College Football 2011:Most Shocking Coach Firings and Resignations in History

Coaches are supposed to be leaders, the guys who keep players focused and grounded in whatever goals they are aiming for.

Many times however, as these guys demonstrate, that is just not the case.

Recently, North Carolina head coach Butch Davis was fired, creating a controversy surrounding the timing and appropriateness of his release.

But Davis isn't the only one to have to leave his place of employment after a controversy.

This list runs down the most controversial resignations/firings in college football history.

Some of them made outrageous statements, some committed impossible numbers of recruiting violations, and all of them had to leave their jobs as a result.

14. Hal Mumme: Kentucky

This one makes the list because Mumme was never actually found guilty of any violations.

After leading the Wildcats to respectability in the late 1990's, Mumme resigned.

The university was under investigation for alleged payment to recruits.

Mumme took responsibility, and resigned, but was never actually found to be guilty of any violations himself.

Of course, one of his assistants was found to have paid a recruit $1400.00, it's unlikely that he knew nothing about it, but who really knows?

13. Gary Moeller: Michigan

Moeller began his head coaching tenure at Michigan in 1990.

He was fairly successful, leading the Wolverines to three Big Ten championships and two Rose Bowl appearances over that time span.

The man who had played linebacker for hated rival Ohio State had thrust the Wolverines back into national prominence.

All of that ended suddenly, however, when Moeller allegedly punched a police officer in an altercation and spent the night in jail after an evening in a bar.

He resigned, and shortly thereafter his defensive coordinator, Lloyd Carr, led the Wolverines to a share of the national title.

12. Woody Hayes: Ohio State

Hayes is a legend.

He coached the Buckeyes for 28 years, winning three national championships and thirteen big Ten titles in that time.

But even a legend can go too far.

Hayes was asked to resign by Ohio State in 1978, after the infamous incident in which he punched Clemson player Charlie Bauman.

Yes, he flat out cold-cocked an opposing team's defensive tackle.

He refused to resign, and was instead fired by the university.

Opinion was split amongst Buckeye fans as to whether he should have been let go, and the controversy still rages to this day.

11. Charley Pell: Florida Gators

While some seem to credit Pell for having a hand in returning the Gators to national prominence during his tenure, he is most famous for being let go in the wake of myriad NCAA violations.

The university was accused of 107 infractions, but it was later determined that Pell and his staff were only a part of 59.

Only 59...

He was initially supposed to coach through the end of the 1984 season and resign, but when the number of infractions became public, the university fired him three games into the season.

10. Rick Neuheisel: Washington

Neuheisel is an extremely controversial figure in the coaching universe.

He coached at Colorado from '95-'98, and immediately after his departure, the school was put on probation for 53 violations, 51 of them reportedly during his tenure..

He then proceeded to the University of Washington, where during his second year, the 2000 season, the Huskies were Pac-12 champs and went to the Rose Bowl.

It was then reported that his teams were a legal mess.

One player had an outstanding arrest warrant for the assault of his wife, another was under investigation for raping a freshman coed, and still another was under investigation in a robbery and shooting.

He was then let go in a bizarre twist following the 2003 season for...wait for it...an NCAA tournament pool...

He currently coaches the abysmal UCLA Bruins.

When asked about concerns regarding hiring Neuheisel given his shady past, UCLA AD Dan Guerrero stated:

"In the end, it was all about 66 collegiate wins."

9. Bill Stewart: West Virginia

So, it turns out Stewart's recent dirty run at WVU coach in waiting Dana Holgorsen was not his first expedition into the land of the ethically questionable.

From '94 to '96, Stewart was the head coach at VMI, where he resigned after making a racially insensitive comment to a player.

At least, according to the report, he took the fall for his staff.

When WVU hired him, questions were raised about this behavior, but the university decided to take his word that it was an isolated incident in his past.

Of course, when he was let go in the wake of an alleged smear campaign against Holgorsen, their judgment was refuted.

8. Houston Nutt: Arkansas

Nutt took over at Arkansas in 1997, and navigated his way through many pitfalls en route to a nearly decade long career there.

It was brought to a halt by his use of a university phone to text a lady friend.

While Nutt denied allegations of an affair or other inappropriate behavior, the over 1,000 text messages that were released to the public seemed to prove him wrong.

Whether he did or didn't he resigned just days after leading the Hogs to a triple overtime upset of top-ranked LSU, and took his current job at Ole Miss less than a week later.

7. Gary Barnett: Colorado

Barnett was an insensitive, dishonest coach who failed miserably in his attempts to look like the good guy.

Besides the reported sleazy recruiting tactics and inability to win anything of note, his comments set the bar pretty high when it comes to insensitivity.

Instead of responding to rape allegations by former Buffs placekicker, Katie Hnida, with an appropriate level of concern Barnett rattled of this gem:

"It was obvious Katie was not very good. She was awful. You know what guys do? They respect your ability. You can be 90 years old, but if you can go out and play, they'll respect you. Katie was not only a girl, she was terrible. OK? There's no other way to say it. She couldn't kick the ball through the uprights."

Obviously a stand-up guy...

6. Pat Dye: Auburn

If you think the whole Cecil Newton thing was bad, you must not have heard about Pat Dye and Eric Ramsey.

Dye was one of the best coaches in Auburn history, and responsible for Bo Jackson's time with the Tigers.

He was head coach and AD at the same time, and that eventually led to his downfall.

Allegations surfaced that Ramsey, a defensive back, was paid by boosters and had proof.

After Auburn was featured on 60 Minutes, with Dye denying the charges, things went on per usual.

Finally, in 1992, Dye admitted knowledge of the payments, and resigned just prior to the '92 Iron Bowl.

After the NCAA investigation, he was not found guilty of any wrongdoing, but as AD and head coach, it was assumed he should have known about the payments, and put a stop to them...

5. George O'Leary: Notre Dame

One of the first rules of seeking employment is to be honest.

At least, that's what most of us were taught.

O'Leary's teacher apparently skipped over that part of his ethical training.

He left Georgia Tech before the end of the 2001 season to take over as head coach at Notre Dame.

It soon became apparent that he had not only missed the memo about not lying, but when he decided to lie, he was terrible at it.

On his resume, O'Leary listed a master's degree from NYU Stony Brook, and also stated that he was a three year letter winner in football at New Hampshire.

The problem being, O'Leary never played football at New Hampshire, and NYU and Stony Brook are two totally different schools.

He was let go shortly thereafter, but not before leaving us with this gem:

"In seeking employment I prepared a resume that contained inaccuracies regarding my completion of course work for a master's degree and also my level of participation in football at my alma mater. These misstatements were never stricken from my resume or biographical sketch in later years."

So if you pad your resume, remember to remove the inaccuracies before you get your dream job, it could come back to haunt you...

4. Mike Price: Alabama

Ah, men, we never learn...

Price was hired at Alabama in December of 2002, after a successfully stint at Washington State that included two trips to the Rose Bowl.

He was with the team for spring practice in 2003, but never made it to coach a game.

You see, news reports of a trip to Pensacola, Florida for a golf tournament and some of the rather sleazy behavior that took place on that trip got him released by the university.

Allegations were made that Price was seen at a strip club, then went to his hotel room with at least one dancer.

While he denied any allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior, he admitted to being intoxicated that night.

Which was a problem, as Alabama officials were alleged to have talked to Price about his drinking habits.

AD Mal Moore denied these reports, but admitted to discussing the coaching staff's bar-hopping habits.

He is currently coaching at UTEP, and has become the first Miner coach to ever take the team to three bowl games...

3. Mike Leach: Texas Tech

Mike Leach had a run in with the "James Gang" and came out on the wrong end of the stick.

Leach reportedly had wide receiver Adam James, son of ESPN analyst Craig James, held in a dark shed or closet during practice the day after he suffered a concussion.

Leach denies that he even knew where James had been taken, and stated the issue was a result of a difficult relationship with James and his famous parent.

Read the details here.

The university asked Leach to apologize, and when he did not, called his refusal a "defiant act of insubordination", and fired him on December 30, 2009, just one day before he was reportedly owed $800,000 in bonuses and 1,7000,000 in contractual obligations.

He has since sued the school, losing all but a breach of contract battle, and has since moved on to be an analyst on CBS College Sports network.

The moral of the story?

Life's not fair...

2. Butch Davis: North Carolina

Davis has enjoyed a successful coaching career, mainly at the collegiate level.

For now, it's over.

Davis was fired on July 27, amid an NCAA investigation citing academic misconduct and allegations that players had been receiving the ever popular improper benefits.

What makes this so controversial is the timeline.

NCAA investigations started in July of 2010, and a plethora of players(13) were suspended from the team.

In October, two of those players were found guilty of receiving gifts from sports agents and ruled ineligible, while five more were guilty of receiving improper benefits or academic assistance.

Marvin Austin was dismissed from the school.

It was a mess.

However, rather than let Davis go and head in a new direction immediately after this debacle, UNC chose to fire him just days before fall practice for the 2011 season.

Talk about poor timing.

1. Jim Tressel: Ohio State

Really, we should have seen this coming.

The Buckeyes hired Tressel just shortly after all the allegations at Youngstown State, and while he was officially cleared of any wrongdoing, it's hard to believe he had no knowledge of what was going on.

All that being said, Tressel's journey from coach of the top team in a BCS conference to unemployed was pretty bizarre.

There were all the suspensions of players for the "tattoo-gate" incident.

Then the lid blew off this spring.

It came to light that Tressel knew about the violations the players had committed, but chose to sweep them under the rug.

At first, Tressel and OSU AD, Gene Smith agreed on a five game suspension for Tressel, the same as the players.

Then the NCAA came back with all kinds of allegations, and even after Gordon Gee, OSU's president famously stated: "No, are you kidding?...I'm just hoping the coach doesn't dismiss me.", in response to a question about Tressel's potential release, the sweater-vest found himself out of a job.

The NCAA found that violations had been occurring back to the Buckeyes 2002 championship season, and the man who wrote a book titled "The Winner's Manual for the Game of Life" is now a joke.