The most obvious one is that MacIntyre’s on-field results were down for a while, then briefly way up, then down again. His handling of abuse allegations against a former assistant may play some role, too.
Denver’s ABC affiliate reported early Tuesday that Colorado is firing head football coach Mike MacIntyre. That report does not appear to be true, at least not now:
Statement from Colorado AD Rick George on Mike MacIntyre report: “We do not comment on speculation or unsubstantiated rumors with anonymous sources. Let me just say I have made no decisions regarding the future of the football program.”
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) November 13, 2018
As conversation swirls about MacIntyre’s potential exit, here’s an overview of what Colorado might be thinking as it decides on the coach’s future.
Firing MacIntyre would end of the most down-and-up (but mostly down) coaching tenures of the decade at any Power 5 school.
MacIntyre has been in charge for six seasons, and four of them (so far) have not been good.
He took over an obviously rebuilding program before the 2013 season and went 4-8, which was a three-win improvement on predecessor Jon Embree’s last year. The Buffaloes dropped to 2-10 in MacIntyre’s season season, 2014, and didn’t appear to be making much progress when they bounced back to 4-9 in 2015. He’d been the coach for three years and lost big in each.
Everything came together in 2016, when the Buffs went 10-2 before losing big to Washington in the Pac-12 title game and Oklahoma State in the Alamo Bowl. MacIntyre won the Associated Press’ Coach of the Year award. Quarterback Sefo Liufau developed into one of the better QBs in the country, and the future looked bright after his graduation following the season. The Buffs had an impressive, rising backup QB in Steven Montez, and they still had running back Phillip Lindsay, now a Broncos star.
But the team regressed significantly anyway, to 5-7, in 2017. And things haven’t gotten better this year, with a 5-0 start against a bunch of bad teams (Colorado State, Nebraska, FCS New Hampshire, UCLA) and one decent team (Arizona State) giving way to a five-game losing streak immediately after that. MacIntyre had fallen into the secondextended rut of his time in Boulder, and two multi-year droughts is enough to get most coaches fired.
One variable here: Colorado’s results in its last two games. The Buffs still have games against Utah and at Cal. They’re underdogs in both, but S&P+ says there’s a 50 percent chance they win one and finish 6-6. If they won both (an 8 percent chance, per S&P+), this year would look like a nice little step forward. Losing both (42 percent) would mean finishing on a seven-game losing streak and making no tangible progress.
The school would have to pay MacIntyre more than $10 million in buyout money, according to USA Today’s accounting. That would make him one of the year’s more expensive firings. He got a contract extension in 2017. CU blog Ralphie Report says:
After signing that extension, MacIntyre struggled to bring Colorado back to prominence. It’s uncertain exactly why, but even with sparkling recruiting classes and NFL-caliber talent, the Buffs have been unable to replicate sustainable on-field success. Perhaps Colorado administration saw a lack of focus and consistency that could be pegged on the coaching staff.
It’s not clear how much it would contribute to his ouster now, but a domestic violence case involving a Colorado assistant has marred MacIntyre’s tenure.
In late 2016, a woman who had been dating safeties coach Joe Tumpkin accused Tumpkin of abusing her. She notified MacIntyre of her allegations that December. She later sued the head coach, as well as the school’s athletic director, president, and chancellor, alleging they didn’t properly handle her charge against Tumpkin, whom prosecutors would file felony charges against. They’ve since offered Tumpkin a misdemeanor plea deal.
A federal judge dropped MacIntyre and CU’s other staff from the accuser’s civil suit but criticized their handling of the case anyway. CU’s board of regents ordered MacIntyre to pay a $100,000 fine to an anti-domestic violence advocacy group. MacIntyre stayed on the job after that, and the school’s public posture was that the case had been opened and shut.
The school’s unlikely to say anything more about it, and MacIntyre’s departure would not be surprising on strictly football terms. It’s worth noting that the school pushed through his extension almost immediately after disciplining him over the Tumpkin matter.
Colorado hasn’t sustained good play since the 1990s, but it might still offer one of the better available jobs this year.
Nobody since Bill McCartney has had the team in national contention for more than a brief spell. There are reasons for that, though the job still has its benefits.
CU is not a blue-blood and will always have less talent than the Pac-12 South’s historical power, USC, and its neighbor UCLA. The Buffs are close enough to both California and Texas, and they’ve established pipelines in both states. Bringing on former CU receiver (and Orange County native) Darrin Chiaverini a few years ago helped MacIntyre recruit California better. But the school still isn’t exactly a power there or in Texas, where dozens of other programs are also scouring the high school scene for talent
On another hand, CU has a lot to offer. It can point to a few great years as evidence that a coach can win there, and that proximity to both California and Texas isn’t nothing. It’s right in the backyard of Denver, a tremendous city that plenty of players might want to live near. The Pac-12 South is a winnable division for as long as USC flounders. Even once USC gets it together, there’s nobody else in the division who should be regularly unbeatable.
It might not be a destination job, but it’s better than a lot of gigs, and crazier things have happened than CU finding the right guy for the job and winning a lot. Maybe the school still thinks that’s MacIntyre, or maybe it doesn’t.