Barnett out at Colorado?

[Water Pony]

Wednesday, December 7, 2005
Barnett unaware of report, to talk to AD tonight

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ESPN.com news services

Gary Barnett's tumultuous tenure as the University of Colorado's football coach reportedly will come to an end. However, the coach told ESPN.com that his reported ouster from the school is news to him.


Gary Barnett's Buffs were outscored 130-22 in their last three games.

Citing a source close to contract talks between Barnett and the school, the Denver Post reported on Wednesday that Barnett will not be retained as head coach.

The newspaper reported that there is no timetable for an announcement, but athletic director Mike Bohn was expected to talk to Barnett soon.

However, Barnett told ESPN.com's Pat Forde: "No one has said a word to me. I have not heard from one person that that is going to happen. ... Nobody has presented anything to me. I am continuing as if I'm the head coach at Colorado."

Bohn, traveling back to Colorado from meetings in New York, called the report "speculation."

"I don't know about that," Bohn told The Associated Press when asked if the report was true. "It's inappropriate for me to comment at this time."


The University of Colorado Board of Regents is in regularly scheduled official sessions Wednesday and Thursday in Boulder, Colo. A source told ESPN's Joe Schad that Bohn is expected to address the regents about Barnett's future.

Barnett and his attorney will meet with Bohn at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday night, ESPN.com has learned.

Barnett and the school had been discussing a contract extension for several weeks, and it was believed to be a foregone conclusion before the season turned south.


CU finished on a three-game losing streak, including losses to Nebraska and Texas by the combined score of 100-6.

"The coaches have worked hard and the players have been great. The kids just ran out of juice. My whole extension has been a big issue. I think they felt some pressure surrounding that," Barnett told ESPN.com

Despite a torrent of negative publicity, a suspension from the school and widespread speculation that he would be fired 18 months ago after a controversy erupted surrounding Colorado's recruiting practices, Barnett has taken Colorado to consecutive Big 12 North Division titles.


The president, chancellor and athletic director all stepped down in the aftermath of the scandal, which resulted in an investigation that concluded drugs, alcohol and sex were used to entice recruits to the Boulder campus, though none of practices were sanctioned by university officials.

"Personally, I'm fine. I hold my head very, very high. Through all the crap we've gone through, we've won two division championships. The kids have gotten those championship rings, and they can't take those away."

After Saturday's 70-3 loss to Texas in the Big 12 title game, Bohn told the Boulder Daily Camera, "We all have to look at everything and see what it's going to take to get things going in the right direction. That's what's on everyone's mind right now."

Barnett's take on the loss to Texas: "A lot of people have lost pretty bad to Texas this year."

Barnett has one year left on the five-year deal, which includes a $2 million bonus if he completes the contract. While saying he likes Barnett, Bohn has remained noncommittal about an extension. One of the presumed reasons for the delay is that the school is still waiting for the results of a state audit of Barnett's football camps, which is scheduled to be released Monday.

CU is cash-strapped and it is believed that if he re-signs, the bonus will be folded into the next deal. If CU fires Barnett, he would be owed $1.6 million of the bonus, plus a year of his annual base salary.

Barnett is 49-38 after seven seasons.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

[Water Pony]

Colorado press is out to get him:

CU would be wise to let Barnett go
Coach's record of behavior should have led to ouster long ago

For the past two years, supporters of Gary Barnett, the University of Colorado football coach, have said he should be judged by what happens on the field.

And so it appears he will be, if a Denver Post report Wednesday that says Barnett will lose his job proves accurate. Such a decision would come late, and for the wrong reasons. But it would be appropriate.

Barnett has a 48-38 record, and he won four Big 12 North Division titles. Yet, he also was at the epicenter of a culture where sex and alcohol played a role in recruiting football players. Barnett unsuccessfully tried to play both sides of the line, claiming ignorance that such tactics were used while also declaring he had control over his players and the football program.

Barnett won coach of the year honors in 2004. But this year, the distractions and his inability to recruit higher-profile players appeared to set in, eroding his support. Three straight losses, including a 70-3 embarrassment to the University of Texas, have boosters and CU administrators saying enough is enough.

In May 2004, the Coloradoan editorial board called for CU to clean house of President Betsy Hoffman, Chancellor Richard Byyny, Barnett and Athletic Director [deleted] Tharp. None of the four acknowledged any accountability in what led to the recruiting scandal. Eventually, Hoffman and Tharp resigned amid the controversy and Byyny took a lower-profile assignment. Meanwhile, Barnett was left standing on shaky ground and even shakier principles. For example:

Barnett was placed on leave Feb. 18, 2004, after disparaging the athletic ability of former kicker Katie Hnida. He called her a terrible player while responding to a Sports Illustrated story in which Hnida said she was sexually harassed and raped by another player while on the CU football team.

Five of eight members of an independent panel that investigated the recruiting scandal said in 2004 that Barnett, along with the other three administrators should be fired. Barnett also was cited in the report for being defensive and resistant to change.

A grand jury investigated charges surrounding the football recruiting scandal and found that Barnett had access to "slush funds" from football camps. The money was not properly accounted for, and up to $2,500 at one time could be missing without being noticed.
A departure from Barnett could provide an opportunity for CU to become a place where the focus on athletics does not overwhelm the school's numerous academic achievements. If Barnett leaves, CU should hire its next coach with these goals in mind.

Originally published December 8, 2005

[DallasDiehard]

Wasn't there some allegation of rules-bending when he suddenly snuck Northwestern into the Rose Bowl, only to skip town before a full investigation could be complete (thanks to that big bag of money being dangled in his face in Boulder?)

[Dement-ed]

Barnett subdued in departing dream job
By Vicki Michaelis and Jack Carey, USA TODAY
BOULDER, Colo. — Gary Barnett often described the University of Colorado head coaching position as his dream job, even after a recruiting scandal enveloped the football program and polarized campus factions against him.
But Thursday, Barnett bid farewell without public emotion. At an evening news conference, he sat rigidly still and spoke in subdued tones.

"I love the University of Colorado," said Barnett, 59, who first worked at Colorado as an assistant under Bill McCartney from 1984-91. "I love our players. I had a chance to meet with them today. It was a very difficult time, because these are my guys."

No decision has been made on who will coach the Buffaloes in their bowl game Dec. 27. Assistant head coach/linebackers coach Brian Cabral, who took over as an interim head coach when Barnett served a scandal-related suspension, is a possibility.

Colorado director of football operations David Hansburg will coordinate recruiting efforts while the search for Barnett's successor ensues.

Barnett's players were disappointed at the decision.

"I was part of his first recruiting class," tight end Quinn Sypniewski said. "I think it's a tragedy to see him go out the way he is."

The end of Barnett's often-stormy tenure came on a day a CU spokeswoman said the school has asked university attorneys to review an unsigned letter that makes allegations of improper conduct against Barnett.

Some of the allegations in the letter, which was first reported by Denver's Rocky Mountain News, already have been investigated, spokeswoman Michelle McKinney said. She said the attorneys are trying to determine whether any of them warrant further investigation.

"It is an anonymous letter, so there is some caution on how you approach this," McKinney said. "Several investigations the university has been subjected to have looked at these allegations. If there are any allegations that our legal counsel believe were not fully investigated, we do intend to thoroughly look into them."

The letter alleges, among other things, that Barnett attempted to influence sworn testimony by his subordinates during the recruiting scandal and that football players were tipped off in advance of supposedly random drug tests, the newspaper reported.

Barnett survived the recruiting scandal last year, although the university's president, chancellor and athletics director resigned in its aftermath.

Two investigations looked into allegations of misbehavior, including rape, but the only criminal charge involved the misuse of a university-issued cellphone and solicitation of a prostitute by an aide. Investigators also said sex, drugs and alcohol were available for recruits, though they concluded no school official knowingly condoned it.

Steven Snyder, a private investigator who worked for a regents-backed independent commission that looked into the scandal, told the News he received the anonymous letter in October and turned it over to university President Hank Brown.

Snyder said his work for the commission ended in mid-2004 but he continues to receive tips about the university.

He said he did not act on most them because he did not consider them serious but he thought university officials should see the unsigned letter.

Brown told the paper he also gave copies of the letter to state and federal prosecutors. McKinney said she could not confirm that. Spokesmen for the prosecutors declined to comment.




Four years of controversy

A timeline of recent University of Colorado controversies since Gary Barnett was named coach in January 1999:
Dec. 7, 2001: Football players and recruits attend off-campus party; two women later say they were raped at the party, and a third says she was assaulted in a dorm room afterward. The three later file federal gender-discrimination lawsuits.

April 2002: Prosecutors decide against rape charges.

•Jan. 28, 2004: A deposition by Boulder County district attorney Mary Keenan is released in which she accuses Colorado's athletic department of using sex and alcohol as recruiting tools.

Feb. 10: Denver adult entertainment company says Colorado football players hired strippers for recruiting parties.

Feb. 17: Former Colorado kicker Katie Hnida tells Sports Illustrated she was raped by a teammate in 2000.

Feb. 18: Police release report in which a woman says she was sexually assaulted by a football player in September 2001 and that Barnett told her he would back his player. No charges were filed. Barnett placed on paid leave for comments attributed to him in the police report and for disparaging Hnida's athletic ability.

May 11: Special prosecutor and Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar decides not to file criminal charges in nine alleged sexual assaults involving football players.

May 18: Regents' panel releases final report: Evidence of alcohol and drug use to entice recruits but no suggestion that officials condoned misconduct.

March 31, 2005: Federal judge tosses out the lone remaining federal lawsuit filed by two women who say the school failed to prevent their alleged assaults in 2001.

— The Associated Press

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Even on his way out the door -- more charges! He's such a prize of a human being.
Although I admit, I'd like to get a $3 million check if I ever get fired.