Memphis Fires Football Coach Tommy West After 2-7 Start

Chris Littmann has a point about Tommy West’s fiery farewell at Memphis:

True, but no one’s sure if that’s the point at Memphis, a school where West assailed the culture of negativity in particular. This is presumably a reference to Memphis competing with other larger programs in the region, especially local rivals like Ole Miss and in-state rival Tennessee, something Memphis has been able to do from time to time in the history of the football program. This seemed targeted at Memphis boosters in particular, not towards the greater inequalities of college football in general.

Tommy West’s press conference was passionate today, and even saying that is a bit of an understatement.

“Just give him a fair chance or get rid of it.” That’s certainly a glowing recommendation to any coach coming into the program after West, especially with all of the prominent mentions of negativity surrounding the program he salted liberally into the speech. It’s not an outright negative speech. It is also anything but a positive speech, too, and one that gives you a tiny but revealing peek into the side of being a college football coach few besides the coaches ever see.

With a month left in the regular season, the bloodletting in the coaching ranks has now officially begun in earnest. If you had money on Mike Locksley of New Mexico in your coaching death pool, today is the day you lose. The guy who allegedly punched an assistant and has not won a game this season as a head coach still stands, while Tommy West of Memphis met his end as the head coach of the Memphis Tigers.

According to the Memphis Commercial-Appeal, West was let go Monday morning two days after the Tigers lost 56-28 to Tennessee in Knoxville. West finishes with a record of 49-56 at Memphis, but did take Memphis to five bowl games in his nine years at the school before an injury-plagued season and back-to-back losses on national television doomed him.