HARRIS GETS THE AXE
Football head coach out after 6-17 record in two years at the helm
By ALEX GYR, MANAGING EDITOR
Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby announced Monday that head football coach Walt Harris would not be returning after just two seasons at the helm of the program.
Bowlsby made the official announcement immediately after meeting with Harris early Monday morning. The Athletic Director cited the team’s lack of development over the last two seasons as the primary reason for the split.
“I have made the decision after consulting with a wide number of people that the time is right to make a change in our football leadership,” Bowlsby said. “I have appreciated my relationship with Walt Harris and his staff and have appreciated all their hard work. This was a tough year, but in some respect this decision wasn’t made as a result of being 1-11 as much as it was a result of us not seeing the kind of critical progress that we would have hoped for in two years.”
Harris led the Cardinal to a 6-17 record in his two seasons on The Farm — a brief tenure characterized by disappointing defeats. After falling one win short of a bowl berth in 2005 with a 5-6 record, the Cardinal were among the worst teams in the nation in 2006. The squad suffered losses to both San Jose State and Division I-AA UC-Davis in the past two seasons and, perhaps more importantly, were 0-2 against UC-Berkeley under Harris.
Injuries were a major factor in the Cardinal’s struggles throughout the 2006 season. Receivers Mark Bradford and Evan Moore spent most of season out with foot injuries. Fulllback Nick Frank was forced to retire from football due to narrowing vertebrae in his spine and senior quarterback Trent Edwards missed the last five games of the season with a broken bone in his foot.
“There were things that were not of Walt’s making that he didn’t have a whole lot of control over,” Bowlsby said. “But in the end it was my belief that we ought to start fresh to do all the big things and all the small things that it takes to return Stanford football to its appropriate position of competitiveness.”
Waning support from fans and boosters may have also doomed Harris. The new, $90 million Stanford Stadium was mostly empty throughout the season as many fans displayed their disappointment with the program by not using their tickets.
“People vote with their pocketbooks and they vote with their feet,” Bowlsby said. “The last game against Oregon State, we probably had 12,000 people in the stands. Fortunately we did sell 34,000 tickets. One has to wonder those people that had $45 tickets and didn’t care to come to the game will want to buy them again next year. To be honest, I have to say that declining attendance and fan support certainly were a factor in this decision.”
Harris has three more years left on his original five-year contract. Bowlsby said that he was still in negotiations with Harris to put together fair terms of separation. All assistant coaches are under contract until June 30, 2007 and their contracts will be honored.
Former Athletic Director Ted Leland hired Harris in 2005, following a lengthy search process after the firing of former coach Buddy Teevens. Prior to heading up the Cardinal, Harris spent eight seasons with Pittsburgh, where he led the Panthers to six bowl games, including the Fiesta Bowl in 2004. But he failed to duplicate that same level of success in the short time that he spent at Stanford.
“I’d like to thank Stanford University for the opportunity to come back home and coach at Stanford,” Harris said. “Regretfully, I leave with a heavy heart, because we didn’t get the job done. I wish the Stanford players and the program the best of luck as they rebuild.”
Bowlsby met with the current players immediately following the announcement to outline what he was looking for in a new coach. He highlighted strong recruiting and the ability to take advantage of Stanford’s unique situation as musts for a new coach.
“We need a person that is a relentless recruiter,” Bowlsby said. “All our coaches in all our sports are assigned with the same task — they have to find the student athlete from all over the country that is academically capable of benefiting from a Stanford education and athletically gifted enough to play in a top program. We need someone that goes out and does that enthusiastically and can do that so we can compete in the Pac-10.”
“This is a unique place,” junior quarterback T.C. Ostrander said. “We need a coach that is going to embrace that. There is no way that they can fight what makes this program different and still be successful.”
Bowlsby refused to name any possible replacements for Harris, but he did emphasize that the process would move quickly.
“We are going about the process of identifying candidates,” Bowlsby said. “Every athletic director has a short list in their back pocket, and I have mine. I am not prepared to share at this point, but we are going about the process so I would hope to be all done with the search in about two weeks.”
Bowlsby said he will personally meet with any current recruits who wish to speak with him about the situation.
“No one will ever say that Coach Harris didn’t want to win or succeed,” senior receiver Evan Moore said. “But we have to do what is best for the program and get over it, move on and keep working.”