LEISURE & ARTS
Return to Sender
Losing NFL coaches get sacked.
BY ALLEN BARRA
Wednesday, December 31, 2003 12:01 a.m. EST
"Right after Christmas," the former Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints coach Bum Phillips once said, "you pick up the sports page to see which coaches got dumped like unwanted presents."
If NFL coaches were Christmas presents, Santa would have had a sleighful to take back this year. Each year, it seems, the list of head-coach firings gets longer and the tenure of the discarded coaches gets shorter. It used to be said of a new coach who suffered a losing season after a winning one that "the honeymoon is over," but in recent years many coaches have scarcely gotten the honeymoon.
On Monday afternoon, the Buffalo Bills fired head coach Gregg Williams after his team compiled a 6-10 record. The season was a disappointment, but only because Mr. Williams himself had raised expectations by coaching the Bills to an 8-8 mark the previous season.
Only a few hours earlier, the Chicago Bears had announced that Dick Jauron, who won just 11 of 32 games the past two seasons, was out. Only three years ago, Mr. Jauron took the Bears to a 13-3 record and their first division title in 11 years. The Arizona Cardinals booted Dave McGinnis after the Cards finished 4-12, despite a sensational season-ending victory over Minnesota that kicked the Vikings out of the playoffs.
As we go to press, it appears that Oakland Raiders coach Bill Callahan, whose team represented the AFC in the Super Bowl earlier this year, is also due for the ax. Washington Redskins coach Steve Spurrier either resigned or was terminated--depending upon which story one gives credence to. And all of this comes on the heels of the parting of the New York Giants and Jim Fassel, who took his team to the Super Bowl only three seasons ago, and the Atlanta Falcons' dismissal of Dan Reeves, who had coached Denver and Atlanta to Super Bowls.
How short is the grace period for a head coach in the NFL? Just four months ago, experts were calling Jon Gruden, head coach of the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Bucs, the best coach in the league. Now the same experts are wondering if he can survive a bad September in 2004.
What gives? Has the coaching job regarded as the toughest in sports suddenly gotten tougher? Yes, say several former coaches. "It's not one job, it's several jobs," says Don Shula, the winningest coach in NFL history, "and the job description gets longer every year."
Bill Walsh, who won three Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers, adds, "There is no off-season." Talk to men who have held the job, and they'll tell you that a modern pro-football coach has to be a counselor, economist and public-relations expert all at the same time--and that, yes, it helps to know something about football.
The complexity of the last task has increased dramatically over the past few seasons because of the twin dragons of free agency and the salary cap. Just a few short years ago, there was a hierarchy of coaches who were secure in their jobs after a winning season because they could count on keeping pretty much the same personnel. Now, not only does a winning coach have to contend with losing players to higher bidders. He also has to discard useful veterans to meet the league's spending restrictions: Buffalo lost center Bill Conaty to New England and wide receiver Peerless Price to Atlanta; quarterback Jake Plummer left Arizona for Denver.
Make that three dragons--career-affecting injuries to key players are more common than ever. Most analysts wrote off Dan Reeves's chances when his great young quarterback, Michael Vick, was lost to a preseason injury. Likewise, the New York Jets' Herman Edwards struggled through a dismal start after losing his hot young passer, Chad Pennington, in an exhibition game.
There is, however, an upside to the job. Because of the rigorous qualifications for a head coach in the NFL, in most cases the men best qualified to replace fired coaches are other fired coaches. The odds are pretty good that each of the recent openings will be filled by someone who was, only a short time ago, coaching another team.
Head coaches don't really get discarded after Christmas. They get exchanged.
URL:http://www.opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110004496 |
