Western Kentucky Fires Head Coach

cjones · November 9, 2009

Western Kentucky have fired coach David Elson amid the Hilltoppers' first fully eligible season for Football Bowl Subdivision play, a source told ESPN.com's Pat Forde on Monday.

Western Kentucky fell to 0-9 and 0-5 in the Sun Belt Conference after a 40-20 loss Saturday to Troy.

Elson, 39-41 in seven seasons as the Hilltoppers' coach, was fired Sunday night, the source said, but will finish the season with the team.

A press conference was set for Monday at 2 p.m. ET to announce the move.

FirefightnRick · November 9, 2009

Whoa! 39-41 in 7 seasons and it buy's you exactly one season at the D-1 level?

Rick

Censored by Laurie · November 9, 2009

I wonder if Dick Bumpas wants a head coaching job...

He could go moustache for moustache with Schnelly.

DeepGreen · November 9, 2009

Damn! There's goes our chance for a win next year.

SilverEagle · November 9, 2009

Damn! There's goes our chance for a win next year.

You beat me to it Phil.......

GabeGMG · November 9, 2009

Maybe we can hire him? eh?

untbowler · November 9, 2009

so what are the odds that WKY has a better record next year with a new coach using hand-me downs from previous administration, than our guys.

DeepGreen · November 9, 2009

so what are the odds that WKY has a better record next year with a new coach using hand-me downs from previous administration, than our guys.

Maybe they want to run the spread, same as UNT, and come after Dodge. Then what? :whistling1:

The Fake Lonnie Finch · November 9, 2009

There's no way Western Kentucky can have more money than us in a coaching search. No way. So, it'll be interesting to see who they pursue. I've seen things as crazy as Romeo Crennel being mentioned.

Yes, I know he's a WKU grad...but, come on...could they really land an ex-NFL head coach and defensive coordinator? The guy was a special teams, then defensive line coach with the Giants during their two Super Bowl seasons with Parcells. He picked up two more as the defensive coordinator at New England earlier this decade. In 2007, he even guided the awful Cleveland Browns to a winning season - one of only two since their return to the NFL in 1999.

If the Hilltoppers get Crennel, that would be huge for them...and, not so great for us.

Edited November 9, 2009 by The Fake Lonnie Finch

untgeorge · November 9, 2009

Western Kentucky have fired coach David Elson amid the Hilltoppers' first fully eligible season for Football Bowl Subdivision play, a source told ESPN.com's Pat Forde on Monday.
Western Kentucky fell to 0-9 and 0-5 in the Sun Belt Conference after a 40-20 loss Saturday to Troy.
Elson, 39-41 in seven seasons as the Hilltoppers' coach, was fired Sunday night, the source said, but will finish the season with the team.
A press conference was set for Monday at 2 p.m. ET to announce the move.

according to WKU web site his contract had been extended through 2016. Wonder if that is correct? That is a lot of years to buy out.

Stan R · November 9, 2009

whoa...

Got5onIt · November 9, 2009

according to WKU web site his contract had been extended through 2016. Wonder if that is correct? That is a lot of years to buy out.

I'm sure there were provisions put in for an "easy" out, unlike what was given here.

Lurker · November 9, 2009

Amazing. I thought WKU was progressing considering they had just become a full D1-A member. I guess that loss on Oct 31st was more than they could stomach.

Green Nightmare · November 9, 2009

There's no way Western Kentucky can have more money than us in a coaching search. No way. So, it'll be interesting to see who they pursue. I've seen things as crazy as Romeo Crennel being mentioned.
Yes, I know he's a WKU grad...but, come on...could they really land an ex-NFL head coach and defensive coordinator? The guy was a special teams, then defensive line coach with the Giants during their two Super Bowl seasons with Parcells. He picked up two more as the defensive coordinator at New England earlier this decade. In 2007, he even guided the awful Cleveland Browns to a winning season - one of only two since their return to the NFL in 1999.
If the Hilltoppers get Crennel, that would be huge for them...and, not so great for us.

BG Daily

The move to terminate Elson’s contract will apparently cost the university $500,000 in buyout money. In January, the WKU Board of Regents approved a proposal from Selig to extend Elson’s contract through the 2016 season.

Selig told the Daily News in 2008 that he had no plans on judging the seventh year coach on wins and losses during the transition until the 2011 season.

“(Elson) does not need to doubt for a minute - nor do those on his staff or our student-athletes - that we aren’t totally behind what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. Because we are,” Selig told the Daily News in the Nov. 19, 2008, story. “I don’t think it’s fair to really evaluate them by that standard alone until possibly 2011, when the (redshirt freshman starting safety) Ryan Beards of our program are redshirt seniors, and we’ve had a chance to stay true to our philosophy of recruiting an entire class - be it 20 to 25 student-athletes, redshirt them, develop them physically and academically to put them in the best position for success.

“In 2011, that’ll be the first year that we have an entire program full of student-athletes who have signed on for (Division I-A) football. To me, that’s when the evaluation truly begins from a win-loss standpoint.”

I say RV may need to get to judging as well

$500k is about the same out we have

Edited November 9, 2009 by Green Nightmare

Harry · November 9, 2009

8 seasons is a pretty good amount of time to make an assessment. What I can't figure out is, the AD Wood Selig just gave Elson an extension through the 2016 season???

This firing is interesting to me from the standpoint that Elson was hired by Selig who started in 1999. But the AD has ridden their basketball success and other sports to the point of getting a 35K raise last summer when the economy was in the tank. This raise drew the ire of the faculty at WKU.

Did things just fall to the point that Selig believed he needed to cut ties? Did the contract have an out clause? Are they betting Elson will get another job soon which would void the contract?

The Sun Belt is getting more competitive in terms of coaching expectations and wins and losses isn't it?

UNT90 · November 9, 2009

Alumni pressure. Specifically, big donor pressure, is likely what dropped the hammer.

Interesting that WKU played their rear ends off last week against Troy (21-20 at the half). I wonder if the players were told before the game.

untjim1995 · November 9, 2009

There's no way Western Kentucky can have more money than us in a coaching search. No way. So, it'll be interesting to see who they pursue. I've seen things as crazy as Romeo Crennel being mentioned.
Yes, I know he's a WKU grad...but, come on...could they really land an ex-NFL head coach and defensive coordinator? The guy was a special teams, then defensive line coach with the Giants during their two Super Bowl seasons with Parcells. He picked up two more as the defensive coordinator at New England earlier this decade. In 2007, he even guided the awful Cleveland Browns to a winning season - one of only two since their return to the NFL in 1999.
If the Hilltoppers get Crennel, that would be huge for them...and, not so great for us.

I bet you that their basketball success gives their AD some more $$$ from alumni giving and attendance, not to mention NCAA $$, that makes our financial support look pathetic. Our alumni might be larger, but I will bet that the $$ given back to WKU from their alumni is at a much higher level than ours. Could be that Crennel could very well look at WKU and say that I can go home and win in that league sooner rather than later.

The bigger question is who do we get and when? The AD is on record as saying that Dodge is safe this year if we are "competitive", so I am assuming that since we doubled our win output from last year, and the fact that he still has 2.5 years to go on his full contract, the when is next year at the earliest. The who is going to be the intriguing part--as I said earlier, this is gonna be an attractive job to someone if we pay a good salary.

Lurker · November 9, 2009

The Sun Belt is getting more competitive in terms of coaching expectations and wins and losses isn't it?

As it should be. And should have been for a long time.

hickoryhouse · November 9, 2009

as I said earlier, this is gonna be an attractive job to someone if we pay a good salary.

Of course it will be... I would say that anywhere would be an attractive job is the $ is right... I am concerned that the money won't be right and we are going to be stuck with the same $ to offer that we are paying now, that won't cut it with the fans...

I sitll think the only reason that Dodge stays is $. We just can't afford it, if we could then we would have already pulled the trigger I think.

NT03 · November 10, 2009

They could get a very good , affordable replacement : Maskill

He's alum and he just led MSU to another conference championship

Someone we could also afford if TD was let go after this season

GreenEggs&Ham™ · November 10, 2009

WKU AD Selig noted that Elson's terminaton was a business decision as season ticket sales had declined 17% and walk up sales were off 50% this year. It was also mentioned that WKU was more successfull 3 years ago against Sunbelt opponents than this year.

I personally think Elson should have been given 1 more year. WKU's offense executed very well this year at times and it is diffiult to recruit in a state where football is secondary to basketball and in a state with a population of roughly half of the DFW metroplex. Sharing those few recruits with Louisville, UK and Vandy makes for slim pickens.

And yes WKU does compete for fans against NFL venues (Titans 1 hour, Bengals 3 hours). Losing hurt the attendance a whole lot and the awful game day experience at WKU doesn't help matters with the relentless AC/DC "THUNDER!" and annoying PA announcments at full volume.

eulessismore · November 10, 2009

They could get a very good , affordable replacement : <a href="http://msumustangs.com/profile.asp?playerID=149" target="_blank">Maskill
</a>He's alum and he just led MSU to another conference championship
Someone we could also afford if TD was let go after this season

I'm from Wichita Falls and have noticed their return to football (I'm showing my age; they only had NAIA basketball when I was there) and the success Maskill has had there. The only thing I wonder about is that Elson coached a team that won the FCS championship, the next level higher than Maskill is coaching at Midwestern State, and Elson took the obvious beating in the transition. I think Maskill might be a good fit at WKU because he seems to have credibility and is a home boy. My only conclusions: 1.)there's no guarantees on who will succeed in moving up to the next level of college football competition, and 2). Maskill could probably instill a sense of confidence in the fan base at WKU. He seems like a solid individual, he's built Midwestern State up to a point that the people of Wichita Falls would never have believed, and he's helped some guys get started who made successful careers in the NFL. Also, D2 ball may be at a somewhat higher level talent wise than FCS, because the academic standards are lower (remember how Horton couldn't play for us, but could play at Tarleton State?). Still, I bet Maskill has a pretty sweet life there in Wichita Falls (hey, I never thought I would say that-couldn't get out of there fast enough myself), I doubt if he would leave there for any less than the deal Elson had; he'd probably want more.