No real surprise here. You can’t argue that Coach wasn’t given a chance. His total rebuild on offense really hasn’t shown improvement through seven games, and the collapse of the defense was the final straw. It’s never pretty when a firing happens. I hope he lands on his feet, and I think he will. Wouldn’t be surprised if he goes back to the FCS as a HC. Hope Coach Harrell can find a fix for our secondary, even if it means moving some personnel from offense over to the ‘D’. I’m not sure we can win another game with this secondary. Agree on the irony of the timing of all this… as if Gilbert realized that sooner was better than later, when he might be trapped by a 6-6 season with bowl game invite.

Very well written and thought out response. I sure was pulling for him, he is a good man. I just can't understand why the results were not there. Moving forward, lets get this right this time around. Hoping for a great set of minds to be involved and that we can find the solution for a long time going into the future. College football sure has changed. Must be a proven winner!

I hate to see a man get fired, but it cannot be argued that there was anything unjust about this decision. Honestly, even in Ahler's last season, they kind of underperformed, leaving a couple of games on the table (NC State and Navy, via last minute and OT missed makeable kicks.) There was also the late season Senior Day debacle at home that year, a 42-3 drubbing against Houston. UH was a good team, but so was ECU, supposedly, and they flat-out didn't show up for a game that gave them an opportunity for a materially better bowl game. The next week, they also damn near lost to a 3 - 9 Temple team, and would have, had the Temple coach not ludicrously gifted them with a punt on a 4th and very short at a point in the game when the ECU d had no answers, giving ECU a perfect two minute drill opportunity, which Ahlers converted (to his credit.) A lot of the players that season, Houston's best, weren't "his." There are likely some programs that would've pulled the trigger after last year's horror show. I was OK with them giving Houston another shot, but it feels like this edition of the team is about the same as it was last year, so far, at least. There might be a little irony here, given that it remains conceivable that they'll win their next three, all vs. weak opposition, which would give them a third tier bowl that presumably they also could win. That's a best case scenario, however, and the possibility of being able to beat subaverage teams as a "best case" sums up where the program is today. I do think that Houston is a good dude and represented the university well. Also, he got royally screwed in the Tulsa game two years ago, a loss purely and clearly by bogus officiating, and he had several memorable wins, including UCF, BYU and Memphis twice. ...but the ship needs a course correction now.

Correct Richard - And is he kidding about doing things better in the second half? Not that I was still watching but teams tend to play some guys further down the depth chart when the come out of the locker room with a men against boys first half. We just don’t have the kids to compete (Recruiting Mike?) We have to start over with a new coach. Mike seems like a good dude but this program is no better than last year, and what would Houston’s record be without guys like Ahlers who I don’t believe he recruited? 1 of our 3 wins came against an awful FCS school. What do y’all think Navy will hang on us? Anyone notice the 51 they dropped on Charlotte yesterday (who destroyed us on the line of scrimmage) I don’t think anyone realistically expected a win yesterday but 2 straight weeks of pure EMBARRASSMENT. The article talks about BOWL ELIGIBILITY??? At least that helped me with a good laugh this morning

The final straw will be when we loose to Temple and Mike Houston’s post game comment is Temple has a really good team.

Houston said in pregame they saw things on film they could take advantage of; they had a good 2 weeks of practice. Not sure how he defines good but the Pirates are not good. Very undisciplined. The penalties are ridiculous. Not sure we will another game this year. Program is going backwards. Tough to be a Pirate!

Confession, I quit watching after the first half. Nothing has changed. Defensive backfield continues to let receivers run past them, as their eyes are elsewhere. Any team who has a decent passing game will beat the Pirates. Defense gets NO HELP from the offense, which continues to be abused by opposing ‘d’ lines, stupid penalties, and dropped passes. Kickoff return team didn’t do the offense any favors in the first half.

Here we go again- Houston said in pregame they saw things on film they thought they could take advantage of; they have had a good 2 weeks of practice- we are losing 24-0. What he sees and views as good is not translating - where is the disconnect?

Can’t win without players! No coach anywhere can win on coaching alone. Best players win. Look at teams who have draft choices and you will see winning teams. Nil is key and there must be a salary cap for every team. But ncaa can’t do that because they are afraid of courts!

I also see a 4-8 season coming and would hate to see the football program become the catastrophe that is the men's basketball program. We cannot continue in this direction and need to take a chance on change as soon as possible. It's only fair to the players, the program and the current coaching staff. I have been a loyal supporter of the program for nearly 50 years and am a 1980 graduate. I've seen so many better days than what we are experiencing now.

College football is in the most difficult environment ever before by far. We watched likely the two best teams this weekend, at least in the top 5 with Oregon and Ohio State. NIL budgets???? 23,000,000 & 22,000,000 respectively. The "free agent" player circus that is now college football is out of control. Gotta fix this mess. It leaves teams with lower budgets in a very difficult situation. With that being said, teams have to adapt. I truly was optimistic with the personnel we were able to pick up this off season but it takes time. New OC. Players that really need experience. All factors. Like everybody, I'm ready to see results now!! I believe Houston is a good man. I know he has won in the past. Nobody wants to win more than him as I see it. It's been six years but, Coaches are learning how to navigate this new face of college sports. I don't envy them myself. I'm a long time Pirate, as die hard as they come. Graduated in the early 90's. If we go out looking for a replacement, then what does that look like? Think about it. Ruffin firing was an all time terrible mess that put us literally at the bottom. Tuff enough with consistency in leadership. Look at NC State, UNC, even Alabama narrowly escaped another upset this weekend. We so easily forget we are talking about players that are 18 - 22 in age in most cases. Not sure what the solution is, but cooler heads prevail. I fear this environment potentially undermines commitment, team first, work to earn your turn, time proven concepts that used to be the standard. We have been so close up until last game. That one left me very dissatisfied. Gets more difficult this weekend. A win over Army sure could heal a lot of frustration. Keep fighting, it's darkest right before day I was always told. Go Pirates!!

Mike is beginning to sound like a broken record and it’s just going to get worse. I see a 4-8 record in this teams future!

I am so tired of coach saying we played a really good team today. Charlotte is not a really good team, we are a very bad team.

The Pirate defense doesn’t have a lockdown cover man since Revell’s injury. No one else has stepped up to the task. While the secondary has been suspect for the past couple of games, the real weakness of the defense was revealed by CLT. Not being able to hover an extra man in the box, rather than playing back to provide help in coverage, proved very costly to the Pirate run defense. CLT took advantage of almost every scheme the Pirate ‘D’ threw at them. There’s no quick cure, as the Pirate secondary is mediocre, at best. This season is about to become very ugly, as the offense continues to stumble, and even kickoff coverage has short-circuited. Too many players looked lost, or dropped passes, or blew coverages. JDB better figure out a way to hold onto the ball, or Army will do the same thing as CLT, or worse.

Semenza's point about the OL is exactly correct; it is simply poor, unable to create holes and unable to protect Garcia. To assess them as being even marginally better than the disaster that they were last year takes monumental generosity. The crew here also justifiably makes a big issue about possession; there is simply NO WAY possible that that can fixed with this OL's performance.