Reply To: Arkansas fires HC Sam Pittman

[mandb]

Sometimes mid-season firings are necessary. Take it from someone who has experience. Ty Willy was failing badly by the end of his 3rd season at UW in 2007 and there was an ‘agreement’ to part ways, but the AD was a big defender and threw a wrench into that. He was immediately fired by the UW president. But with no AD to conduct a real search and fit objectives, TW was the HC going into the infamous 2008 season. The new AD was hired and after TW started the season 0-7 and officially falling out of bowl contention, was given his notice of termination. But for some unexplained reason, TW was allowed to finish the season as HC as the new AD said he didn’t want the team to be ‘orphaned’. Stupid and every Husky fan and booster were pissed. UW had enough talent to win 4 or 5 games that season, but as one starting player confided later on, TW ‘just sucked the fun out of football for me’. If a coordinator or assistant took over as interim with a different attitude (it was clear by 2008, TW just didn’t care), UW could have won a couple of games, especially against Paul Wullf’s absolutely horrible WSU team.

But yes, the mid-season firing are taking a troubling turn.