's family live to take over a program that could cause him to lose his job in just a year or two with no fault of his own if he is not able to turn it around the way Boulder expects?
CU needs to be 100% certain of the coach they get and they need to go out and get one who has been in programs like the CU one and has turned it around. It will cost them but in the end I think will be better for the program.
I was surprised to see Embree got fired. Although I can't dispute the decision based solely on his record, I would have given him another year to see if he could win some games. I noticed the team this year was extremely young and there were a lot of freshman on the field. You'd think if the AD hired him, he'd at least have some faith in the guy that he could do the job. Not only that, it sends a bad message to the next coach and may push some candidates away that the program has little patience. Anyways, feel bad for Embree but that's the cutthroat business of big-time college football.
I disagree with the OP, a d-II coach is NOT the solution right now. That would be an experiment and a leap of faith. They need someone with head coaching experience at the D-1 level or NFL level. Look at UCLA for example, brought in Jim Mora (former NFL coach) and the team is much improved in one season and competing for a PAC-12 Championship. There's a lot of good coaches out there but they need someone with a "name" like Mora or another coach who has a reputation as a great recruiter.
I don't see Colorado being a difficult place to recruit with the right coach.
CU is a nice campus, but the school bleeds money, the facilities are way behind and support sucks.
Embree did not need another year. He made Hawkins look like Ara Parsegian in comparison.
Time to go. The Buffs were bad in all the stats but losing.
Oh yeah, how do you recruit without Jock-friendly majors? This is Tulane west.
And Mike Bohn should fire himself. For those in the know, he is just as much of an issue.
Pay me loads to make appalling decisions and run my mouth. Mockery.
Speaking of Mike Bohn, he's at it again. Was listening online on Denver's 104.3 "The Fan" and an interesting discussion came up with Alfred Williams and his sidekick, Darren McKee, also known as D-Mac.) It was reported in Thursday's Denver Post that former University of Cincinnati football coach Butch Jones was offered a 5 year 13.5 million dollar deal to be head coach of the CU football program. Also included in the deal was a promise made by CU to upgrade their athletic facilities to what coach Jones would want.
Alfred Williams, former Denver Bronco and former CU defensive end, tracked down Butch Jones on the phone. Imagine Alfred's surprise when Jones said that the offer "was news to him." What and where was Jones as he was talking to Alfred on the phone? On his way to the University of Tennessee to sign a contract to be the next head coach there.
Duh.
In the Grand Junction Sentinel (of all papers in Colorado) the last paragraph in their editorial in today's paper says it all:
"We hope CU quickly finds a new head coach with the skills to turn the football program without compromising its integrity. But to do so, Bohn and other CU officials must develop a game plan that amounts to more than throwing a high dollar Hail Mary."
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
