Post by krazykev on Oct 20, 2008 7:05:25 GMT -5
www.news-record.com/content/2008/10/20/article/sources_at_will_fire_fobbs
N.C. A&T has scheduled a noon news conference today to announce a decision about its football program. Sources close to the situation said Sunday night that Lee Fobbs Jr., who is eight games into his third season as the Aggies coach, will be fired.
Fobbs, 58, will receive the full amount of his contract, which includes an option the school picked up for next season, sources said.
The source indicated an assistant coach, probably running backs coach George Ragsdale, would coach the team in its final four games, including Saturday's home game against Howard.
A&T struggled in Fobbs' first two seasons, losing all 22 games to stretch the school's record losing streak to 27 straight dating to 2005, the last season of coach George Small, an A&T alum. Small had been hired in 2003 to take over for fired coach Bill Hayes, the winningest coach in school history. Hayes is now the athletics director at Florida A&M, a school in A&T's league, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Small went 16-19 in three seasons, taking the Aggies to the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs in his first season.
Fobbs, 2-28 in three seasons at A&T and 2-6 this season, was hired by former athletics director Delores "Dee" Todd" who was relieved of her duties last November. Interim AD Wheeler Brown has been in charge of the Aggies athletics department since. A&T also changed chancellors during Fobbs' tenure. Neither Brown nor Fobbs could be reached for comment Sunday night.
A source said coaches would be officially informed of the decision in a meeting this morning, and players would be informed in a separate meeting around 10 a.m.
Several people close to A&T athletics contacted Sunday said the decision had been made originally to address the coaching situation after the season, in part because of the continuity issue of a midseason change and also the health of Fobbs's wife, Dr. Sheila Fobbs, who is employed at A&T as a professor in education.
Mrs. Fobbs underwent exploratory surgery two weeks ago, and the coach said last week that the surgery went well.
When named the 14th head football coach in A&T history, Fobbs had been coaching for 30 years, coaching on the high school, Division I-AA and Division I-A levels. A 1973 graduate of Grambling University, he began his career as a graduate assistant for legendary Grambling coach Eddie Robinson. Fobbs left Grambling to coach his high school alma mater, Louisiana Carrol High School, where he led his team to the state quarterfinals and semifinals his last two seasons there.
In 2005, he was the running backs coach at Texas A&M, and after his hiring at A&T he was named as an assistant in the prestigious Hula Bowl, which matches senior college players from around the nation in an all-star game in front of professional scouts.
Fobbs coached in bowl games while at A&M and at Alabama. As a player, he was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the eighth round in 1973, and he also played professionally in the Canadian Football League and the World Football League.
Fobbs received a masters degree in sports administration at Grambling in 1976 and was later named athletics director at Carroll High School as he began his coaching career.
N.C. A&T has scheduled a noon news conference today to announce a decision about its football program. Sources close to the situation said Sunday night that Lee Fobbs Jr., who is eight games into his third season as the Aggies coach, will be fired.
Fobbs, 58, will receive the full amount of his contract, which includes an option the school picked up for next season, sources said.
The source indicated an assistant coach, probably running backs coach George Ragsdale, would coach the team in its final four games, including Saturday's home game against Howard.
A&T struggled in Fobbs' first two seasons, losing all 22 games to stretch the school's record losing streak to 27 straight dating to 2005, the last season of coach George Small, an A&T alum. Small had been hired in 2003 to take over for fired coach Bill Hayes, the winningest coach in school history. Hayes is now the athletics director at Florida A&M, a school in A&T's league, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Small went 16-19 in three seasons, taking the Aggies to the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs in his first season.
Fobbs, 2-28 in three seasons at A&T and 2-6 this season, was hired by former athletics director Delores "Dee" Todd" who was relieved of her duties last November. Interim AD Wheeler Brown has been in charge of the Aggies athletics department since. A&T also changed chancellors during Fobbs' tenure. Neither Brown nor Fobbs could be reached for comment Sunday night.
A source said coaches would be officially informed of the decision in a meeting this morning, and players would be informed in a separate meeting around 10 a.m.
Several people close to A&T athletics contacted Sunday said the decision had been made originally to address the coaching situation after the season, in part because of the continuity issue of a midseason change and also the health of Fobbs's wife, Dr. Sheila Fobbs, who is employed at A&T as a professor in education.
Mrs. Fobbs underwent exploratory surgery two weeks ago, and the coach said last week that the surgery went well.
When named the 14th head football coach in A&T history, Fobbs had been coaching for 30 years, coaching on the high school, Division I-AA and Division I-A levels. A 1973 graduate of Grambling University, he began his career as a graduate assistant for legendary Grambling coach Eddie Robinson. Fobbs left Grambling to coach his high school alma mater, Louisiana Carrol High School, where he led his team to the state quarterfinals and semifinals his last two seasons there.
In 2005, he was the running backs coach at Texas A&M, and after his hiring at A&T he was named as an assistant in the prestigious Hula Bowl, which matches senior college players from around the nation in an all-star game in front of professional scouts.
Fobbs coached in bowl games while at A&M and at Alabama. As a player, he was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the eighth round in 1973, and he also played professionally in the Canadian Football League and the World Football League.
Fobbs received a masters degree in sports administration at Grambling in 1976 and was later named athletics director at Carroll High School as he began his coaching career.
