Graham Resigns as TU Head Football Coach

Late Monday night University of Tulsa Director of Athletics Bubba Cunningham announced the resignation of TU Head Football Coach Todd Graham.  In a simultaneous announcement, University of Pittsburgh officials reported Graham has been named Head Football Coach of the Panthers.  Graham will formally be introduced as the Pittsburgh coach at a news conference on Tuesday.

“Todd Graham is an outstanding football coach,” said Cunningham.  “Much of the credit for the rise of TU’s football program to its present level is directly attributable to the efforts and hard work of Todd and his staff.  We’re extremely grateful to Todd for his dedication in moving Tulsa football to an even greater level of success.  We wish Todd and his family the very best.”

At Tulsa, Graham has compiled a 36-17 record in four seasons. He led Tulsa to two straight C-USA West Division titles (2007, 2008), one shared C-USA Western Division crown (2010), two appearances in the C-USA Championship Game (2007, 2008), two GMAC Bowl Championships and the 2010 Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl Championship.

Graham has been associated with the Golden Hurricane football program for seven years.  First, he served as the Tulsa defensive coordinator under Steve Kragthorpe for three years (2003-05) and was named the Hurricane head coach in January 2007.  Following the 2005 campaign, Graham spent the 2006 as the head coach at Rice University before returning to the Hurricane football program.

He has registered a career 43-23 record in five years as a collegiate head coach.

Graham became the first TU head coach to lead the Hurricane to back-to-back 10+ win seasons, and three 10+win seasons in four years.  No Tulsa coach before Graham compiled more than one 10-win season.  Graham led the Hurricane to a 10-4 record in 2007 and an 11-3 mark in the 2008 campaign.  In each of those seasons, Tulsa led the nation in total offense by gaining 543.9 yards in 2007 and 569.9 in the 2008 season.

After a 5-win season in 2009, Graham led the Hurricane to a 10-3 mark this past season, while averaging 505.6 yards per game.

The university will conduct a national search to find a new head football coach.  Tulsa University is the smallest (in student population) competitor playing Division 1 football, often competing with the largest programs in the nation.  Graham's spirited leadership, knowledge of the game and personal mentoring will be missed, but the community on campus and off respect his contribution over the years.  The University of Pittsburgh selected an excellent coach.