Red Towel Roundtable: Should Mike Sanford be Fired?

We’ve had a couple of days to sit and process the Maine loss. I still can’t believe it and I’m sure most of you still can’t believe it.

There’s been a lot of chatter about the leadership from the sideline of the WKU football team, so I assembled our writing staff to ask the all important question:

Should Mike Sanford be fired?

Fletcher Keel

Readers of this site and followers of our social media account know that all off season I have been one of, if not the, most vocal supporter of Sanford. I thought he’d learn from his mistakes from last year and I believed the talent, as young as it is, would be able to carry the Tops in close situations.

And then the Toppers allowed 31-unanswered points in a loss to Maine.

Frankly, I’m not sure what to say other than I’m singing a different tune. I was once a “I trust that it’s coming,” guy. Now, I’m a “I want to see it before I believe it,” guy.

As to whether he’d be fired, I have mixed feelings/reactions about it. Is it fair to fire a coach over one game? In a vacuum, no.

But, this one game was an example of everything that indicates what the problems with Sanford are that he either can’t or wont address.

He talks a good game and he brings recruits (hell, the Tops got a commit yesterday, three days after that loss) but he has yet to put anything together on the field.

I understand where the struggles came from last season, and we were all singing positive tunes following Wisconsin.

I’m willing to admit that the “Sanford must go now,” thoughts/feelings are exacerbated after losing to an FCS team at home. I’m also willing to admit maybe I put too much trust in either Sanford’s abilities or…any number of other of things.

But, we haven’t seen what we need to see out of him; you know it, I know it, he knows it and the important people who need to know know it.

I’m not going to tell you if he should or shouldn’t be fired, but I will say this; all off season, I was saying if he underwhelmed this year, 2019 would be the year for him to prove he should stay.

Now, I think it’s worth whatever risk to let him loose if the Tops fail to win five.

Jared Rosdeutscher

After sitting on this loss against Maine for a couple of days now, I personally don’t think it’s time for Sanford to be outed…yet.

Was the Maine game a horrendous loss? Absolutely. But is that enough for me to completely give up on him only two games into the season? Not at all.

I’ve seen some terrible coaches before. Believe me, I’ve been a diehard Miami Dolphins fan since 2004. I don’t think Sanford is a bad coach but has made some really bad decisions in some of the most inopportune times possible that in some situations, has cost them the game.

I’ve seen a lot of people bring up the story of how when Willie Taggart was still coach at the Hill in 2011, he lost to a terrible Indiana State team three games into the season but he still managed to coach the team to a 7–5 overall record by the end of the year. He most certainly could’ve lost his job if he didn’t end up with a winning record that season after he went 2–10 in his first year (mostly because he inherited what Elson left behind). Moral of the story was don’t give up this early.

Do I think Sanford is capable of keeping this season from being an absolute disaster? I believe so. He has a lot of young but talented players on his roster that could figure things out soon but the biggest issue for me, along with countless others, is his play calling.

To me, the damning play that sealed the deal again Maine was that atrocious fourth down attempt from their own 15 yardline in the third quarter that was failed and led to Maine scoring a touchdown on the next play. Sanford manned up in the postgame press conference though and said that he didn’t put his team in the best position to succeed with that call but I’m wondering what it will take for make him learn from these kind of mistakes and prevent from making them in the future. That along with several third down play calls that didn’t make sense (such as short passes on third and long) is mostly why people are so upset.

I don’t think it’s fair to write Sanford off just yet but if WKU finishes with less than three wins, he will have a lot to be accountable for. He has said all the right things and has done an amazing job recruiting and relating to his players but if that doesn’t translate to wins, that’s still a problem.

I really hope he can turn things around soon or else his job will be in major jeopardy by the end of this year. To fire him halfway through the season would be completely pointless and even more detrimental to the team so I believe in waiting until the end of the year then we can assess everything with full context and then we can front-flip off a cliff to conclusions.

Matt McCay

I hate to drop the experience card, but as somebody who has experience in the WKU football program, I can’t believe we’re having this conversation already.

But then again, I can’t believe the 4th-and-1 call.

However, from an administration perspective, from an investment perspective, from a locker room perspective, there is NO WAY ON EARTH Coach Sanford should be immediately fired for the loss to Maine. That would be a mistake.

Imagine being Todd Stewart. I’m sure it’s a conundrum, even if (like in some cases) the fans are being overzealous. You have your own unfiltered thoughts, President Caboni, Average Pissed Off Joe, Average Don’t Do Anything Stupid Joe, alumni who care, alumni with egos, alumni with money, alumni with big mouths, egos, and money, and former players, coaches, staff, and admin. THEN you have the current members of the program. How do THEY feel? Are they in meltdown mode? After all of that, don’t forget the huge buyout!

Because of the buyout, you have to ask, “Is it monetarily worth it to be rid of him?” If you are near the beginning of a contract, you better have full on insurrection and an impasse between players, coaches, and/or admin. Do we have that? No.

When the majority starts grumbling, that’s still not time to pull the trigger. When the majority says “Ehh, wouldn’t cry about it if it happened,” it’s still not time. When the majority (or close to it) starts beating down your door demanding his head on a platter and it includes people who definitely know what they’re talking about, then it’s time to make a move. The other time to make an immediate move would be if there is rebellion in the program, and it is deemed irrevocably disastrous.

Sanford asked for this scrutiny himself by making a controversial decision. However, should he be fired right now? Absolutely not. The man made a mistake. Sometimes, our mistakes cost us. This shouldn’t cost him his job, especially considering the job he’s done in everything besides in game strategy.

I was on the team when we lost 44–16 to Indiana State in the third game of the season. People wanted to fire Willie T right then and there. The Tops continued to go 7–5 that year after 2–10, 0–12, and 2–10 years before that.

Let me ask you, WKU diehard: How do you think of Willie Taggart now?

Ross Shircliffe

There is a question of “should” and “can” and unfortunately the latter makes the former nearly impossible. Based on his results and on the field performance there is a heavy evidence that WKU should think about firing him. He has taken an upper tier Conference USA program and run it into the ground. His inexperience, insistence on making it his program and excuses turned off fans before Saturday’s inexcusable loss.

Sanford has repeatedly blown opportunities to win the fan base back from the FAU meltdown to the FIU debacle, to the bowl game no-show, and finally Saturday’s capitulation to FCS Maine, he’s not only lost but has looked generally inept while losing.

Taking an 11-win program to six wins was bad enough. The lack of progress he’s shown from game one to game 15 has been startling. There has been no proof of concept with his “Boise South” style that he’s trying to implement. All but one of his six wins have been too close for comfort (besides the Charlotte game) and WKU is mired in a skid of losing seven of their last eight. The offense hasn’t been consistent once since he took over, leaving the defense exhausted. The lack of a running game is startling and the in-game adjustments (or lack thereof) makes the most patient fan lose faith. This all adds up to a program that is losing confidence and fans by the day.

Despite the fact that Sanford hasn’t shown any proof that he’s building towards turning the program around, WKU just can’t afford to let him go. The program is as cash-strapped as ever and Sanford has a $1.2 million dollar buy-out that he’s owed if he’s let go. Stewart was banking on hiring the next great up and comer but the returns show he’s in over his head thus far. So firing him is a non-starter for now. Sanford still has 10 games left to turn around his fortunes in 2018.

A 4–8 or worse finish will all but guarantee that 2019 is a hot seat season, the rapid decline of a consistently rising program shows that one bad fit can ruin even the most solid of programs.

Sam Gormley

No.

Okay, before you swarm my social media telling me how wrong I am, let me explain myself, but before I do that, I need to come out and say that Saturday’s performance was an embarrassment and was unacceptable. I would be the first to admit that to you, but that game should not be the deciding factor.

Mike Sanford has now coached 15 games on the Hill. Fans might not want to admit it, but other than a few positions last year, he inherited a mess. Sure, he had Mike White on offense and Iggy on defense, but other than that there were a lot of holes on both sides of the ball. The main reason behind that? Jeff Brohm. Don’t get me wrong, the #BrohmSquad was a lot of fun and possibly the best stretch in program history, but Brohm did that with Taggert and Petrino recruits. In all reality, Brohm is a below average recruiter and the Tops are paying the price for that now.

When looking at the depth chart, you see a lot of players on both sides of the ball who are extremely young, some of which are Sanford recruits. This youth is causing a lot of the issues on the team so far.

Sanford is recruiting at a high level as seen through his first two recruiting classes. While he isn’t necessarily rebuilding a program, he is in a way. It is unfair to give a coach only 15 games to decide his destiny. If at the end of the season, things get worse than we can reconvene and discuss again, but right now it shouldn’t be a topic. Unlike basketball, it isn’t easy to insert a brand new system and have immediate success . Sanford’s system is completely different than Brohm’s and fans need to be patient in waiting for him to get players to fit that system.

With all this being said, his seat should be warming up and it will only get hotter unless something is changed.