Comments (0) | |

Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009

Macon native Hatcher fired by Georgia Southern

STATESBORO — Beating The Citadel wasn’t good enough for Georgia Southern head football coach Chris Hatcher to keep his job.

About an hour after the conclusion of the Eagles’ 13-7 win over the Bulldogs on Saturday, it was announced that Hatcher’s contract was not being renewed.

It was a shocking development as Hatcher was concluding his third season as the head coach of the Eagles after seven years at Valdosta State, where he was 76-12 with one national championship under his belt.

In three seasons with the Eagles, the Macon native was 18-15 and 12-11 in the Southern Conference.

Athletics director Sam Baker said the school would conduct a national search and would move as quickly as possible in naming a replacement.

The new coach will be Georgia Southern’s third coach since Mike Sewak, now an assistant coach at Georgia Tech, was fired following the 2005 season after an 8-5 record and a trip to the FCS playoffs. That was the last year the Eagles were in the playoffs.

Hatcher was informed of the decision by Baker and Ron Core, vice president for business and administration at Georgia Southern, after he had finished taping his coaches television show.

Core, said Baker, is his immediate supervisor, and they both report to outgoing president Bruce Grube, who is retiring effective Dec. 1.

Grube’s replacement is Brooks A. Keel, who was previously the vice chancellor for research and economic development at LSU.

“We have had ongoing discussions this past week,” Baker said. “The outcome of the game with The Citadel had no bearing on the decision.

“We felt we must move as quickly as possible to do this. We felt we owed it to the (new) coach and the program. In getting a new coach hired now, we will give him every opportunity to put together a staff and recruit. It’s very, very important he be able to go out and get a good recruiting class.

Hatcher, said Baker, was shocked by the decision and was not available for comment. Hatcher was hired by Baker to replace current Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder, who quit after going 3-8 in his lone season.

The Eagles have a record national six national championships, but have gone only 21-23 the past four seasons.

“We’re not a turnstile for coaches,” Baker said. “We had high hopes and anticipation for this season, but it never got going. We just felt it was an appropriate time to make the change.

“We did not make this decision with a successor in mind. We’ve got some ideas in mind, but we want someone who is energetic, can work within the university, go out and win and get our fan base back to being excited.”

Grube also was at the news conference, and he said he had been in discussion with Keel, and he was in complete agreement with the decision and was supportive of Baker.

Grube also addressed the issue of purported increased admissions standards as being a hindrance in recruiting. The minimum SAT score for gaining admission to Georgia Southern is 1,000. But exceptions can and have been made for admitting athletes.

“I’m not amused by the chatter out there,” he said. “Since Coach Hatcher has been here we have made 18 super exceptions to admit football players. So they have been able to get players into school.

“But, only 40 percent of those admitted are still in school,” Grube said. “When you bring in students you have an obligation to them.”

“It’s painful to do,” Baker said of the decision to release Hatcher. “I’m accountable on decisions, and when we hired him we felt it was the right decision at that time. My job is to run the athletic department.”