NFL Coaching Carousel

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As of today there are six job openings in the NFL. Houston, Detroit, Tampa, Washington, Minnesota and Cleveland have all fired their head coaches. There could be more like Oakland's Dennis Allen and Mike Munchak in Tennessee are at least in the discussion. For those who want to see a change in Dallas don't hold your breath because Jerry Jones reiterated Monday that Jason Garrett will be the coach of the Cowboys in 2014.

The most baffling firing is in Cleveland. Last year the Browns ownership changed as entrepreneur Jimmy Haslam bought the team and as he set up his organization he named Michael Lombardi GM and Rod Chudzinski as head coach. A new day was supposedly dawning in Cleveland but Browns fans started the new era somewhat pissed. Why? Because Michael Lombardi had been GM in Cleveland before and he didn't do a good job and in the course of his tenure he managed to make the local media and fans angry. Not necessarily because the team sucked but because he was a major tool bag. I saw Lombardi verbally trash new broadcast analyst and former NFL player Heath Evans in a totally uncalled for attack because Evans had the temerity to disagree with an opinion by Lombardi. Chudzinski was hired by Haslam and Lombardi and after just under one year and after the Browns went 4-12 on the season Chudzinski was fired. One year. Really? Don't mention the fact that "Chud" inherited a bad QB in Brandon Weeden and a shakey running game led by first round pick Trent Richardson. It looked like Chud found his QB in 28 year old Brian Hoyer but after he led the Browns to two consecutive wins he tore his ACL in his third game as a starter against the Bills and hope seemed to fly right out the window. Jason Campbell eventually came in a provided a spark but he couldn't stay healthy either. You just can't win in the NFL without a quarterback and that's what's so puzzling about this firing. Chudzinski is from Ohio and has been a big Browns fan so getting the Browns job was sort a dream come true for him that Lombardi turned into a nightmare. I think he deserved better.

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Here's a rundown of the head coaching openings from an ariticle on NFL.com by Judy Battista which includes a video clip of Browns owner Jimmy Haslam responding to a question by a member of the local Cleveland media which refers to Haslam, GM Michael Lombardi and Browns CEO Joe Banner as "The Three Stooges". This was in response to the firing of Rod Chudzinski on Sunday night.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000307301/article/nfl-coaching-carousel-why-some-teams-acted-and-others-didnt

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As reported by NFL.com's Ian Rappaport the Houston Texans made good on his prediction and named their next head coach yesterday. Actually, the Texans didn't announce it but ESPN reported it during the A&M-Duke Chik-fil-a Bowl last night. The next Texans head coach is Bill O'Brien. O'Brien is leaving Penn State after two years in which he did what is generally acknowledged as a remarkable job considering the uphill battle he faced trying to overcome the NCAA sanction levied on Penn State as a result of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. The only losers in this are the kids who agreed to play football at State College for O'Brien. It seems like in every situation somebody is going to lose and at least at first glance it's those kids but there's no guarantee Houston won't be happy either.

There is speculation that Penn State is interested in recently fired Tampa Bay head man Greg Schiano. He did do a good job when he was coach at Rutgers and he was actually doing okay the second half of the season in Tampa. Schiano may be better suited as a college coach anyway.

The reports flying around are that Cleveland is very interested in hiring Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. McDaniels is in his second stint as an assistant on Bill Belichick's staff. In 2009 he was hired as the Denver Broncos head coach. His first season wasn't bad but in 2010 he drafted Tim Tebow which baffled NFL experts because Tebow was seen as nothing more than a mid to late round pick. McDaniels was fired after Denver limped to a 3-9 record. In January of 2011 McDaniels was hired as the OC of the St Louis Rams. When Rams head man Steve Spangolo was fired at the end of the season McDaniels was released from his contract and was hired as assistant offensive coordinator by the Patriots. The ironic thing was the offensive coordinator for New England at the time was none other than Bill O'Brien. After the Patriots lost to the NY Giants in Super Bowl XLVI O'Brien left for Penn State and McDaniels remained as the Patriots OC. It was generally acknowledged that McDaniels was too immature to handle being an NFL head coach but he surely learned a thing or two by the experience. Cleveland GM Michael Lombardi worked for Belichick before and is said to be pursuing McDaniels as the leading candidate to replace Rod Chudzinski.

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The Tampa Bay Bucs are the second team to fill their vacant head coaching position. Two days after firing Greg Schiano Tampa has come to terms on an agreement with former Chicago Bears head coach Lovie Smith. Smith had a very successful run in Chicago which included a trip to the Super Bowl which they lost to Indianapolis. His final season in Chicago the Bears went 10-6 and just did miss the playoffs. Evidently, the Bears could stand the success they had under Smith. Smith is the polar opposite of Schiano personality-wise with Schiano being an intense, firey type of leader and Smith is a laid back type of leader. Both can be successful and we'll see if Smith can get more out of the Bucs than Schiano did.

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The latest news isn't about a hiring but another firing. This latest move makes 8 coaches who have lost their job so far. The latest casualty is Tennessee Titans' Mike Munchak. Munchak had been the Titans coach since previous head coach Jeff Fisher was fired after the 2009 season. Munchak was 22-26 for his three seasons and he was often criticized for not maintaining the run-first type of offense the Titans enjoyed under Fisher. RB Chris Johnson had the worst seasons of his career under Munchak. The entire staff that worked under Munchak is reported as being fired as well.

Speaking of firing people, it was announced today that the assistant coaches who worked for Gary Kubiak including defensive coordinator and interim head coach Wade Phillips. Phillips had said after Bill O'Brien was hired that he would be open to staying on as DC but evidently O'Brien wants to start fresh with his own guys to help him. I think this is the best move and personally I hope O'Brien changes over to a 4-3 scheme but right now the Texans seems to be rebuilding their coaching staff from the ground up so-to-speak.

On the more positive side of the ledger Tampa Bay is moving forward as breakneck speed. NFL.com is reporting that Jeff Tedford has been hired as offensive coordinator for the Bucs. The biggest criticism of Lovie Smith while he was in Chicago that the lack of imagination on the offensive side of the ball. Tedford has been coach of the University of California for the past 11 years and he's resurrected a wayward Golden Bears team and he's coached several quarterbacks to the NFL most notably Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers. After the 2012 season Tedford was dismissed from Cal for new head coach Sonny Dykes. The list of players from his program is impressive so his transition to the NFL should be an easy move.
The Bucs are also expected to announce the hire of former Minnesota Viking head coach Leslie Frazier.

One final note is that along with Patriots OC Josh McDaniels the Cleveland Browns are said to have approached Oklahoma head man Bob Stoops. It is being reported that Stoops is scheduled to interview for the Browns job next week. Personally, I think working for a meat head like Michael Lombardi would be a deal killer. Stoops is fresh off beating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl last night and he's probably wondering what the market for his services is. Stoops is a big deal in Oklahoma and he has eclipsed Barry Switzer as the winningest coach in Sooner history. He may be looking for other frontiers but I would imagine that he'd like to do something to change his 1-3 record in national championship games.

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No new hires of head coaches have occurred yet but there has been movement in the Miami Dolphins organization. On Monday offensive coordinator Mike Sherman was fired. This on the heels of two really poor performances by the Dolphins offense to end the season. Going into the last two weeks of the season Miami stood at 8-6 with an excellent chance to go to the playoffs for the first time since the 2008 season but against the Jets and the Bills Miami managed only 7 points combined in those last two games which were both losses dropping Miami to 8-8 and out of the playoff race.
Tuesday afternoon the Dolphins fired GM Jeff Ireland. Ireland was hired by Miami in 2008 to become GM of the team. He had been the player personnel guy in Dallas since the Jimmy Johnson days. His tenure marked only one playoff appearance and some embarrassing moments which included the totally inappropriate Q&A with Dez Bryant at the scouting combine when he asked what many perceived as insensitive questions about Dez' mother who has had a troubled life to say the least. This past season the whole Richie Incognito-Jonathan Martin bullying incident along with the team's late season collapse were the final straws that has apparently led to Ireland's firing.
Reports are that head coach Joe Philbin's job is safe for the 2014 season although he may be on a very short leash going forward.

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The Redskins have become the third team to fill their head coaching vacancy by announcing that former Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Gruden has accepted the job. The details of the deal are not available as yet but the deal has been done and the Redskins are ready to move forward. They did announce that defensive coordinator Jim Haslet will remain and tight ends coach Sean McVay was promoted to offensive coordinator replacing Kyle Shanahan who left when his father Mike was fired.
Gruden has worked with Haslet before and he has a history of sorts with Redskins GM Bruce Allen worked with Jay's older brother Jon when he was head coach at Tampa Bay.

As a side bar to this Hue Jackson has been promoted to offensive coordinator in Cincinnati to replace Gruden.

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The last week has been a busy one for San Diego Chargers OC Ken Whisenhunt. First, he had to game plan against the Denver Broncos in the divisional round of the playoffs. While doing that he interviewed for 3 of the 4 remaining NFL head coaching vacancies and last but not least he and the Chargers finished off the week being beaten by those Broncos Sunday afternoon. Now, Whisenhunt is really going to work because yesterday the Tennessee Titans announced the hiring of Whiz as their next head coach. This is Whisenhunt's 2nd stint as a head coach as he led the Arizona Cardinals between 2007 and 2012 leading the Cards to Super Bowl XL where they lost a heartbreaker to Pittsburgh 27-23. Following the 2009 season Whisenhunt lost his QB, Kurt Warner, to retirement and the fortunes of the team began to slide. After losing nine straight games in 2012 after beginning the season 4-0 marked the end of his tenure in the desert. He was fired at the end of the 2012 season and was soon hired to become the OC of the Chargers who he helped get back into the playoffs and he is responsible for helping Phillip Rivers to one of his best season's in years.
Whiz takes over a Titans team that has floundered since Jeff Fisher was fired after the 2010 season under Mike Munchak. Munchak never seemed to be able to get much out of their 2011 first round pick Jake Locker or figure out how to use dynamic RB Chris Johnson. The Titans have some pieces who they can build on and I expect, as long as Locker can stay healthy, the Titans to be more competitive in the AFC South next season.

Whisenhunt's hiring means that there are three remaining teams who need to fill head coaching positions. Detroit, Minnesota and Cleveland still need to find their next head man. Detroit was really interensted in Whisenhunt so his hiring by Tennessee has to be a pretty big setback.

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I was just reading an article about Mike Munchak being interviewed by Cleveland for their head coaching job and I know it's only an interview but if I'm an NFL GM I'm not in the market for a guy who just got fired for a reletively poor job in Tennessee. Munchak may be one of those guys who is a good coordinator or position coach but there is nothing he did in Tennessee that made me think he was a good head coach. I know that die-hard Oilers/Titans fans are well of the tenure he had with the organization. He had a Hall of Fame career as an O-lineman and the year after he retired as a player in 1993 he joined the coaching staff of the Oilers and he was with the Oilers/Titan until he was fired earlier this month. It's almost unheard of for a guy to spend his entire profession career with one organization. Munchak worked for Bud Adams for 31 years. I wish the best for Munchak but I am very skeptical about him as a head coach.

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The Detroit Lions didn't cry about losing the Ken Whisenhunt competition to Tennessee. NFL.com is reporting that the Lions have hired Jim Caldwell. You may remember Caldwell as the Indy Colts OC from 2002 to 2008. A guy Peyton Manning credits for helping him develop as a QB. Or you may remember him as head coach of the Colts after Tony Dungy retired which included a trip to Super Bowl XLIV in his rookie campaign in 2009 losing to the New Orleans Saints. Caldwell was fired after the 2011 season when the Colts had to suffer through a dismal season without Manning who missed the entire season due to neck surgery. You may remember Caldwell was the OC for the Baltimore Ravens the past two seasons which included a victory in last January's Super Bowl XLVII over the 49ers. Now, Detroit's management is hoping to have a positive influence on Matthew Stafford who was the epitome of inconsistant last season and they are hoping he will bring some discipline to a loose cannon defensive squad that has led the league in off season faux pas more than they have in any category on the field. Former coach Jim Schwartz gave the Lions some much needed swagger but not much in the way of accountability. Caldwell should change all of that. He will need a good DC and it will be interesting to see who he gets to fill that DC job.

Rumors are that Cleveland is waiting on the Broncos to bow out of the playoffs or win the Super Bowl so they can interview Broncos OC Adam Gase. It is being reported that Gase is the leading candidate for the head coaching job. I'm not sure I'd be too happy to work for the Browns under GM Michael Lombardi after what they did to their last coach Rod Chudzinski giving him one year which included 5 different starting QBs due to injury, before unexpectedly firing him at the end of the season. It's very telling that Lombardi doesn't do pressers. If management does any communication with the media owner Jimmy Haslam or CEO Joe Banner. To me, Lombardi was bad hire by Haslam because of his poor community relations with the Browns fan base. Cleveland hates the guy and the love affair with Jimmy Haslam took a big hit when the popular Chudzinski was fired. Of the jobs that are available this year Cleveland's spot is the least favorable job due to Lombardi and questionable management.

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Dominos are falling pretty fast right now in the head coaching ranks and Marvin Lewis probably doesn't like it one bit. Why? Because his offensive coordiantor in Cincinnati was Jay Gruden and he has been hired as the Redskins head coach and it is expected to be officially announced that Lewis' D-coordinator Mike Zimmer has been snatched up by the Minnesota Vikings as their next head coach. Cowboys fans will remember Zimmer from his days in Dallas working under D-coordinator Butch Davis and then Dave Campo from 1994 to 1999. When Campo was hired as Dallas head coach in 2000 Campo named Zimmer his defensive coordinator. He stayed in that position thru the 2006 season when he was let go when Dallas hired Wade Phillips as head coach. After a year as the DC in Atlanta Zimmer assumed the DC position in Cincinnati in 2008 and he stayed until today's hiring by the Vikings. Zimmer is a tough hard-nosed no-nonsense type of coach and his defenses reflect this attitude. The key for Zimmer is finding an OC that can get the quarterback situation under control whether it's Christian Ponder or someone else. If the QB position can be solidified then the other weapons on the offense will be able to step up and produce. It all starts with the best RB in the NFL Adrian Peterson and everything revolves around him. With a pretty decent receiver corps led by veteran Greg Jennings and rookie sensation Cordarelle Patterson. Rhett Ellison and Chase Ford are serviceable tight ends and more pieces can be added in free agency and the draft. On the defense the Viking will need to address an aging D-line and some holes in the secondary but I really believe the Vikings will be better than they showed this year.

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You know that you have PR issues when the owner of a team has to send an open letter to that city's fans to explain why they haven't hire a new head coach yet. Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam did just that because the Brown's fan base is pissed because an Ohio boy was fired less than one calendar year after the guys who fired him hired him and because they are the only remaining team needing a head coach left of the seven who began searching after the end of the regular season. To paraphrase Mad Max, Beyond Thunder Dome, " -- seven go in only one comes out!" One in this battle the one may be the loser. At least the Browns fans feel the cream of the coaching crop may already be gone. Here's the letter than was posted on the Browns offical web site.

Fans,

I thought it was important to take a little bit of time to update you on our head-coach search. We have had the opportunity to speak to a number of outstanding candidates. We have purposefully been very methodical in our approach. We believe it is very important to stay disciplined to this process and to interview all of the candidates on our list. We are strongly committed to finding the right person to coach the Cleveland Browns.

We understood from the beginning that if we wanted to speak to all of the coaches on our list that we may need to wait until they have completed their participation in the playoffs. We are prepared to wait as long as necessary because this is a very important decision. Everyone in our organization is committed to finding the right leader for our team.

We believe the head coach of the Cleveland Browns to be a very attractive position. We have one of the youngest teams in the League, a roster that includes five Pro Bowlers. In addition, we have more salary-cap room than all but one NFL team. We also have three of the top 35 picks in the upcoming draft and five of the top 83 selections.

We are very much looking forward to adding a strong coach to our football team. On behalf of the Cleveland Browns, I cannot thank you enough for your valuable support and passion that you show for our team.

We look forward to communicating with you again after the search process in complete. Thank you again for your phenomenal support and loyalty.

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Before the 2013 season began most of the pundits swore up and down that the Jets would be lucky to win 3 games during the season and it was a foregone conclusion that Rex Ryan would be fired when the 2013 campaign was over IF he lasted THAT long. Wrong! The Jets surprised everyone by being tough at home going 6-2 including wins over the Patriots and Steelers. They weren't much on the road going 2-6 but they were still in the conversation for the playoffs in mid December. Yesterday Rex didn't get fired, he got a contract extension! Rex had one more year left on his contract and the terms of the extension included one additional guaranteed year through 2015 with more UN-guaranteed years. So essentially, the Jets removed Ryan's lame duck status by extending him for the short term and gave the appearance of a long term deal that Ryan wanted. Win-win right? The Jets changed GM's last season and maybe the front office figured the old GM didn't give Rex much help, especially on offense, so since he exceeded expectations they figured Rex needed another year. It's weird, Rex Ryan sort of gets a pass for 8-8 and a lot of people want the Cowboys Jason Garrett fired for 8-8.

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The last team to hire a new head coach has finally done it! Cleveland was the last of the seven teams who had head coaching openings to hire their new head man. Mike Pettine (pronounced PET-in), formerly the defensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills is now the Brown head man. Pettine cut his NFL teeth under Rex Ryan in Baltimore and with the Jets and his defenses in Buffalo have been very highly regarded. In fact, the Bills defense was 4th in FootballOutsiders defensive metrics. Cleveland does have a good defensive team and he will have a nice group to begin working with. On the offensive side of the ball, OC Norv Turner was allowed to leave and he was snapped up by Minnesota to be their OC so now one of the most important vacancies to fill will be that offensive coordinator position. Right now the media is reporting that Gary Kubiak is on the Browns radar. If Cleveland is smart they will pass on Kubiak. His offenses since he left his Mike Shannahan nest in Denver has not impressed with his offenses as head coach of the Texans. Cleveland will either be hanging with Brian Hoyer who was providing a big spark to the Browns offense for the 2-1/2 games he played before tearing his ACL or a draft pick to be selected this May. It is a foregone conclusion that Brandon Weeden is gone. Hopefully, the Browns front office will give Pettine more than one year to succeed.