Section B·Page 4
The University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, November 24, 1998
Oklahoma football coach fired following three losing seasons
By Owen Canfield The Associated Press
NORMAN, Okla. — All who know him agree that John Blake made a difference in the lives of his players. But that does not carry much weight when you lose too many football games at Oklahoma.
Blake was fired Sunday after compiling a 12-22 record, the worst three-year stretch in school history. He held a 21/2
minute news conference yesterday to thank his players, coaches and supporters.
"This program is headed in the right direction," Blake said, occasionally choking up before leaving without taking questions. "We came here for a purpose, to get the foundation established to be a winner."
Actually, Blake's
Blake: Gave farewell at a news conference yesterday.
charge when he replaced Howard Schnellenberger in December 1995 was to do more than lay a foundation. It was to restore Oklahoma as a national power, and he did not come close.
The Sooners were 3-8 in his first year and 4-8 the next — Oklahoma had never had even one eight-loss season before Blake came. The Sooners won three of their final four games this year finishing 5-6.
"We worked hard. We didn't win enough games," offensive coordinator Joe Dickinson said. "The bottom line, you've got to win games at the University of Oklahoma."
The university's regents voted to fire Blake based on the recommendation of athletic director Joe Castiglione, who has been on the job since April 30. Castiglione apparently has the full authority to hire a replacement — no search committee will be formed, as was done when Blake was hired.
Castiglione has no timetable for finding a coach, although a fairly quick decision would help offset potential recruiting losses.
Among the names mentioned as possibilities are Jim Donnan of Georgia, Tommy Bowden of Tulane, Oregon's Mike Bellotti and Florida defensive coordinator Bob Stoops.
Merv Johnson, director of football operations, will oversee the program until a new coach is hired. His priorities will be to reassure as many players as possible and to stay in contact with recruits.
Oklahoma has won six national championships but has not been in the hunt for even a conference title since the late 1980s. Castiglione said Oklahoma's program is one that should seek to be mentioned with national powers, as it once was.
"To aspire to that kind of level of success, to be competing consistently with those kind of people, with those institutions, we have to do things differently," he said.
Blake has two years remaining on his contract at an annual salary of $126,200, plus insurance and retirement benefits. The university is obliged to pay for those two years, which Castiglione acknowledged will crimp a department that is trying to get out from operating in the red.
Blake often talked about doing things
"We worked hard. We didn't win enough games.The bottom line, you've got to win games at the University of Oklahoma."
Joe Dickinson
Offensive coordinate
Offensive coordinator
the right way, about instilling integrity and character in the program. He alluded to that during his farewell yesterday.
"Most of all, I thank all those who stuck by me, all the great friends, all the great supporters, those who knew what I stood for, and I would never change that," he said.
Blake's dismissal did not surprise his Big 12 colleagues.
"He had the players behind him, and that's the biggest factor of all," Missouri coach Larry Smith said. "But there are some programs who have little patience and don't understand they're in the '90s and not the '60s and '70s. College football has changed. You're not always going to return to the glory days instantaneously. That's what the administrations sometimes want."
Oklahoma State coach Bob Simmons deplored the way the vote was played out on television — with the regents announcing each vote. The decision had actually been made earlier in closed session, however, and Blake knew his fate before the television audience learned it.
"I've never seen it done this way, as far as being on TV and taking a vote," Simmons said. "I walked away from it. I don't know what options they gave them."
Firing doesn't shock other Big 12 coaches
By Doug Tucker
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- John Blake's dismissal as Oklahoma's head coach saddened but did not surprise his Biz 12 colleagues.
They know one day it could happen to them.
"I've been through it. It's not fun," said Missouri coach Larry Smith, who was fired from Southern Cal.
Blake was 12-22 in his first three seasons, but won three of his last four games, including a 20-17 victory in the regular-season finale against Texas Tech.
"I think he was just now starting to see some daylight," Smith said during yesterday's Big 12 teleconference.
Oklahoma State coach Bob Simmons said he deplored the way the vote was played on television.
"People handle it different ways. All I can tell you is it's very, very difficult to be put in that situation." Simmons said.
Whoever replaces Blake, said Simmons, "is going to have to work at it."
"That's true any place you look at it," he added. "Things have changed across this country with scholarship numbers, people you can can't take ... Just to say a program can come back immediately, maybe 20 or 30 years ago, yeah, when you had unlimited numbers (of scholarships). But things have changed. They can still recruit talent. But that doesn't mean it's going to happen instantaneously overnight."
"You're always sad for the coach because you know how much effort coaches put into their jobs," said Texas A&M coach R.C. Slocum. "But all of us when we go into this business realized that the bottom
line was ... you can end up losing your job. I know a lot of real good coaches who ended up being dismissed from their jobs. I hate to see a man lose his job."
Texas Tech's Spike Dykes, who was beaten by Blake on Saturday, said the firing reminded him of
what an interesting business coaching was.
"There's no standards," Dykes said. "Every situation is different."
think most coaches have grown to live with that, and so that's just part of the process you accept in this business and go on down the road."
Apparently, Blake is going to be the only Big 12 coach fired this year. But Frank Solich may not have the greatest job tenure himself at Nebraska. As the replacement after 25 years of Tom Osborne, Solich is in charge of the first Nebraska team in several years that's going into the bowl season without a chance at the national championship.
With one regular season game left, Friday against Colorado, this already is the first Nebraska team since 1977 with three regular-season losses.
How long would Nebraska tolerate three or four losses a year?
"I don't know, and I'm not going to project anything that nature," Solch said. "The only thing that I'll do is continue to coach the best I can, and so will the staff. Our players always play hard. Our fans have been tremendously supportive. I expect that will continue through the course of this season, without question. But I don't project down the road."
Roberto Alomar to join brother on Indians' lineup
By Tom Withers The Associated Press
CLEVELAND — Make it two All-Star Alomars on the Cleveland Indians.
Roberto Alomar joined his brother Sandy on the American League Central champions, agreeing yesterday to a four-year contract worth $30 million to $32 million.
While the deal immediately was not announced, several sources familiar with the negotiations, all speaking on the condition of anonymity, said it had been completed. The Indians plan a news conference tomorrow at Jacobs Field to announce the contract with the nine-time All-Star.
Alomar's addition finally gives the Indians stability at second base, where they have used 15 players since trading Carlos Baerga in 1996. Roberto, who was in Cleveland yesterday for a physical, was the Most Valuable Player of this year's All-Star game while Sandy, a six-time All-Star, was the MVP of the '97 game at Jacobs Field.
Roberto, 30, has been in the sights of Indians General Manager John Hart for several years. With his addition, Cleveland has a lineup with a current or former All-Star at every position and one only rivaled by the World Series champion New York Yankees.
Second base has been Cleveland's most glaring weakness since Baerga was dealt to the New York Mets. The Indians used six different players at second during the '98 season alone and went into the postseason with Joey Cora there after acquiring him in a late-season trade with Seattle.
Cora hit just .059 in the playoffs and he became a free agent after Cleveland declined to exercise his 1999 option.
Roberto's addition gives the Indians the
strongest and flashtest middle infield in baseball. A six-time Gold Glove winner, Alomar will be paired up the middle with shortstop Omar Vizquel, who won his sixth straight Gold Glove this season and has the highest fielding percentage of any shortstop ever.
"It would be worth the price of a ticket just to watch Omar and Robbie turn a double play," Hart said last week.
Alomar, who has played with San Diego, Toronto and Baltimore, spent three somewhat tumultuous seasons with the Orioles. He came under fire in 1996 when he spit at ampire John Hirschbeck during an argument, and last year he and some other Orioles were critical of Manager Ray Miller and Baltimore's front office.
Alomar and Indians fans have some history of their own. After his run-in with Hirschbock during the last series of the '97 regular season, umpires threatened to strike the postseason if Alomar wasn't immediately suspended.
He was given a five-day suspension to be served the next season, and only a court order kept the umpires from walking. Alomar, however, became a series hero for Baltimore by singling in the tying run in the ninth inning of Game 4 and hitting a home run in the 12th inning as the Orioles eliminated the Indians.
When the teams met in the 1997 AL championship series, Alomar made the final out of Baltimore's season, striking out against Jose Mesa as the Indians defeated the Orioles in six games.
Roberto and Sandy Alomar have played together on five American League All-Star teams. The Alomars could soon be joined on the Indians team by their father, Sandy Sr., a 15-year major leaguer. He is being considered for one of two coaching positions.
Iowa coach retires after 37-year career
Achievements include 17 bowl appearances
The Associated Press
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Hayden Fry, who turned a woeful Iowa football program into a three-time Rose Bowl participant, bid a tearful farewell yesterday after 20 seasons as the Hawkeyes' coach.
Fry said as difficult as the decision was, the timing was right for him to retire. He ended a 37-year coaching career that encompassed 420 games at three universities and produced 232 victories and 17 bowl appearances.
"It's kind of hard to do," said Fry, 69. "All the people that gave me an opportunity to spend 20 years as a member of the Hawkeye family, I could never repay them."
Fry was the winningest coach in Iowa history, but his teams had trouble staying with the Big 10 powers in the '90s after winning three conference championships from '81 to '90.
This season's 3-8 finish was the worst in his 20 years at Iowa. But Fry said it gave him the opportunity to step down because the season would not extend through a December bowl trip.
"Selfishly, it's not the right time for me," Fry said. "I'd rather have gone out with a real good season and all that good stuff coaches like to talk about. But I truly love the University of Iowa. I truly love the state of Iowa. I'll always be a Hawk."
It also will give Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby time to find a new coach without harming recruiting.
effect it would have had on recruiting. A bowl game at the end of the 97 season discourage
Fry said he had considered quitting two years ago but stayed out of concern for the future of his assistants and the
him from quitting for similar reasons.
This year, injuries, inexperience and a tepid offense put the Hawkeyes out of bowl contention early.
"I really felt like we could have a good year," said Fry, his voice faltering at times as he wiped tears away with a handkerchief. "I've always been an optimist, but I never dreamed that we would experience all the problems we had. But I'm very proud of this team this year, even in defeat."
Fry, who inherited a program that had gone 17 years without a winning season when he came to Iowa City in '79, took the Hawkeyes to 14 bowl games and built a 143-89-6 record.
After going 5-6 and 4-7 in his first two seasons, Fry in '81 took the Hawkeyes to their first appearance in the Rose Bowl since the '58 season. The Hawkeyes lost to Washington 28-0, but just getting to Pasadena had been a major accomplishment.
Iowa also made Rose Bowl trips with Fry after the '85 and '90 seasons, both losses. Iowa was ranked No.1 nationally for five weeks in 1985, the only time during his tenure that his team held that position.
"There's no way we can calculate what he gave to the University of Iowa," said Ann Rhodes, vice president for university relations. "He came at a difficult time in the state's history and gave us something to be proud of."
An ex-Marine, Fry played quarterback at Baylor following a standout high-school career in Odessa, Texas, and began his college coaching career as an assistant at his alma mater in 1960.
Two years later, he became head coach at Southern Methodist, where his teams made three bowl trips in 11 years.
He then spent six years as head coach at North Texas State, compiling a 40-23-3 record before taking the Iowa job in December 1978.
Fry's Texas drawl and homespun humor made him an immediate hit with players and fans as he promised to bring excitement and a wide open offensive style to the program.
"This is a place many of you will recall nobody ever thought a football coach would win again," Bowlby said. "Not only did he win, but he did things that even the fondest supporters of this university couldn't have anticipated."
Fry said he made the decision to leave on Sunday. But the "retirement" word was hard to come by, and he spent several minutes at his news conference thanking people, at times pausing to compose himself, before he made the announcement.
"Man, 47 years — I've never had to do this," he said.
Among the top replacement candidates could be Florida defensive coordinator Bobby Stoops, a defensive back at Iowa under Fry.
Iowa offensive coordinator Don Patterson, who has been with Fry since 1978, said he would seek the job.
Sports Reporters/ Columnists Wanted
- Pick up applications in 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall
- Applications are due by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Dec.3
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