Posts Tagged ‘mike bohn’

Jon Embree was fired after two seasons as Colorado's head coach on Sunday, following the conclusion of a 1-11 campaign. John Henderson of the Denver Post provided an excellent detailing of the factors that went into Colorado AD Mike Bohn's decision and how the move went down. 

Embree stated that, though he planned to go on the road recruiting early this week, Bohn's decision did not catch him off guard. 

"I had a funny feeling this morning," Embree told Henderson. "Something told me he'd do this."

"He said he didn't feel the trajectory of the program was going in the right direction," Embree said. "I said, 'What direction was it going when I got hired?' "

Embree inherited a program in the midst of five straight losing seasons and, due to attrition suffered during the Dan Hawkins era, Colorado played with one of the youngest rosters in college football, so he has a point. But, ultimately Embree left Colorado no choice. The Buffaloes carried a 3-15 Pac-12 record in Embree's two years, with 13 defeats coming by 25 points or more.  

In addition to the losses, growing unrest among CU's boosters drove Bohn to make a change. 

"The general feeling I have," said Brian Riley, the moderator of a Buffs fan site, "is all the people who were saying they were going to drop season tickets or cut donations are saying they'll increase them after seeing CU has a vision and is committed to winning football."

Kyle Ringo, Colorado's beat writer for the Boulder Daily Camera, supplied information supporting Riley's hypothesis. 

#CUBuffs officials were concerned about damage to the brand after so many lopsided losses the past two seasons.

— Kyle Ringo (@KyleRingo) November 26, 2012

Embree sees something else as the root of his dismissal. 

"You know (black coaches) don't get opportunities," said Embree. "At the end of the day, you get fired and that's it, right, wrong or indifferent. (Former Notre Dame coach) Tyrone Willingham was the only one who got fired and got hired again. We get bad jobs and no time to fix it."

In an interview with the Boulder Daily Camera on Saturday, Colorado athletics director Mike Bohn took stock of the Buffaloes' football program, expressing the need to make changes. The Buffs lost 45-0 to Stanford at Folsom Field, dropping their record to 1-8 on the season.

"We're not where we want to be," Bohn said. "No one is happy with what has happened on the field, players, coaches, staff, fans."

In his second season on the job, Embree is 4-18 at Colorado. The Buffaloes are in the midst of a five-game losing streak, scoring no more than 17 points and allowing no less than 42 points during the skid. 

"Recognizing our shortcomings early in the season, coach Embree, his staff, our leadership team along with football professionals have been engagedin numerous endeavors to address our challenges," Bohn said. "We are working to correct voids now in an effort to not lose time before the end of the season."

Earlier this season, CU President Bruce Benson issued suport for Embree. 

"I don't like to micromanage," Benson said in September. "There's no point that I or anybody else is going to step in that I know about. So we're going to play it out. We're going to rebuild and be positive and move forward."

Read the Boulder Daily Camera's full report here.