Posted on 11/11/2003 7:14:06 AM PST by stainlessbanner
Changes made after bad performances on and off the playing field.
ORLANDO -- Central Florida football coach Mike Kruczek was fired Monday as the team struggled with a sub-par record on the field and problems with player behavior off it.
He will be replaced by assistant coach Alan Gooch for the final two games.
A combination of onfield and off-field events led to the decision to fire Krucek, said athletic director Steve Orsini.
Kruczek had been with the program for 19 years. He wasn't available to talk to reporters, said assistant athletic director John Marini.
Kruczek had signed a three-year extension in April to keep him at UCF through the 2007 season. The university agreed to pay the remainder of his contract, about $185,000 for each of the next four years.
The Golden Knights (3-7, 2-4 Mid-American Conference) are assured of their first losing season since 1999.
In the past week, Kruczek suspended five players, including starting quarterback Ryan Schneider, for off-the-field disciplinary problems. Schneider and two others were suspended for the season.
Another player, cornerback Omar Laurence, has been suspended indefinitely pending criminal charges that he brought a gun on campus.
"This has nothing to do with anything Mike did as far as NCAA rules, university rules," Orsini said. "I felt in my decision that we weren't going in the right direction. ... Sometimes hard decisions like this have to be made."
The department wanted to move ahead in its search for a new coach, Orsini said.
"We made this decision now so that we could go through the proper hiring process because it takes time," Orsini said. "We want to have someone in place before the end of the recruiting season."
In five-plus seasons, Kruczek posted a 36-30 record. He had spent 13 seasons as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at UCF before 1998.
Kruczek led UCF into the MidAmerican Conference last season, posting a 6-2 league record. UCF was an independent previously and is due to join Conference USA in 2005.
Gooch, who said he would apply for the permanent job, acknowledged it has been a tough week for the program.
"It has been a little bit of a ride," he said. "But again, how you handle adversity determines your success."
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