Weis, Groh, Bowden Among First Victims of the College Football Offseason

After many teams finished their seasons last weekend, all eyes turned to coaches on the hotseat to see who would be fired, who would step aside, and who would be given another chance. Among the first coaches to go were Charlie Weis, Al Groh, and Bobby Bowden.

Charlie Weis was fired yesterday by Notre Dame after another lackluster season finishing with a record of 6-6. When Weis was first hired, he held a firey news conference and gave the ironically prophetic statement "you're a 6-5 football team. And guess what? That's just not good enough. That's not good enough for you, and it's certainly not going to be good enough for me." Well in Weis five seasons he went 9-3 (with predecessor Tyrone Willingham's recruits) in 2005, 10-2 in 2006, 3-9 in 2007 giving Notre Dame its worst record in school history, 6-6 in 2008, and 6-6 in 2009. Basically he proved he could win with other people's recruits, but not with his own. Many expected this would be Weis' last season. The only reason Notre Dame would keep him at this point would have been the $18 million it took to buy him out. With a record of 15-21 over the last three seasons that just wasn't enough. The search now begins for the next Notre Dame coach.

After a 3-9 football season for UVA including losses to AA William and Mary, Southern Miss, Duke, and a sixth straight to rival Virginia Tech many were not surprised by the firing of long time head coach Al Groh. Groh was hired in 2001 succeeding George Welsh who retired as the winningest coach in ACC history. Al Groh had some success winning ACC coach of the year in 2002 and 2007. He came under scrutiny, however, in 2008 when UVA started the season 1-3 including a 31-3 loss to Duke. UVA rebounded slightly finished 5-7. After another bad season, UVA officials saw a team on the decline with little hope of competing with rival Virginia Tech for Virginia recruits and Al Groh was sent packing.

Many reports indicate that Bobby Bowden will announce his retirement either today or tomorrow. Out of the three, this is perhaps the coach that was treated the most unfairly. Bowden was hired in 1976 to coach a team that had won four games in the past four seasons. Bowden's only losing season was his first in '76. He won two National Titles in '93 and '99. Florida State began to look ahead and named Jimbo Fisher as Bowden's successor to take over the team whenever Bowden chose to leave. Apparently having the second most wins of any coach in history including 315 wins with Florida State wasn't enough for the Seminole faithful who began calling for his retirement. Chairman of the university board of trustees, Jim Smith, stated "I think the record will show that the Seminole Nation has been more than patient. We have been in decline not for a year or two or three but I think we're coming up on seven or eight. I think enough is enough." Well in the last eight seasons, Florida State has won three conference titles with an overall record of 65-38. Despite essentially building the program itself, Bowden became a victim of his own success when he couldn't compete with the soaring expectations. This led to the absolutely outrageous and absurd treatment of Bowden this season by the trustees. As they were unable to fire him, it seems they did everything in their power to force him out on his own. Quite an undeserved ending for such a great coach.

With the offseason just beginning and the bowl games to come, no doubt there will be many more stories to come.