Air Force athletic director Hans Mueh has given football coach Fisher DeBerry a vote of confidence, saying he hasn’t given up on DeBerry’s ability to turn out winning teams.
“Fisher DeBerry is going to be here as long as he wants to be here,” Mueh said. “I’ve known Fisher a long time, and I have complete confidence in him. He’ll be back. His team has been unlucky this season, but I know these players are a great group of individuals who have played hard and given their best.”
DeBerry, Air Force’s head coach the past 22 seasons, is experiencing the worst two-year stretch of his career. The Falcons are 3-7, have lost seven of their past eight games and have posted their first back-to-back losing seasons under DeBerry. None of DeBerry’s previous 21 teams won fewer than four games. The Falcons end the season next week at New Mexico.
DeBerry repeatedly has talked of building the program back up to where it was. He did not return calls Monday about his future. After Saturday’s 27-24 loss to Army, he said: “We’re going to examine a lot of things when the season is over. I don’t think we’re at rock bottom by any stretch of the imagination.”
He indicated he plans to be back and said this season he would be the first to know if he has lost his desire to coach and would resign if he ever did.
The loss to Army at Falcon Stadium marked the first time since 1996 that Air Force lost to both Army and Navy in the same season. While Mueh is in full support of DeBerry, he left open the question about the AFA assistant coaches. The Falcons have been plagued all season with problems in their punting game, turnovers and penalties. Problems in the punting game led directly to a one-point loss to Wyoming and three-point losses to Utah, Navy and Army.
“For me to say anything about assistant coaches would be presumptuous on my part,” Mueh said. “The head coach usually picks his staff. Those are issues that won’t be addressed until after the season.”
While Mueh’s endorsement is meaningful, it isn’t necessarily the final word. The senior staff makes personnel decisions at the academy. Mueh’s opinion, however, would be expected to carry a lot of weight. Lt. Gen. John Regni took over as AFA superintendent two weeks ago and hasn’t had time to become familiar with the issues in the football program.
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-820-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
