Caragher out as football coach
Under former head coach Mike MacIntyre, San Jose State improved from a onewin squad to a 10-win team from 2010 to 2012.
Unfortunately for Ron Caragher, who succeeded MacIntyre as the Spartans’ head coach, that success didn’t continue. As a result, Caragher was fired Sunday after four seasons during which the Spartans did not break .500.
Caragher had one year left on a five-year contract and is owed $525,000.
“I want to thank Coach Caragher for his hard work and commitment to San Jose State football these past four years,” athletic director Gene Bleymaier said in a release. “A search for a new head coach will begin immediately.”
Caragher had followed Jim Harbaugh as head coach at the University of San Diego and led the school to eight or more wins in four of his six seasons there, compiling a 44-22 record.
But at San Jose State, things were a bit rougher. The best he could do was 6-6 in 2013. In 2015, the Spartans went 6-7 and won a bowl game. This season, San Jose State was 4-8, including 3-5 in the Mountain West Conference.
Caragher exits with a 19-30 record at the school, a tenure that concluded with a 16-14 win Saturday at Fresno State.
After that game, Caragher talked about the positives that he saw.
“I’m excited — a great win for the Spartans in a ‘rival game,’ ” he said. “I was very encouraged by the way our team played.”
During Caragher’s tenure, the Spartans struggled for consistency. The team ranked as high as 15th (in 2013) in total offense among 123 FBS schools, but is just 95th nationally this season. And though the defense ranked only 103rd nationally in 2013 and improved to 32nd in 2014, the Spartans are 84th defensively this season.
Caragher’s first season at San Jose State, which produced a 6-6 record, featured some memorable games — including a 58-52 three-overtime loss to Navy and a season-ending 62-52 win over 16th-ranked Fresno State and quarterback Derek Carr.
The Spartans slipped to 3-9 in 2014, a season in which they lost their final six games and totaled just 14 points over the final three games.
Though San Jose State was 5-7 during the 2015 regular season, the Spartans received a bid to the AutoNation Cure Bowl in Orlando, where they defeated Georgia State 27-16.
This year, the Spartans started 1-5 en route to their 4-8 finish.