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Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009

Bulldog coach keeps focus on Illinois

FRESNO -- Fresno's most debated man says he loves Fresno, has been "loyal" to his school and that "it would be great" to end his coaching career here.

Pat Hill will finish his 13th season as Fresno State's football coach Dec. 5 at Illinois, with a 10th bowl in 11 seasons likely to follow. The Bulldogs (7-4, 6-2 Western Athletic Conference) will also end the season with a third-place finish in the conference.

But Hill's future in Fresno is flapping in the breeze like the "Win" flag above the Bulldogs' practice field. The ink is fading on his contract -- it expires in December 2010 -- so questions surround Fresno's premiere sports program.

Do you fire a coach who has 99 career wins, 80 this decade, and winning records in 10 of 13 seasons? Do you extend a contract to a man who hasn't won an outright conference title in 13 seasons and hasn't beaten a ranked team since 2004?

On Wednesday, athletic director Thomas Boeh declined to give any hint to what Hill's future might be. He would not discuss Hill's tenure or the status of his contract.

Hill said Monday he wasn't concerned about a contract extension.

"I'm more worried about just getting ready for Illinois, getting ready to play in our 10th bowl game and making sure our kids do well in their finals," he said. "I'm not having any meetings with anybody. I just meet with our staff and meet with our players. That's all I meet with."

But he also said his program's record -- academically and on the field -- speaks for itself.

"We do the right things," he said. "We have come short on WAC championships, I agree. But we've won a lot of games. We play a lot of bowl games. Academically, we're on it. Hopefully, our kids are doing the right things in this community. The biggest thing I think we do is when kids leave this program, they're ready to handle their own life and manage it.

"That's always been the goal of this program. I believe in what we're doing. I don't need to defend that."

Some believe he does.

Debates rage in online communities, offices and among friends as fans, alumni and donors wonder whether Hill should stick around

for a 14th season.

Here are some facts from both sides: Hill this decade has tied the 1980s Bulldogs teams for the most victories in a decade. He's shared the WAC crown once -- in 1999 -- but never won it outright. He has 99 career wins, 65 losses.

Some criticize how those wins come. Of the Bulldogs' victories this season, one was against a team with a winning record (Idaho, 7-4).

The Football Bowl Subdivision teams they've beaten have a combined record of 22-43.

The Bulldogs played two top-10 teams closely, but Fresno State lost to No. 6 Boise State (11-0, 6-0 WAC) and No. 5 Cincinnati (10-0, 6-0 Big East). The Bulldogs also lost to Wisconsin (8-3, 5-3 Big Ten) and Nevada (8-3, 7-0 WAC), who are unranked. The teams Fresno State has lost to are a combined 37-6.

With the losses to Boise State and Nevada, the Bulldogs failed to finish at least second in the conference for the sixth straight season.

Hill has taken the Bulldogs to nine bowl games in 10 years and will likely make it 10 in 11 this season. Never has that bowl game been a Bowl Championship Series game.

Since 2000, Fresno State has knocked off 14 schools from conferences that automatically qualify for BCS games. That's the second most among mid-major schools, behind Utah.

Off the field, the majority of Hill's players have stayed out of legal trouble and the team has done well in the classroom. The Bulldogs' multi-year Academic Progress Rate has been among the best in the Western United States -- standing ninth in the West with a score of 948 in the May 2009 report that pertained to the 2007-08 school year.

The high score in the West is Stanford with 984. The national average for Division I is 939.

Hill said Monday that "it would be great" to finish his career in Fresno and that he has stayed loyal to Fresno State.

"I've got my family here," said Hill. "I've made quite a commitment to stay here and raise a family, and that was important to me. ...

"I love it here in Fresno," he said. "I've taken one job interview in 13 years. I've had plenty of opportunities for others. I've taken one job interview. I looked at the University of Washington. Other than that, I've been as loyal a worker as anybody could be here."

Hill's taken only one college interview -- this past offseason after he said he was not interested in the Huskies job -- but he's interviewed for at least four NFL openings. After the 2005 season, in which the Bulldogs nearly defeated USC, Hill said he had three in-person interviews and one phone interview. It was confirmed that he met with the Houston Texans, St. Louis Rams and was at least contacted by the New Orleans Saints, Oakland Raiders and Green Bay Packers.

Hill said the three accomplishments during his tenure that stand out to him are that he and his staff achieved the three foundations they set for the program.

"We changed the academic culture of this football program, we've done a good job in incorporating a wide interest throughout the Valley, and I think we've been able to bring big-time football to the San Joaquin Valley as far as the teams we play," he said. "Those are the three things that stand out (about my tenure) and those are the three things I promised when I got here."