Cougars cut Doba

One of Bill Doba's most memorable victories turned out to be his last.

Two days after coaching Washington State to a dramatic come-from-behind 42-35 win over Washington, Doba is now a 67-year-old former football coach.

Doba was told by WSU athletic director Jim Sterk on Monday morning that he thought it would be best for the program if a coaching change was made.

The meeting then moved to include new WSU president Elson S. Floyd.

Doba, who steadfastly maintained publicly that he wouldn't resign, agreed to go peacefully and went along with the official news-release terminology that it was a "mutual decision."

When a reporter said he didn't believe it was a mutual agreement, Doba replied, "Well, that's your problem. ... Did you hear them? They said mutual agreement."

Sterk said Doba, who publicly stated he wanted to coach next season, "couldn't see himself coaching two or three more years."

At a news conference hours after the meetings, Doba sounded almost cheerful at times and acknowledged his age was being used against him in recruiting by other schools.

Doba said "negative press and Internet and rumors" made it difficult to recruit.

"The recruit wants to know if you will be there when he's there," Doba said. "Our opponents, not all of them, but many people, use that [against us], asking, 'Who's going to be your coach when you're a senior?' And that's a legitimate question. And I honestly couldn't feel right sitting in some kid's living room and looking him in the eye and saying, 'I'm going to be there the full time you're going to be there.' "

Doba added: "The name of the game is recruiting. And I felt if I was going to hurt this university or this program, it was time for me to get the heck out of here."

Doba called his 19 years in Pullman, the last five as head coach, "a great ride."

"No regrets, no animosity," he said.

Doba finishes with a 30-29 record. His only bowl appearance and winning season as coach was his first, in 2003, when the Cougars upset Texas in the Holiday Bowl. He was 3-2 against Washington.

Bob Robertson, the voice of Cougars football for 41 seasons, said he is "absolutely appalled" at the decision to remove Doba.

"It sends the wrong message about all the good things I've felt about the Cougars through all the years," Robertson said. "WSU has always been a family thing. This seems cold and heartless."

It will cost WSU $2.8 million to honor the contracts of Doba and his staff. Sterk said the athletic department is responsible for coming up with the money but said details were not finalized. It's possible some of the assistants will be retained by the next Cougars coach.

Sterk said Bill Moos, a former WSU player who most recently was athletic director at Oregon, will work as a consultant in the Cougars' coaching search. Moos now lives outside Spokane.

Sterk said professor Ken Casavant, WSU's faculty representative to the Pac-10, will work with John Johnson, senior associate athletic director, to screen candidates. Sterk said Doba has agreed to be involved as an adviser, though Doba didn't sound very enthusiastic about the assignment when asked by reporters.

California defensive coordinator Bob Gregory, a Spokane native who played at WSU in the mid-1980s, is considered an obvious candidate. And former Cougars coach Mike Price, 61, has been mentioned, too. Price, who coached at WSU from 1989-2002 before leaving to become head coach at Alabama, just completed his fourth year as head coach at Texas-El Paso.

Doba said he isn't interested in a scenario that would have him rejoin WSU staff as defensive coordinator under Price.

"I want to take a couple of years off," Doba said. He said he wants to play golf, fish and watch his grandson play football. Doba is an Indiana native and his children live in the Midwest.

Two other potential candidates are Montana coach Bobby Hauck and Eastern Washington coach Paul Wulff, who played on the 1988 WSU Aloha Bowl team.

Doba said he wants to be remembered "as a guy who loved my job. I had a great time. I didn't cheat. I didn't do anything to embarrass this university and I want to be remembered as a players' coach."

Craig Smith: 206-464-8279 or csmith@seattletimes.com