DePauw Head Football Coach Robby Long was dismissed by Athletic Director Stevie Baker-Watson Sunday morning.
Long was let go on account of administrative issues, not performance on the football field, Baker-Watson said Sunday afternoon. In the spring, she and Long were in discussions about resolving "issues" that were under his control in regards to the football program.
"After repeated requests from me to rectify the situation, he didn't do so," Baker-Watson said. "When you look at someone who is the head coach of a program, whether it's here or somewhere else, they certainly have the on the field responsibility, but they certainly have administrative expectations as well."
Baker-Watson would not elaborate further on specific issues she and Long were addressing. Long declined to comment about his dismissal Sunday afternoon.
"The thing to stress is that we started the conversation in the spring time," Baker-Watson said. "We met regularly and talked regularly about those expectations and the timeline to complete them, and he just didn't do what he needed to do.
"This was not about football, not about wins and losses. I'm sure folks can potentially draw some conclusions based upon yesterday, but that was not the case. It's not about how he treated the student athletes. This was an administrative decision for me."
Saturday evening, Long coached his final game in a 52-14 loss to Wittenberg University. In his fourth year as head coach, he compiled a 20-12 record. Long directed the Tigers to a 9-2 finish in 2010 and was voted the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference's coach of the year for the second-straight time. He came to DePauw in 2003 and served as an assistant head coach for five years and defensive coordinator from 2006-2008.
Before coming to DePauw, Long was a three-year varsity letterman for the University of Illinois. He played on the 2001 Fighting Illini which won the Big Ten title outright and finished 10-2.
On an interim basis, defensive coordinator Scott Srnka assumes the head coaching position for the duration of the season.
Long's dismissal continues a revolving door of head football coaches at DePauw since Nick Mourouzis retired in 2003. Since Mourouzis, Srnka is the fifth head coach to take the helm of the program. Baker-Watson said a national search will begin at the conclusion of the season.
"It's been a long time since there has been a national search for a head football coach," she said. "We're going to put this out to recruit the best and brightest."
Srnka will start his first stint as a head football coach after more than 20 years of assistant football coaching positions. Prior to coming to DePauw in 2011, he was the defensive coordinator at his alma-mater - Rhodes College - for 17 year.
Because of his experience, Baker-Watson said he was the clear choice.
"He's very calm. I would say he appropriately reacts to things," she said. "I've been impressed with him this far. He made it an easy choice in an unfortunate circumstance to put him in that role."
At 3:30 p.m., players attended a mandatory team meeting where Baker-Watson and Srnka both addressed the team and its future.
"I thank Robby for his service, but it's time for our program to move forward from this at this point in time," Baker-Watson said.