JONESBORO — Walt Bell went into detail Friday about his brief courtship with Louisiana-Monroe as it seeks to fill its vacant head-coaching position and said he decided to remain Arkansas State offensive coordinator because it “wasn’t the right job at the right time.”
Reports began to surface Thursday that Bell, in his second season at ASU, had been offered the Warhawks’ head-coaching job. The position has been vacant since Todd Berry was fired hours after the team lost to ASU 59-21 on Nov. 14. The Monroe (La.) News-Star reported Thursday that Bell turned down the offer on Thursday morning.
Bell said Friday during a news conference to preview ASU’s Dec. 19 New Orleans Bowl that he spent a couple of days at least mulling the possibility of becoming the Warhawks’ coach.
“Those people down there were incredibly classy and I really feel like at some point they will find a way to get that thing moving in the right direction,” Bell said. “And whoever they hire will do a great job. And I think they’re going to do whatever it takes at some point to get that thing trending in the right direction. I just didn’t feel like that it was the right time for me to be that guy.”
The News-Star reported Friday that Louisiana-Monroe officials acknowledged interviewing Bell but denied offering him the job.
When asked if there was an offer, Bell refuted Louisiana-Monroe’s claim.
“I want to make sure that I’m as honorable as I can be in the things that they ask me to say and not to say,” Bell said. “But, at the same time, I’m not going to let somebody say that I wasn’t offered the job.”
ASU Coach Blake Anderson said Bell is one of four assistants who have received job offers since it beat Texas State last Saturday night.
“All four have chosen to stay, believe in what we’re doing,” Anderson said. “Hopefully they believe in how I’m treating them, believe in what the future holds, that it’s possible to do some things that have not been done here in the past.”