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The Legacy of Mike MacIntyre – Head Coach at Colorado, 2013-2018
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Mike MacIntyre was the head coach at the University of Colorado from December 10, 2012, to November 18, 2018. In almost six full seasons as the Buff head coach, MacIntyre accumulated an overall record of 30-44.
Broken down by the numbers, MacIntyre’s legacy is as follows:
— At home: 18-18; on the road: 7-23; neutral sites: 5-3;
— Against non-conference opponents: 16-5; against Pac-12 opponents: 14-39;
— Against unranked teams: 28-24; against ranked opponents: 2-20.
Historic numbers aside, Colorado fans will look back at the Mike MacIntyre era in different ways. For me, his legacy can be broken down as follows:
— Oregon State was MacIntyre’s Waterloo
The Dan Hawkins era at Colorado opened with a thud in 2006, with a season-opening loss to Montana State. Hawkins survived, however, to coach well into the 2010 season, when a 52-45 loss to Kansas resulted in his firing with three games still remaining on the schedule.
It was bad enough that Hawkins lost to Kansas. It was the way the Buffs lost to the Jayhawks which was his ultimate undoing.
Colorado had a 45-17 lead against the hapless Jayhawks … in the fourth quarter. Remarkably, Kansas ran off 35 straight points,in the final 11 minutes, winning 52-45, and sealing the fate of Dan Hawkins.
“We thought the game was over [at halftime],” said CU running back Rodney Stewart, who rushed for 177 yards and three touchdowns against the Jayhawks. “We thought they were going to give up, but they never did.”
Kansas did rally, and Dan Hawkins was out of a job.
Fast forward to October 27, 2018. Colorado, 5-2 on the season, and still confident, leads Oregon State, 31-3, early in the third quarter. This was not unexpected, as Oregon State had not defeated an FBS team since 2016.
Instead of folding, the Beavers rallied, eventually winning in overtime, 41-34.
It wasn’t only the loss that cost Mike MacIntyre his job. It was the way the Buffs lost to the Beavers.
“I guess you’d call this a gut-wrencher,” CU coach Mike MacIntyre said after his Buffaloes matched the Kansas debacle as the worst come-from-head loss in school history. “We were rolling,” MacIntyre said, “and the wheels just rolled right off.”
It took a few more weeks, but the Oregon State game was MacIntyre’s ultimate downfall. Had the Buffs defeated the Beavers, a sixth win and a bowl bid would have been secured … and MacIntyre may have kept his job into the 2019 season.
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— The 2016 season was a fluke
Had Mike MacIntyre continued on as the head coach at Colorado, he may have had the chance to show that the 2016 season, in which the Buffs posted a 10-4 overall record, 8-1 in Pac-12 play, was not an anomaly, but a precursor of great seasons to come.
Now we will never know.
With last place finishes in the Pac-12 South division in five of his six seasons at Colorado, there is no other way to look at the 2016 season and Mike MacIntyre and see it as anything other than a fluke.
In 2016, the Buffs went 8-1 in Pac-12 play – 8-2 if you count the loss to Washington in the Pac-12 title game.
In Mike MacIntyre’s other five seasons, the Buffs went 6-37, never winning more than two Pac-12 conference games in any other year.
Finishing last has become customary for Colorado as a member of the Pac-12, but it is worth noting that has never been the norm before.
In CU’s entire run as a member of the Big Seven, the Big Eight, and the Big 12, Colorado never finished alone in last place in the conference, or in a division of the conference.
That bears repeating: The Buffs, in over 60 years of conference play in the Big Seven, the Big Eight, and Big 12, never finished alone in last place.
The only other school from those conferences who can make a similar claim is Oklahoma (Nebraska, in 1957, went 1-9, 1-5 in Big Seven play, with records for losing not matched until earlier this season).
Now, there are high school recruits out there today who have only seen Colorado as a national factor once since they were in elementary school. The remainder of their formative years have been spent watching the Buffs lose game after game after game.
That will be Mike MacIntyre’s legacy at Colorado … not the 2016 season.
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— Nice guys finish last
The actual quote from Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher was: “The nice guys are all over there, in seventh place”, referring to the 1946 New York Giants, who were in seventh place in July, 1946, when the comment was made.
The quote has been shortened to “nice guys finish last”, and has been universally accepted to mean that teams, coaches and players who are nice guys are not the ones to win championships.
In the context of Mike MacIntyre’s history at Colorado, there is no issue that MacIntyre tended to finish last – see above.
But as to the “nice guy” part, that had just as much a part in his undoing as did the finishing last part.
It’s hard to find a person who has anything bad to say about Mike MacIntyre as a person. He truly cares about his players. About their education, about their future, about their development as athletes.
Mike MacIntyre is also loyal … to a fault.
His loyalty to his longtime assistant coaches may have cost him his job.
Over the past few seasons, MacIntyre brought in some new assistant coaches, coaches who were more energetic, had new ideas … and could recruit.
Other coaches, particularly those along both the offensive and defensive lines, however, remained too long, and it has cost the program. The offensive line the past two seasons has been a disaster, and the defensive line, while it may positive strides in 2018, is still a liability.
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Every coach is hired to be fired. That’s the nature of the business.
The Buff Nation had great hopes for Mike MacIntyre in 2012, but the results were just not there.
While the rest of the college football world has forgotten about the University of Colorado football program, we know of its potential.
I’ll leave you with one other historical fact …
— In every decade the University of Colorado has played football – save one – the Buffs have won at least one conference championship. Dating back to the 1890’s, CU has won 26 conference titles, tied for the 10th-most in college football history. Only during the 1950’s, when Bud Wilkinson’s Oklahoma Sooners dominated not only the Big Seven, but the nation, were the Buffs unable to post at least one conference title.
The Buffs came close to posting their first of the 2010’s during the 2016 season, but fell short in the Pac-12 title game. When the Buffs opened the 2018 season with a 5-0 record and a national ranking, the possibility of the Buffs at least making it to the title game was not out of the question. With so many of the Buffs being underclassmen, it seemed that, if the Buffs couldn’t win in 2018, a run in 2019 was a real possibility.
That was so six weeks ago.
Now the Buffs are looking at yet another last place finish in the Pac-12 South. Another season in which there are more disappointments than successes.
Colorado will only have one more chance in the 2010’s to post a conference championship. Perhaps CU’s new coach will light a spark underneath his charges, and the Buffs will find themselves back in the national spotlight.
But … probably not.
Colorado, in the 2019 preseason magazines, will likely be picked to finish last in the Pac-12 South … again.
And that’s Mike MacIntyre’s legacy …
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Stuart
Continue reading...
The Legacy of Mike MacIntyre – Head Coach at Colorado, 2013-2018
—
Mike MacIntyre was the head coach at the University of Colorado from December 10, 2012, to November 18, 2018. In almost six full seasons as the Buff head coach, MacIntyre accumulated an overall record of 30-44.
Broken down by the numbers, MacIntyre’s legacy is as follows:
— At home: 18-18; on the road: 7-23; neutral sites: 5-3;
— Against non-conference opponents: 16-5; against Pac-12 opponents: 14-39;
— Against unranked teams: 28-24; against ranked opponents: 2-20.
Historic numbers aside, Colorado fans will look back at the Mike MacIntyre era in different ways. For me, his legacy can be broken down as follows:
— Oregon State was MacIntyre’s Waterloo
The Dan Hawkins era at Colorado opened with a thud in 2006, with a season-opening loss to Montana State. Hawkins survived, however, to coach well into the 2010 season, when a 52-45 loss to Kansas resulted in his firing with three games still remaining on the schedule.
It was bad enough that Hawkins lost to Kansas. It was the way the Buffs lost to the Jayhawks which was his ultimate undoing.
Colorado had a 45-17 lead against the hapless Jayhawks … in the fourth quarter. Remarkably, Kansas ran off 35 straight points,in the final 11 minutes, winning 52-45, and sealing the fate of Dan Hawkins.
“We thought the game was over [at halftime],” said CU running back Rodney Stewart, who rushed for 177 yards and three touchdowns against the Jayhawks. “We thought they were going to give up, but they never did.”
Kansas did rally, and Dan Hawkins was out of a job.
Fast forward to October 27, 2018. Colorado, 5-2 on the season, and still confident, leads Oregon State, 31-3, early in the third quarter. This was not unexpected, as Oregon State had not defeated an FBS team since 2016.
Instead of folding, the Beavers rallied, eventually winning in overtime, 41-34.
It wasn’t only the loss that cost Mike MacIntyre his job. It was the way the Buffs lost to the Beavers.
“I guess you’d call this a gut-wrencher,” CU coach Mike MacIntyre said after his Buffaloes matched the Kansas debacle as the worst come-from-head loss in school history. “We were rolling,” MacIntyre said, “and the wheels just rolled right off.”
It took a few more weeks, but the Oregon State game was MacIntyre’s ultimate downfall. Had the Buffs defeated the Beavers, a sixth win and a bowl bid would have been secured … and MacIntyre may have kept his job into the 2019 season.
—
— The 2016 season was a fluke
Had Mike MacIntyre continued on as the head coach at Colorado, he may have had the chance to show that the 2016 season, in which the Buffs posted a 10-4 overall record, 8-1 in Pac-12 play, was not an anomaly, but a precursor of great seasons to come.
Now we will never know.
With last place finishes in the Pac-12 South division in five of his six seasons at Colorado, there is no other way to look at the 2016 season and Mike MacIntyre and see it as anything other than a fluke.
In 2016, the Buffs went 8-1 in Pac-12 play – 8-2 if you count the loss to Washington in the Pac-12 title game.
In Mike MacIntyre’s other five seasons, the Buffs went 6-37, never winning more than two Pac-12 conference games in any other year.
Finishing last has become customary for Colorado as a member of the Pac-12, but it is worth noting that has never been the norm before.
In CU’s entire run as a member of the Big Seven, the Big Eight, and the Big 12, Colorado never finished alone in last place in the conference, or in a division of the conference.
That bears repeating: The Buffs, in over 60 years of conference play in the Big Seven, the Big Eight, and Big 12, never finished alone in last place.
The only other school from those conferences who can make a similar claim is Oklahoma (Nebraska, in 1957, went 1-9, 1-5 in Big Seven play, with records for losing not matched until earlier this season).
Now, there are high school recruits out there today who have only seen Colorado as a national factor once since they were in elementary school. The remainder of their formative years have been spent watching the Buffs lose game after game after game.
That will be Mike MacIntyre’s legacy at Colorado … not the 2016 season.
—
— Nice guys finish last
The actual quote from Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher was: “The nice guys are all over there, in seventh place”, referring to the 1946 New York Giants, who were in seventh place in July, 1946, when the comment was made.
The quote has been shortened to “nice guys finish last”, and has been universally accepted to mean that teams, coaches and players who are nice guys are not the ones to win championships.
In the context of Mike MacIntyre’s history at Colorado, there is no issue that MacIntyre tended to finish last – see above.
But as to the “nice guy” part, that had just as much a part in his undoing as did the finishing last part.
It’s hard to find a person who has anything bad to say about Mike MacIntyre as a person. He truly cares about his players. About their education, about their future, about their development as athletes.
Mike MacIntyre is also loyal … to a fault.
His loyalty to his longtime assistant coaches may have cost him his job.
Over the past few seasons, MacIntyre brought in some new assistant coaches, coaches who were more energetic, had new ideas … and could recruit.
Other coaches, particularly those along both the offensive and defensive lines, however, remained too long, and it has cost the program. The offensive line the past two seasons has been a disaster, and the defensive line, while it may positive strides in 2018, is still a liability.
—
Every coach is hired to be fired. That’s the nature of the business.
The Buff Nation had great hopes for Mike MacIntyre in 2012, but the results were just not there.
While the rest of the college football world has forgotten about the University of Colorado football program, we know of its potential.
I’ll leave you with one other historical fact …
— In every decade the University of Colorado has played football – save one – the Buffs have won at least one conference championship. Dating back to the 1890’s, CU has won 26 conference titles, tied for the 10th-most in college football history. Only during the 1950’s, when Bud Wilkinson’s Oklahoma Sooners dominated not only the Big Seven, but the nation, were the Buffs unable to post at least one conference title.
The Buffs came close to posting their first of the 2010’s during the 2016 season, but fell short in the Pac-12 title game. When the Buffs opened the 2018 season with a 5-0 record and a national ranking, the possibility of the Buffs at least making it to the title game was not out of the question. With so many of the Buffs being underclassmen, it seemed that, if the Buffs couldn’t win in 2018, a run in 2019 was a real possibility.
That was so six weeks ago.
Now the Buffs are looking at yet another last place finish in the Pac-12 South. Another season in which there are more disappointments than successes.
Colorado will only have one more chance in the 2010’s to post a conference championship. Perhaps CU’s new coach will light a spark underneath his charges, and the Buffs will find themselves back in the national spotlight.
But … probably not.
Colorado, in the 2019 preseason magazines, will likely be picked to finish last in the Pac-12 South … again.
And that’s Mike MacIntyre’s legacy …
–
—–
Stuart
Continue reading...