San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
HOKE’S DEPARTURE HANDLED WELL
Football program does better than it had with coaches in the past
San Diego State has learned a little something about coaching changes over the past five decades.
Like how to — and how not to — publicly announce them.
With a beautiful sunset as the background after Monday afternoon’s practice, Brady Hoke spoke to gathered media members about leaving. “It’s time, believe me” to retire, he said.
Contrast that to the surreal scene that unfolded 43 years ago Saturday, when SDSU fired head coach Claude Gilbert during the weekly gathering of sportswriters and sportscasters at San Diego Stadium. It happened with 50 of Gilbert’s Aztecs players in the back of the room supporting him with a signed petition, Chargers coach Don Coryell coming down from his office to blast the SDSU administration and the Aztecs’ athletic director fumbling for an explanation.
“I cannot believe how blind, how stupid, some people are,” Coryell said. “Here you have a coach — one of the best coaches in the country — and they fired him.”
And this: “They do not know what the problem is. To get rid of this coach — the best damn coach they could possibly get here — is not going to solve their problems. They’ve got their heads so far into the ground they cannot see.
And this: “I’ll tell you, that school should take stock of itself — the community, too — and decide just what the hell they want.”
Asked what he was going to do, Gilbert said: “I’m gonna drive into the mountains and talk to a cow. I’m gonna watch a butterfly and listen to a bird sing. And, after I’m done with that, I’m gonna find an ol’ coach another coaching job.”
Gilbert was hired the following season at San Jose State, which just happened to be Saturday’s opponent.
SDSU has had 10 coaching changes during its Division I era. Following the 1972 season, Coryell moved to the NFL to coach the St. Louis Cardinals and Gilbert — a longtime assistant — replaced him.
Monday’s announcement that Hoke will not return next season is the fifth change announced before the season ended.
The other four coaches — Gilbert, Denny Stolz, Ted Tollner and Chuck Long — all won their games on the way out the door.
Gilbert, whose 1980 Aztecs lost eight of their first nine games, defeated New Mexico 2422 and Utah 21-20 to finish 3-8.
Stolz took SDSU to the 1986 Holiday Bowl in his first season
San Diego State AD John David Wicker (center) announces the retirement of football coach Rocky Long (left) and the hiring of Brady Hoke as Long’s replacement in 2020.
as coach, but was fired just two years later.
“You got the president of the university in Jack Murphy Stadium hugging you to death and not even two seasons later you’re gone. Damn,” Stolz told the Los Angeles Times in 1991.
His dismissal was announced with one game remaining in the season, which the Aztecs won 18-10 at New Mexico to finish 3-8.
Stolz had three years left on his contract. When the two sides couldn’t work out a settlement, he was reassigned as the men’s golf coach in order to earn his $70,272 salary.
Stolz, then 56, never coached again. He died in May.
Tollner spent eight years as an SDSU assistant coach (197380) and eight years as head coach (1994-2001).
The 2001 season came to a close with a 38-16 home win over Wyoming, completing a second straight 3-8 season. Tollner’s firing was announced the week of the game.
“The last two years, we have not got it done,” Tollner said at the time. “To have five wins over two seasons coming into our last game is not acceptable. I understand that . ... I’m just disappointed, extremely disappointed, because this program is so important to me.”
Tollner served as an assistant coach for three NFL teams over the remainder of the decade, concluding his career in 2010 as passing game coordinator for the Raiders.
SDSU had three losing seasons from 2006-08 under Long, who won a total of nine games on The Mesa. The last game was a surprising 42-21 home win over UNLV.
Long, like Stolz, couldn’t reach an agreement on a settlement. His contract had two years remaining and did not provide a buyout if he left for another
job earlier.
He remained at the school for more than a year doing “projects and analysis” in order to receive his $715,900 annual salary.
The sides reached an agreement the second year. Long would receive his salary, minus any compensation he received from another job. He then was hired as offensive coordinator at Kansas, providing SDSU a savings of $350,000.
Postseason firings
SDSU waited until after the season — just hours after in each case — before announcing the firings of Doug Scovil (after going 5-6-1 in 1985), Al Luginbill (after going 6-6 in 1993) and Tom Craft (after going 5-7 in 2005).
Scovil broke the news to the team during a layover in the San Francisco Airport on the way back from a season-ending 10-10 tie in Hawaii.
“It was a very emotional meeting,” SDSU junior quarterback Jim Plum said at the time. “He told us, ‘I’m going to miss all of you. I really love you guys.’ A lot of guys broke down. The sad part is the way he got fired. It was just handled badly. Hey, the man gave it his best shot.”
Scovil was hired as quarterbacks coach the following year by the Philadelphia Eagles. He died in 1989 at Veterans Stadium when he had a heart attack moments after riding an exercise bike.
In 1993, Luginbill was fired following a 43-38 home loss to Wyoming that ended a 6-6 season with a fourth straight loss.
Luginbill likely would have returned, but he was asked to fire five assistant coaches, refused and was fired.
Luginbill went on to coach in NFL Europe, the XFL and Arena Football League. He returned to college in 2018, serving as director of player personnel for Herm Edwards at Arizona
State.
Craft, SDSU’S quarterback from 1975-76, was fired after a 4938 loss to Hawaii completed his third losing season in four years. He has been the head coach at Riverside City College since 2010.
Leaving on their terms
Only Hoke (the first time) and Rocky Long have left SDSU on their terms.
Hoke’s first tour of SDSU included a 4-8 debut in 2009 before going 9-4 in 2010.
The turnaround year was capped by a 35-14 win over Navy in the Poinsettia Bowl, SDSU’S first postseason appearance in 12 years.
Three weeks later, Hoke was hired as head coach at Michigan, where he coached four seasons before being fired.
Long hired Hoke as his defensive line coach in 2019. Rocky then turned the program over to Hoke in January 2020 after guiding the Aztecs to nine straight bowl appearances.
Long was hired as defensive coordinator at New Mexico just a couple weeks after leaving SDSU. He was hired this year as defensive coordinator at Syracuse.
Proper send-off
In 1981, after talking to a cow, watching a butterfly and listening to a bird, Gilbert went and got a job as San Jose State’s defensive coordinator.
He was the Spartans’ head coach from 1984-89, highlighted by a pair of 10-2 seasons.
Gilbert concluded his coaching career at SDSU. He was Tollner’s defensive coordinator from 1995-99.
The Aztecs beat Wyoming 39-7 at Qualcomm Stadium in Gilbert’s final game.
He was carried off the field by the players.