Barnett out at Colorado?

[vex]

Originally Posted by IMetTrentGreen

jeff bowden and chuck long should get together and be co-head coaches someplace. it might be the first time a team scores no points all year

Amen to that.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

Wait, is it FINALLY official?

I mean, they've been saying it for a day or two now, but has the University finally acknowledged it?

/tk

Barnett leaves Buffs with $3 million settlement

BOULDER, Colo. -- Gary Barnett is out as football coach of Colorado.

On Thursday, he reluctantly accepted a $3 million settlement, bringing to an end a tenure that was riddled by off-the-field problems but ultimately done in by recent bad results on the field.


In a news conference he wanted to be a part of, Barnett said the decision was made by athletic director Mike Bohn.


"In the last 24 hours, Mike has made a decision to change the football coach at the University of Colorado," he said. "I respect that decision, I didn't like that decision -- I didn't resign my position -- but I wholeheartedly respect the responsibility and decisions leaders have to make. Mike felt like he had to make this decision."

Possible Successors to Barnett
Name Current school Position
Dan Hawkins Boise St. Head coach
Steve Kragthorpe Tulsa Head coach
Tom O'Brien Boston College Head coach
*David Gibbs Auburn Defensive coordinator
*Jon Embree UCLA Tight ends coach
Charlie Strong Florida Defensive coordinator
Randy Shannon Miami Defensive coordinator
* -- Colorado alumnus
Courtesy: ESPN.com's Pat Forde


Barnett, who finished 49-38 in seven seasons at CU, pointed to a résumé that includes a Big 12 Conference championship, four Big 12 North titles and two AP Big 12 Coach of the Year honors.


"I would deem that a success. Other people might not," he said.


Bohn, who took to the microphone after Barnett left the room, said the coaching search would begin immediately. Knowing how crucial this time of year is for recruiting, he looked toward the cameras and emphasized that CU is a great place to play.


"The University of Colorado is a gold mine ... and we're going to work our tail off to bring a great coach to this program to match the academic standing of this institution," Bohn said. "That will be my sole focus."


The new athletic director said he couldn't pin his decision to part ways with Barnett on a single reason. He insisted that to say he made it because of the team's current three-game losing streak, during which Colorado has been outscored 130-22, "would be erroneous."


Still, the AD conceded the program appeared to have lost some luster and confidence over the past month.


"A lot of things were revealed in the last month on many, many fronts," Bohn said. "And it became clear to me it was time to make a change."


As recently as last month, Barnett said he had felt secure about his future with the Buffs. He had been talking about a contract extension. A 70-3 loss to Texas in the Big 12 title game last Saturday ended all that talk and essentially sealed his fate.


"It's pretty simple. We lost," he said. "I think our team has been overly concerned about a contract extension ... We ran out of juice, the well went dry."


The Buffs (7-5) will face Clemson in the Champs Sports Bowl on Dec. 27. Barnett said he was leaning toward not coaching CU in that game, but didn't want to make an emotional decision. Bohn interpreted that as meaning Barnett wouldn't be on the sideline and said he'll soon choose an assistant to lead the team.

Cornerback Terrence Wheatley said he was disappointed and wanted Barnett to coach in the bowl game. Tight end Quinn Sypniewski called Barnett's dismissal a "tragedy" and that the coach was upset when he told his team the bad news.


"He was upset. He spoke with emotion and with passion," Sypniewski said.

Barnett Timeline
1982-83: Head coach at Fort Lewis, Durango, Colo.
1984-1991: Assistant to Colorado head coach Bill McCartney
1992-98: Head coach at Northwestern, Big Ten Coach of the Year in 1995, 1996
1999: Named 22nd head coach at Colorado
2001: Colorado wins Big 12 championship, Barnett named Big 12 Coach of the Year
2002: Colorado wins Big 12 North Division championship
2004: Scandal erupts amid allegations that Colorado used sex and alcohol to recruit football players. Barnett is suspended, then reinstated over disparaging remarks attributed to him about a female player. Multiple investigations end with no sex-related criminal charges. A report criticizes Barnett for lax oversight of players but says he did not condone improper practices.
2004: Colorado wins Big 12 North Division championship, Barnett named Big 12 Coach of the Year
2005: Colorado wins the Big 12 North Division championship, loses to Texas 70-3 in the conference championship game
-- The Associated Press


CU Regent Michael Carrigan said Barnett's resignation was the best decision for both the coach and the university.


"We've implemented recent changes, but it's important to have a change in personnel to really make the reforms lasting," he said. "Performance issues both on the field and off the field led us to believe it was a good decision."

Cindy Carlisle, another member of the Board of Regents, said Thursday evening that the amount of the settlement was concerning for a school facing many financial problems.


"There were many reasons on field and off that warranted dismissal," Carlisle said. "But not with a payout like this. We can't afford it. The amount to me is incomprehensible."


Carlisle outlined the qualities she believes the board would like to identify in the next coach.


"Integrity," Carlisle said. "Leadership. An ability to engage with players and help move them forward in academics and in life."



Gov. Bill Owens, who had insisted the university get a grip on things during the 2004 scandal, had no specific comment on Barnett.


"He [Gov. Owens] trusts university President Hank Brown and the Board of Regents to do the right thing," deputy press secretary Mark Salley said.


The decision ended a fairly rapid -- though not all that stunning -- reversal for Colorado, which appeared ready to offer Barnett a contract extension as recently as a month ago.


The coach said he pretty much thought the extension was a done deal when the Buffs began the season 7-2 and appeared to be rolling toward their fourth Big 12 North title in five years.


Many figured it was only a matter of a state audit of Barnett's football camps, due out next Monday, that was holding things up.


Things changed, though, as Colorado ended up winning the division title, but backed into it without winning another game. After a humiliating 70-3 loss to Texas in the Big 12 title game last Saturday, Barnett conceded he didn't know why his team had been unable to recover from a loss to Iowa State three weeks earlier that started the losing streak.

"It wasn't the off-field allegations that got him," a friend of Barnett's told ESPN's Joe Schad on Thursday. "It was 70-3 [the score against Texas]. It was what happened in the last three games. He all but had his new contract."


Barnett began as an assistant at CU for Bill McCartney during the heyday of the 1990s, before moving onto Northwestern and turning that lagging program around.


He was brought to Colorado, ironically, to help spruce up the image of a program that had earned something of a renegade status under Rick Neuheisel.


At first, Barnett was successful. By the end, though, he found himself in the center of a sordid recruiting scandal, which resulted in an investigation that concluded drugs, alcohol and sex were used to entice recruits to the Boulder campus, though none of practices were sanctioned by university officials.


No charges were filed, but Barnett got into further trouble when he used derogatory terms in talking about kicker Katie Hnida, who came out with allegations that she was raped by a teammate in 2000. Barnett was suspended by the school in the spring of 2004 and had restrictions placed on his recruiting, which have since been eased.


When Barnett returned from his suspension, he still had his job, but the president, chancellor and athletic director were all soon gone.


Now, it's a clean sweep, though Barnett said he has nothing to be ashamed of.


"We withstood every piece of scrutiny," Barnett said. "We held our heads up high and came out of this thing clean."


He appeared to have a good relationship with Bohn, who commended the coach as a consummate professional.


But the inability to get the contract extension done -- Barnett changed agents just a few weeks ago -- left both parties in an awkward situation.


Barnett couldn't legitimately recruit with only a year left on his deal; no players want to play for a lame-duck coach. CU, on the other hand, couldn't really afford to pay Barnett what it would cost to buy him out, then fork out more to hire a new coach.


But the school will have to.


Bohn said the $3 million Barnett will receive will come largely from extra revenue generated by the 12th game, which all Division I schools will start playing next season.


"It's important to respect and honor our contractual obligations," Bohn said.


Players, not surprisingly, were stunned and a little dismayed by the decision. Barnett addressed them in an emotional meeting before his news conference.


"I was part of his first recruiting class," Sypniewski said. "I think it's a tragedy to see him go out the way he is."


But Tom Lucero, a member of the school's Board of Regents, said Barnett had become emblematic of the scandal surrounding the football program.


"It's not necessarily fair at times," he said. "But a change certainly can bring fresh air to the university."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

I had not even thought about the recruiting ramifications of this. Does anybody know if the school has maintained the restricitions on the recruiting that they put into place after the scandal?

[TroyF]

Dave Logan, a former CU alum has been mentioned.

Gary Kubiak was offered the job before Barnett got it. He turned it down.

Colorado is a mixed bag. The chance of support is there. If the right coach came in, he could gt the funding to make the team great again.

The other thign is that CU doesn't duck anyone, ever. You come to CU, you'll have the chance to play against the best of the best. CU consistently has one of the tougher non conference schedules in football. Over the next five years we have Georgia (next year), Miami, Florida St. and Penn St.

That isn't even counting the yearly games against Texas and OU.

It's gonna be fun to see what happens here.

Oh, and Jeeber, Price has been mentioned on the radio as a possible condidate. I doubt it happens. CU really needs to distance itself from any coach who has had a major scandal in the past. I don't think Price will ever be a serious candidate.

I still say they should offer Pat Hill the job and do whatever it takes. Either way, this is the most inmportant hire in CU football history. If they screw this up, the program will be in bad shape for the next two decades. They need to take their time and be smart about this.

[IMetTrentGreen]

i wouldnt hire pat hill, then. he's made a name out of getting players that can't get in anywhere else, and two high ranked qb's in a row he lucked in to. at cu, academics are a tad bit more important. his teams dont play defense, either

cu is still a good job, who could easily draw the next bob stoops, like charlie strong or gene chizik or randy shannon

[JeeberD]

Originally Posted by TroyF

Oh, and Jeeber, Price has been mentioned on the radio as a possible condidate. I doubt it happens. CU really needs to distance itself from any coach who has had a major scandal in the past. I don't think Price will ever be a serious candidate.

Colorado's real issue is winning, so why not Price?

Dennis Dodd Dec. 8, 2005
By Dennis Dodd
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer

Now that it's all about football at Colorado, we've got the perfect man to replace Gary Barnett.

To paraphrase the man himself, not only was Barnett a coach, he was terrible.

But that's not the point now. It's time to move on. The ground rules have been established in Boulder. Allegations of sexual assault by nine women weren't enough to can Barnett. Neither was the disparaging of Katie Hnida.

Barnett survived that tempest until something really ugly and despicable occurred at Colorado. It lost three football games in a row.

You feel more embarrassed for CU than Barnett. That's really what this is all about, less than a month's worth of bad football? Last month, when Barnett was 7-2, he was ready to sign an extension. Then Iowa State, Nebraska and Texas embarrassed the Buffs.

It's hard to feel sorry for Barnett. He's $3 million richer. He was still employed after 18 months of a crippling, disgraceful scandal that claimed every one of his bosses.

Then, 70-3 gets a guy fired.

Oh well, here's a guy who is not laughable.

Mike Price.

You're chuckling anyway right now. We can hear you in cyberspace. Yes, "perfect" might be too strong a word for Price. We're all flawed. But if Colorado is basing its firings strictly on football, then why not Price?

The man is tanned and rested, and his reputation is rehabbed after two years at UTEP. Colorado can't handle more scandal that includes sex and women, you say?

It doesn't have to. Price just got done suing the pants off Sports Illustrated, which falsely reported he had sex with strippers. Price adamantly denied it and recently settled for what can only be assumed to be millions.

In the court of public opinion, Price did nothing more than get drunk at a strip club. One night of bad conduct shouldn't ruin a career of excellence. And with all those new millions, Price probably comes cheap. Getting back into the big time is more important than landing a big contract.

Price remains one of the best coaches in the game. He made his bones at a bare bones Washington State program. He's been to as many Rose Bowls as Barnett (two).

A guy who would jump at the chance to get back to the BCS level after jump-starting UTEP in two seasons -- a guy whose entire career has been spent in the West.

Oh, and here's another connection you might not know about. Price and CU AD Mike Bohn know each from the days when they worked nine miles from each other. Price at Pullman and Bohn as AD at Idaho.

The phone might already have rung in the Bohn household Thursday night.

The ringing won't end with Price. Look for Auburn offensive coordinator Al Borges to be interested. Likewise for Texas defensive coordinator Gene Chizik, newly fired Lions coach Steve Mariucci, LSU defensive coordinator Bo Pelini and Harvard coach Tim Murphy.

Harvard? We've come a long way from sex and alcohol for recruits. But that's not what this was about anyway. It was more about a three-game losing streak than the character of a coach.

Price is a winner. So is Barnett, just not lately.

[Wolfpack]

Looks like it's going to be Dan Hawkins:

Buffs Tab Hawkins

Boise State coach Dan Hawkins has accepted the head coaching job at the University of Colorado, sources told ESPN. Hawkins had been rumored as a potential replacement since former coach Gary Barnett's dismissal last Thursday.

"Dan Hawkins is the type of coach who represents virtually every expectation that I outlined," CU athletic director Mike Bohn told Denver station KUSA-TV before the agreement was finalized. "We will be well on our way to restoring a sense of pride in the Golden Buffaloes."

Hawkins interviewed with Bohn on Saturday, the first interview that Bohn conducted. The only other known interview was with former Colorado player Jon Embree, currently an assistant at UCLA.

Boise State won a share of its fourth straight Western Athletic Conference title this season and is 53-10 under Hawkins. He's been a hot name on the job market for the past couple years, and Boise has enhanced his contract and the football facilities to keep him.

However, Hawkins could just about double his $525,000 annual salary at Colorado. His contract calls for an $850,000 buyout, but that will be reduced to $700,000 after this season. At this point, it is unclear whether Hawkins will coach Boise State in the MPC Computers Bowl against Boston College.

ESPN has also learned that offensive coordinator Chris Petersen will remain at Boise State and replace Hawkins as head coach. Hawkins, however, is expected to take several of his assistants from Boise State with him to Colordao.

[TroyF]

I'm so sick of the garbage being spewed by the media:

1) It was ALWAYS about winning. For God's sakes, it's that way at any program.
2) None of the allegations were ever proven true. None. We spent MILLIONS of dollars in special investigations, you know what it came up with? One freakin guy who used a cell phone incorrectly. The girls who accused the players in the gang rape could not only not get regular charges brought against them, they had a civil suit thrown out. Please, stop it with the "CU doesn't care about women" BS. How many sexual assaults did Peter get CONVICTED of without missing a game?
3) When you lose your last two football games 100-6 on national television, you are going to get fired. Only a handful of coaches in college football could survive something like that. Texas could have put up 200 points on CU. The team clearly quit and the recruiting was already in shambles BEFORE those two games. I'm sorry, it doesn't matter what the circumstances were, you are gonna get canned if you do that. Nothing can or should be able to save you.

Hawkins seems like a good guy. Family man, no scandals, loyal to his assistents, loves the outdoors. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt and I hope he works out. As I said above, if this coach becomes a failure, CU is in major trouble for a long time.

My guess is this is the type of guy CU needs. A squeaky clean, no nonsense guy who is also charesmatic enough to pull in some funding for upgraded facilities. He also seems to be able to recruit and has ties into California, which was always a key state for CU. (even in the CU glory years, California and Louisiana were always the two top CU recruiting hot spots, Texas was there as well, but never at the level of the other two)

We'll see. He's gotta know there is a lot of work ahead of him. But the Barnett chapter is over. He gave us some great years. (won just as many Big12 titles as Mack Brown)

Hopefully Hawkins can be the guy.

[JeeberD]

Gotta wonder now if Boise can keep on rolling like they did after they lost Dirk Koetter or if theyll fall back into football purgatory.

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

Gotta wonder now if Boise can keep on rolling like they did after they lost Dirk Koetter or if theyll fall back into football purgatory.

FWIW, Hawkins' OC Chris Peterson is given a lot of credit for the success of Boise State's program and he's reportedly staying on to take over for Hawkins.