By Jordan Long
On Saturday, the Colorado Buffalos suffered their 6th straight loss. This time at the hands of the Utah Utes by a score of 30-7. Colorado gave up 30 straight points in the defeat. On Sunday, University of Colorado Athletic Director Rick George decided it was time to cut ties with Head Coach Mike MacIntyre who ended with a record of 30-44 in Boulder.
Colorado hired MacIntyre on December 10, 2012. He had coached San Jose State for 3 years. At San Jose State MacIntyre was an unimpressive 16-21. His best season for them was in 2012 when San Jose State went 10-2 and were ranked as high as 21st in the AP (Associated Press) poll. They ended up going to a Bowl Game.
Colorado was hoping MacIntyre would be the right coach to change the course of the program. Prior to accepting the job, Colorado had gone through 2 other coaches, Jon Embree and Dan Hawkins. Hawkins was able to coach Colorado to a bowl game in 2007, their last appearance in one before MacIntyre. Embree lasted 2 seasons with a total of 4 wins.
MacIntyre didn’t have immediate success with Colorado. In his first 3 years on the job, Colorado was 10-27. They finished last in the Pac-12 South Division in those seasons.
2016 was a magical year for Colorado and the best one for MacIntyre in Boulder. Colorado went 8-1 in Pac-12 Conference play. The only loss for them was to USC by a score of 21-17 on October 8th. Colorado was ranked as high as 9th in the AP poll. They ended up in the Pac-12 Conference Title game only to lose to the University of Washington 41-10. Colorado ended up in the Alamo Bowl, the only Bowl Game appearance under MacIntyre. They were blown out by Oklahoma State 38-8. For the 10-4 overall record, MacIntyre won the Associated Press College Football Coach Of The Year Award.
2017 Colorado had higher expectations. They took a step backward. Colorado ended at 5-7.
This season it looked like they were back to their winning ways. They won their first 5 games. Colorado played great football and it looked like they were going to make noise in the Pac-12 Conference and earn Bowl eligibility.
That didn’t happen. Colorado is currently on a 6 game skid. Looking back, the dagger to the season was against Oregon State on October 27th. The Buffs were leading the game 31-3 midway through the 3rd quarter. This was going to be their 6th win of the season. Oregon State outscored Colorado 31-3 the rest of the game to force overtime. Oregon State ended with the victory in overtime by the score of 41-34.
The last straw was this past weekend. University of Colorado Athletic Director Rick George saw a football program that was not competitive. He knew this was a tough decision. According to ESPN George said, “I want to thank Mike for six seasons of hard work and dedication to the program, both on and off the field. There’s no doubt that the 2016 season was magical, and it appeared we were headed back to taking our place among the nation’s elite. However, analyzing the direction of the program over the last two years, I felt this is the necessary time to make a change.”
Colorado is a job in a “power 5″ conference, the Pac-12, which may attract coaching candidates. It may not be the best job opening because of their history since 2006 with only 2 bowl game appearances. George needs to find a coach who has coaching experience in a major conference even if it is a coordinator. Colorado has one game left on the schedule against the University of California. A victory and Colorado is bowl eligible. After that game, they will start a search for a new Head Coach for the football team. Hopefully the next Head Coach will turn the program into a winner.
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