AMHERST, N.Y. -- After five losing seasons, Buffalo coach
Jim Hofher has run out of chances to turn around one of the
nation's perennially worst Division I-A football programs.
Faced with the possibility of a winless campaign, athletic
director Warde Manuel said Tuesday that Hofher will be fired after
coaching the final two games.
"It wasn't one incident, one game, one score," Manuel said.
"It's overall. We haven't grown the way I would like to see. It's
just an overall feeling that we needed to move the program in a
different direction."
The Bulls (0-9) dropped their 10th straight game dating to last
season, losing 54-13 at Miami (Ohio) on Saturday. Buffalo has been
outscored by a 31-10 average and only once enjoyed a lead at the
half -- in a 13-7 loss to Akron on Oct. 8.
Hofher, who had one year remaining on his contract, posted a
7-48 record in five seasons. He took over a fledgling Buffalo
program that made the jump to Division I-A when it joined the
Mid-American Conference in 1999.
The Bulls are 9-68 since joining the MAC, and have lost all
their conference games on the road. Hofher's best season came in
his first year when Buffalo went 3-8 in 2001.
"It is with pleasure that I have served UB for these past five
years," Hofher said in a statement. "It will be my wish that UB
achieves success with its football program in the future."
The Bulls play at Kent State on Saturday before closing their
season hosting Eastern Michigan on Nov. 19.
Hofher has 27 years of college football coaching experience.
Buffalo was his second head coaching job. He spent eight years at
Cornell in the 1990s, finishing 44-36 to set the school record for
victories and winning percentage.
He was an assistant at North Carolina, Tennessee, Wake Forest
and Miami. He spent one year as a quarterbacks coach before taking
the Buffalo job.