Division II Central Oklahoma hires former Abilene Christian football coach Dorrel
It didn’t take Adam Dorrel long to find another job.
Dorrel, who was fired as Abilene Christian’s football coach on Nov. 21, was named the head coach at Central Oklahoma on Sunday.
The school, which is in Edmond, Oklahoma, will formally introduce Dorrel as the team's coach on Wednesday.
Dorrel takes over a Bronchos program that was 4-7 last season, all Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association games.
“I am extremely honored and excited to be the next head football coach at the University of Central Oklahoma,” Dorrel said on Twitter on Sunday. “I look forward to building on the tradition & foundation of the great program! Let’s get to work!”
Dorrel replaces Nick Bobeck, who resigned on Nov. 14 after going 47-54 in 10 seasons with the Bronchos. Central Oklahoma hasn’t had a winning season since going 8-4 in both 2017 and 2018 and playing in a DII bowl game each season.
The Bronchos have won 27 conference titles, the last its second consecutive Lone Star Conference title in 1999. They have qualified for the Division II playoffs four times (2003, 1999, 1998, 1996) – going two rounds in ’06, ’98 and ’96. The team won two NAIA national titles in 1982 and 1962.
The move means Dorrel will now coach against Northwest Missouri State – the school he played and coached at it. The Bearcats play in the MIAA.
ACU fired Dorrel less than 24 hours after the Wildcats lost to No. 1 and defending national champion Sam Houston State 35-9 at Wildcat Stadium to finish 5-6.
ACU was 2-2 in its first season in the Western Athletic Conference and 1-5 in the WAC/ASUN Challenge – the latter an alliance to secure an automatic bid to the FCS playoffs since neither league has enough eligible teams to do so on its own.
The Wildcats were 19-32 under Dorrel, posting only one winning season – that a 6-5 mark in 2018.
Dorrel took the ACU job after going 76-8 in six seasons as Division II power Northwest Missouri State’s head coach. He was coming off his second 15-0 national championship when he became the Wildcats’ head coach in 2017. Dorrel won three DII national titles overall with the Bearcats.
Before becoming the Bearcats head coach, Dorrel was the offensive coordinator with the team from 2007-10. In that time, Northwest Missouri State played in five consecutive DII national title games and won three.
Dorrel also played at Northwest Missouri State as a offensive lineman from 1994-97.
Joey D. Richards covers Abilene high schools and colleges, Big Country schools and other local sports. Follow him at Twitter at ARN_Joey. If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to ReporterNews.com.
This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Former Abilene Christian coach Dorrel lands job at Central Oklahoma
