Ready for another fun off-season? The last regular season game doesn’t start for another seven hours and the hijinks have started already!
Tyrone Willingham announced on Saturday he won’t help the league solve it’s minority hiring problems by leaving Notre Dame after one year. And why would he, since he won ten games and restored respectability with players recruited by Bob Davies? Jerry Jones (doesn’t he have an oil business to run?) hasn’t fired Dave Campo but is already interviewing replacements. He’s met twice with Bill Parcells but–oops!–Tampa Bay claims they own the Tuna’s rights and any team that wants to talk or sign him owes the Bucs compensation; Jones met lose a draft pick just for this tampering, which won’t help the Cowboys recover from a third straight 5-11 season with or without Campo. Jones has also interviewed ex-Vikings coach Denny Green but only on the phone and this is causing a ruckus of its own, since at least one group is claiming this is an attempt to wiggle around the NFL’s commitment to consider minority candidates for every open coaching and GM spot.
Meanwhile, the executions are underway as well. Cincinnati fired Dick LeBeau, Jacksonville dumped Tom Coughlin, the only coach they’ve ever had, and (as I was writing this) Dallas booted Campo. I feel sorriest for LeBeau, who had a miserable record but could only barely be held responsible; the real culprit is GM Mike Brown and he can’t be fired since he also owns the team. Though this year’s 2-14 was the worst ever for the franchise, the team has had years of poor drafts, lots of injuries, and a complete inability to sign decent free agents. I’ve read that other owners and team executives have urged Commissioner Tagliabue to step in and make Brown hire a real GM but so far that hasn’t happened. The Bengals haven’t made the playoffs since Brown took over and you can bet that won’t change next year, no matter who comes in as coach.
Coughlin didn’t want to leave but the Jaguars have crashed to earth after making the strongest debut of any expansion team in NFL history, going 19-29 and not reaching the playoffs once in the past three years. The decision will cost owner Wayne Weaver serious money because of provisions in Coughlin’s contract, which has two years still to run, plus he reportedly wants the new man to have previous head coaching experience: the short list on ESPN.com is Denny Green, Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops (who turned down big money offers last year after winning the national title), and recent perennial candidate for every opening Nick Saban from LSU. What the Jags really need are a new starting quarterback and running back tandem who can stay healthy for more than eight games a year. And a GM who isn’t also the coach, which rarely makes for a winning team.
Dallas is another tough spot for a proven coach to take on. Dave Campo, Chan Gailey, Barry Switzer, Jimmy Johnson, win or not, none of them has been able to overcome the ego of Jerry Jones. One wonders if Parcells is really interested in the job, where he couldn’t be GM or even have real personnel control, or if this is mostly a ploy on his part to let other owners with openings know he’s ready to return. (By the way, the Cowboys have a s-l-l-o-o-o-w-w-w-w website!)
There’s gonna be more changes, you just know it. Will Holmgren get the boot in Seattle? Owner Paul Allen may be distracted by his dizzying corporate maneuvers and the Trailblazers but this team hasn’t made the playoffs lately and 7-9 doesn’t look so good hanging up on a banner all winter. How about Schottenheimer in San Diego? From 6-1 to missing the playoffs at 8-8, another year, another collapse, but this is Marty’s first year at the helm and he will almost surely get a break. Martz in St. Louis is a tossup but possibly dependent on how well he and his bosses see the personnel lining up for 2003.
Good bets to be gone are the Detroit duo of Marty Mornhinweg and chief executive Matt Millen; though the team was starting to look good with rookie QB Joey Harrington, his season ended early with an injury and owner William Ford will probably look for a more seasoned head coach and a less, um, forceful, GM. John Fox was probably safe anyway, it being his first year and the team being riddled with injuries at QB and running back, but four late wins to end at 7-9 make that a lock. Not so safe is fellow NFC South coach Jim Hazlett, whose Saints lost a playoff spot by ending the year with losses to Minnesota (forgivable), Cincinnati (those two wins had to come from some where), and Fox’s Panthers (unforgivable with a chance to get back into the post-season and only two field goals to show for the effort).
The CoachingGoRound starts again!
BillSaysThis 