CEDAR CITY — Following a 1-10 season, Southern Utah University fired head football coach C. Ray Gregory — the second of the state's university football coaches to be fired Monday.
"He has done a great job. He and I have had an excellent working relationship," SUU athletic director Tom Douple said. "It was an extremely difficult day for all parties involved."
The T-Birds, who went 2-9 in 2001, won their first game in 2002 but lost 10 straight.
"I believe we can be competitive with the St. Mary's and Cal Poly's and North Colorado and be competitive now and again with Big Sky and Southland schools," Douple said. "If you look at past history we have been competitive with those teams."
Gregory's firing came hours after the firing of University of Utah head football coach Ron McBride.
"We thank C. Ray Gregory for his contribution, dedication, hard work and efforts to further the program the past six years," Douple said.
As a first-time head coach, Gregory compiled an overall record of 28-39 in his six seasons at SUU, including back-to-back winning seasons in 1999 (8-3) and 2000 (7-4), the school's only winning seasons since the program moved to I-AA competition in 1993. He coached the Thunderbirds to more wins over his first four seasons, 25, than any previous Thunderbird coach. During his head coaching tenure at SUU, Gregory coached the team to a pair of national rushing titles (1998 and 2000).
"I didn't think I was going to get fired. I thought everyone knew the situation we were in," he said. "The last couple of year have been very frustrating. There were a lot of disappointments, and it wears on you. Losing wears on you and builds negative energy around you."
During his tenure at SUU, Gregory coached 10 all-Americans, including four first-team selections, highlighted by quarterback Matt Cannon, a four-time 1,000-yard rusher and holder the NCAA's career and single-season records for rushing yards by a quarterback.
Prior to taking over at SUU, Gregory served the 1996 season as the Thunderbirds' offensive coordinator, coaching the team to another I-AA rushing title along the way.
"I am thankful for the opportunity I had here," Gregory said. "It was a great place to be and we had some great players come here. I met my wife here and I have my family here and I made a lot of good friends. It was a good experience for me."
Gregory will be reassigned within the athletic department in the near future. The search for a new head coach will begin immediately.