LA GRANDE – Eastern Oregon University football coach Jim Fenwick has been fired after four seasons, Fenwick confirmed to The (La Grande) Observer Thursday night.

Fenwick told his players Thursday afternoon of the decision. According to one player, it was an emotional meeting in which Fenwick apologized to his team for any ”black eyes” he may have caused the program.

This was the second winning season in a row for the Mountaineers, who posted a 6-3 mark in both 2004 and 2005. EOU had not had back-to-back winning seasons since 1979-1980.

Rob Cashell, director of athletics at Eastern, declined Thursday to comment on whether Fenwick had been fired, citing personnel issues and issues within the human resources department. But he did make a few statements regarding the football program.

”Most people just see what goes on between 1 and 4 on Saturday afternoons,” Cashell said. ”But we have to base our evaluations on more than what happens in those three hours.

”There is a part that sees the success of the football team on the field, and recognizes it and knows it’s been a welcome change. But there have been things off the field that I’ve not been happy with.”

Sheldon Nord, EOU vice president for student affairs, declined to comment on Fenwick’s firing, citing the same personnel issues as Cashell.

Fenwick took over a program in 2002 that had won just two games in the previous two seasons and had two winning seasons since 1982.

”I had a meeting today with Rob, and he gave me a letter and gave me an opportunity to resign,” Fenwick said Thursday afternoon. ”I couldn’t do it because I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong. I can’t believe that you don’t want to have a coach who’s turned the program around, who’s been through bone marrow, who’s beaten leukemia. I think it’s a crying shame that a person can take away my livelihood and my benefits. Just like that it can all be taken away.”

Fenwick won a much-publicized battle with leukemia after being diagnosed with the disease in late 2003.

In the spring of 2004, Fenwick received a bone marrow transplant using his son Casey as a donor, and in summer 2004 Fenwick’s leukemia was in total remission.

The illness caused Fenwick to miss all of the 2004 season, in which the team posted its first winning season since 1998 under interim head coach and current defensive coordinator Travis Baker.

Now, it seems as if Eastern will be moving ahead without Fenwick.

Baker, reached by phone Thursday night, said he wasn’t aware of Fenwick’s firing.

”(Fenwick) got fired, huh?” Baker said. ”Well it comes as a surprise.”

Some of Fenwick’s ex-players voiced the same shock.

Quarterback Scott Jensen, who played for Fenwick from 2002 to 2005, was stunned to hear Thursday that Fenwick had been fired.

”It’s sad,” Jensen said. ”To have back-to-back winning seasons, to fight through leukemia and come back says a lot about him. I have no idea how something like this happens.”

Fenwick said that when he returned to EOU as head coach in January 2005 he was told that the budget for the football team was $14,500 in the red and was told by Cashell to curb his spending by cutting back on recruiting. Both Fenwick and Cashell made reference to budgetary issues when speaking about the football team.

Fenwick confirmed that the issue of the budget was cited as one of the reasons for his dismissal.

”If it’s the budget, if that’s the case, I should have been fired after my first year or my second year,” Fenwick said. ”The budget was never adequate. When we went over budget in the past, though, we would make it up through fundraising.”

Player control issues were another area of concern.

Fenwick and Cashell were at loggerheads over an issue of suspending football players after a disciplinary incident fell in the hands of Cashell while Fenwick was recovering from his illness.

Upon returning, Fenwick decided that Cashell’s punishment had been too harsh, and he backed the players through an appeals process, to the chagrin of Cashell.

From that point, according to Fenwick, the relationship between the coach and the athletic director turned sour.

This fall, there were more problems. In October, several EOU players were cited for allowing minors to consume alcohol. Also, EOU launched an investigation into excessive long-distance phone charges in the amount of $4,700 charged to the secret access number of a former Eastern assistant football coach.

”I’m smart enough to know that I’m not in line with Rob’s philosophy of discipline,” Fenwick said. ”He doesn’t think that I’ve disciplined well enough, but my way of disciplining is just different from his. I don’t want to humiliate or embarrass a kid if he’s done something wrong.”