Doba done at WSU
PULLMAN – Two days after possibly his greatest on-field triumph, Washington State University head football coach Bill Doba parted ways Monday with the university, in what was labeled a mutually-agreed-upon decision.
A national search will begin immediately to find Doba’s successor, though just how the position came to be open is still somewhat of a mystery.
Doba met with athletic director Jim Sterk on Monday morning, then again with Sterk and WSU president Elson S. Floyd. At the second meeting, the decision to let Doba go was agreed upon.
Sterk would not label the action a firing, saying in an afternoon press conference “coach Doba, president Floyd and I met today and we agreed that it would be best for the future of Washington State football that we make a transition starting today with our head coaching position.”
Doba insisted at the same conference that he didn’t resign, saying when asked if it was truly mutual, that “did you hear ‘em? They said mutual agreement.”
Senior quarterback Alex Brink, who finished his career Saturday by guiding WSU past Washington 42-35 in the 100th Apple Cup, wasn’t buying it. He said he believed Doba’s ouster was Floyd’s decision and it came without knowledge of the situation.
“It’s frustrating in my mind, having been here for five years, in those four years president (Lane) Rawlins was a part of this university, he was in the locker room after games, he was on team flights, he was a clear supporter of Cougars football win or lose,” Brink said.
“I didn’t see the same thing from president Floyd in his few months here. He wasn’t in locker rooms after the games, he wasn’t on the team flights. That was disappointing, especially considering the way it ended.”
Floyd, who replaced Rawlins as WSU’s 10th president in June following Rawlins’ retirement, said Monday evening he attended each home game this season, but did not travel with the team because he was too busy.
“That’s a time for players to decompress and to focus on what they did well,” Floyd said about not going into the locker room after games, “and in some cases, what they did not do well. And I just don’t think that’s a role that I will play as president of the university.”
Floyd also added, “I have been a strong supporter of Doba. I will continue to be a strong supporter of Doba.
“There is no animosity associated with the decision that was reached.”
Doba said after Saturday’s victory he would like a show of support from the administration, telling reporters, “I think you need something to say you’re going to be around for a few years anyway, just for recruiting purposes. Maybe I shouldn’t say that.”
Sources within the athletic department said, when Doba asked for such support in the morning meetings in the form of an extension, he was turned down. When asked about this at the press conference all Doba would say was “we had a discussion, but you have to be realistic, too.”
The reality of the situation is Doba will receive an estimated $1.8 million dollars, what the university is contractually obligated under the terms of his contract that would have run through 2009.
Sterk said the university would honor the full terms of the agreement, though he wasn’t sure where the money would be found.
“It’s the athletic department’s responsibility,” he said, “and all the financial details on how that’s paid have not been finalized yet.”
All the assistant coaches have been retained, according to Sterk, until a new coach is in place and can make decisions concerning the staff. The assistants on the road were called back to Pullman to meet with Sterk later this week and determine how to proceed with recruiting. Letters of intent for high school players can be signed beginning Feb. 6.
Doba mentioned recruiting as playing a part of the decision.
“Basically, I felt with all the negative press and Internet and all the rumors and stuff, and with my age,” he said, “it was difficult to go out and recruit. In recruiting, a kid wants to know if you’re going to be there and our opponents, not all of them, but many of them, used that and my age against us.
“That’s a legitimate question. And I, quite honestly, didn’t feel right sitting in some kid’s living room and look him in the eye and say I’m going to be there the full time your going to be there.”
One of WSU’s recruits, Ferris High’s Jared Karstetter, said he heard the negative talk, but it didn’t deter him.
“I really liked him, and I really liked the staff there, and I was never going to assume they were going to be back,” he said Monday evening. “I hoped they would be, because I liked the staff a lot. They were real good to me. But I wanted to go there no matter what.”
Whoever replaces Doba, the cupboard isn’t bare. The Cougars will return eight defensive players who started the Apple Cup and seven on offense.
Among the losses is Brink, who holds four career passing records and was the starting quarterback for three Apple Cup wins, the only player in school history who can say that.
“It was frustrating to see this turn of events, especially so soon after a great win, a great moment in Cougars football,” Brink said. “Coach Doba is a first-class guy and he handled it in a first-class way. The team appreciated that about him.”
“Experience, integrity, excellence,” Sterk said when asked what he was looking for in the next coach. “I think those are all things you look at in any person we hire in the department. We pride ourselves on providing one of the best student-athlete experiences in the country, and I think the coaches have to exemplify that in those areas.”
Doba, 67, is 30-29 in five years as Cougars head coach. He took over prior to the 2003 Rose Bowl after Mike Price announced he was leaving WSU to become head coach at the University of Alabama. The Cougars were 10-3 in Doba’s first season, capping the year with a 28-20 win over Texas in the Holiday Bowl.
Since then, WSU has posted records of 5-6, 4-7 and 6-6 going into this season, which was widely seen as a make-or-break year for Doba, who was under contract until 2009.
During that time, Doba also dealt with the death of his wife Judy to cancer in early 2006, an event he touched on briefly Monday.
“I want to thank this community, this university, for the support they gave me and my family through some tough times,” Doba said with emotion.
This season, the Cougars were up and down, with blowout losses at USC, Arizona and Oregon and at home against Oregon State two weeks ago. They also handed bowl-bound UCLA a 27-7 loss and culminated the season with Saturday’s comeback win in Seattle.
Sterk said after the 53-7 loss at Oregon that dropped WSU to 2-5 he would judge Doba after the season was over and that “how the team responds, how they play,” would figure in his decision. At the time, he said he expected “them to be competitive and to come roaring back after this break.”
In the five games that followed, WSU was 3-2, including the upset of UCLA, a 52-17 debacle at home against the Beavers and the Apple Cup. The Cougars also beat Stanford and lost by three at California, a preseason Pac-10 favorite.
When asked how he wanted to remembered, Doba hesitated, then said, “As a guy who loved my job. I had a great time, I didn’t cheat, I didn’t do anything to embarrass this university and I want to be remembered as a players’ coach.”