Western Carolina fires athletic director

[ASUG8]

CULLOWHEE — Western Carolina University athletic director Chip Smith was fired Monday morning, two days after the school’s football team suffered an embarrassing homecoming loss to The Citadel.

WCU Chancellor David O. Belcher made the decision on Monday. He also announced that Fred Cantler, WCU’s longtime senior associate athletic director for internal operations, has agreed to come out of retirement to serve as interim director of athletics.

Wagner, in his fourth season as Catamounts coach, has a 8-33 overall record following Saturday’s 35-7 loss to The Citadel, The Catamounts have a 3-26 record in the Southern Conference under Wagner. They’ve defeated Chattanooga once and The Citadel once. Chattanooga’s first conference win of the season was a 51-7 win over the Catamounts on Oct. 15.

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Gotta believe that Wagner won't survive to next season either.

[catamount man]

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By lunch Monday morning, more emails were going to Dr Belcher's office to NOT put any current professors at WCU on the committee that will have a say in the hiring of the new AD with the decision up to Dr Belcher alone.

On a personal level, Wagner may get told he is sticking around for 2012 but there will be so much pressure put on him that I fully, again my opinion, look for him to bolt after this season. Gotta feeling his cell phone has been calling contacts in the Midwest and West coast.

Thomas Ross, the current President of the UNC Board of Governors, was in Cullowhee this past Saturday to watch the game and see the abysmal product for himself. I think we all knew where Chip's fate was after the loss to The Citadel.

As a booster, season ticket holder and fan, I have the utmost confidence in our new chancellor unlike the last idiot that sat in that chair and micromanaged every damn department at WCU.

GO CATS!

[CID1990]

CULLOWHEE — Western Carolina University athletic director Chip Smith was fired Monday morning, two days after the school’s football team suffered an embarrassing homecoming loss to The Citadel.

WCU Chancellor David O. Belcher made the decision on Monday. He also announced that Fred Cantler, WCU’s longtime senior associate athletic director for internal operations, has agreed to come out of retirement to serve as interim director of athletics.

Wagner, in his fourth season as Catamounts coach, has a 8-33 overall record following Saturday’s 35-7 loss to The Citadel, The Catamounts have a 3-26 record in the Southern Conference under Wagner. They’ve defeated Chattanooga once and The Citadel once. Chattanooga’s first conference win of the season was a 51-7 win over the Catamounts on Oct. 15.

http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20 ... |Frontpage" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Gotta believe that Wagner won't survive to next season either.

After Tusculum, how exactly is losing to The Citadel embarrassing?

At Worst in Carolina University, the bar should be set pretty darn high for the embarassment threshold.

UTC might have reason to be embarassed, but certainly not WCU.