BOULDER — In his season wrap-up media conference Tuesday, Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre said he never worried about getting fired this season and has not decided whether to make changes on his staff after finishing his third season with a 4-9 record.
Athletic director Rick George said weeks ago that MacIntyre would be back next season.
“Honestly, I don’t ever think about my status,” MacIntyre said. “I’m the head football coach at Colorado, and that’s what I want to do. I’m going to work at it with everything I’ve got, and if I worry about everything else all the time, then I can’t do my job effectively. If a Mark Richt can get fired (at Georgia) with 10 wins — one of the greatest men in our business — anybody can be fired, so you can’t worry about that.”
MacIntyre said he was “still evaluating everything” and doesn’t want to make “knee-jerk” decisions about his coaching staff or any other facet of the program.
“I do know all our people work extremely hard and have a lot of pride in being here,” he said.
MacIntyre is 10-27 in his three seasons and the Buffs won just one Pac-12 game this past season, against Oregon State, which went winless in league play. George was visibly frustrated after CU’s season ending loss at Utah Saturday.
“We’re 4-9. It’s just not good enough,” he said. “We’ve got to get better.”
Before the season MacIntyre said he sensed confidence among his players that they finally could be competitive in the Pac-12 and qualify for a bowl game. Somehow they seemed to retain that confidence but the victories never came.
“The way they were playing, the effort they always gave, the never-give-in attitude, the competitiveness, how they came ready to play, I think that showed that their mind was in the right place, their heart was in the right place,” MacIntyre said.
MacIntyre said a number of seniors spoke at a team meeting last week about the progress they’d seen in the program, even if it wasn’t all that apparent to outsiders.
“I didn’t tell one senior what to say. They could say anything they wanted to say,” MacIntyre said. “At least half of them talked about how far they’ve seen everything come and how close we are, how frustrating it is to be that close and not get over the hump in more games than we did. … All year long, their confidence was, they felt like they could win every game they played. I wouldn’t have said that was always the case in the past.”
Graduating receiver Nelson Spruce, who was named second-team all-Pac-12 on Tuesday, gave MacIntyre a vote of confidence as he turns to preparing for the NFL draft having broken or tied 42 CU records.
“Just the passion,” Spruce said. “You see Coach Mac on the sidelines in these close games, he looks like he’s about to have a heart attack. He brings that passion every day, and I think the players feel it.”
CU’s other all-Pac-12 second-team selection, junior defensive back Chidobe Awuzie, said he would be back for another season instead of opting for the NFL draft.
“I came in with this class (next year’s seniors). A lot of those guys mean a lot to me. Coach Mac means a lot to me,” Awuzie said. “We’ve got a good thing going, and I want to see the progress finish and us get to that bowl game, have some success.”
John Meyer: jmeyer@denverpost.com or @johnmeyer
