The NFL firings will continue until morale improves. But none of the rumored really big firings have happened yet.
Alex Van Pelt out as offensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns. Also out: running backs coach Stump Mitchell and tight ends coach T.C. McCartney.
Yeah, I’m not sure Van Pelt was the issue here…
Pete Carmichael Jr. out as offensive coordinator in New Orleans. Also out: “Senior offensive assistant” Bob Bicknell and wide receivers coach Kodi Burns.
One sort-of firing, one not a firing but noteworthy.
Bill Belichick out as head coach in New England. Everyone was expecting this, but it seems more like a firingnation:
…
As I’ve said before, the man has nothing left to prove. Does he try to go someplace else and pick up the 15 wins he needs to pass Shula? That’s the speculation, but I figure it will take two to three years at least to get 15 wins. It isn’t like he’s going to another team that’s as good as the Patriots were: I’d expect five win seasons at best to start with.
And Nick Saban out in Alabama in what seems like a genuine retirement.
More from the NFL firings front:
Contrary to reports the other day, “Wink” Martindale is officially not out as defensive coordinator for the New York Football Giants.
Yet.
Current reports are saying he’s furious with the organization, and (as noted above) “cursed out” head coach Brian Daboll after his people were fired. But he hasn’t officially resigned or been fired at this point.
He’s got one year left on his contract. If he’s fired, the Football Giants would owe him $3 million. If he resigns (and there’s apparently interest in his services from the Rams and Eagles) they don’t owe him anything. So I’m not sure why they would block him from joining another team, unless it is just pure spite.
Edited to add: “sources” are reporting that da Bears are firing offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, but keeping Matt Eberflus. Given the situation with the Winkster, I’m looking at “sources say” with a bit of skepticism.
Also “out” according to “sources”: quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko, wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert, running backs coach Omar Young and assistant tight ends coach Tim Zetts.
Edited to add 2: both the NYPost and ESPN are reporting that the Winkster is officially out, by “mutual decision”. Which apparently translates to: they don’t have to pay him, and he’s free to sign with some other team.
Meanwhile, Pete Carroll is out as coach of the Teattle Teahawks…I mean, Seattle Seahawks. This sounds like one of those firingnations:
He had been saying that he planned to coach in 2024 as late as Monday. ESPN. 137-89-1 overall, 10 playoff wins. But they were 9-8 and missed the playoffs this year.
Continuing with the NFL firings theme: Mike Vrabel out as coach of the Tennessee Titans.
But they missed the playoffs in 2022 and 2023, and it is being reported that their was friction between Vrabel and team owner Amy Adams Strunk.
This is your Monday morning after the end of the NFL season firings thread.
From the “Damn! You didn’t even wait to get him in the house!” department: Arthur Smith was fired last night as head coach of the Falcons. 21-30 over three seasons, 7-10 this year. ESPN.
Ron Rivera out as coach of the Washington Commanders. 26-40-1 over four years, 4-13 this season. ESPN.
Scott Fitterer out as general manager of the Carolina Panthers, who already fired their head coach. 14-37 over three seasons, and Carolina finished 2-15 this year. ESPN.
Mote updates later if there are any.
Edited to add: the NYPost is reporting that special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey and offensive line coach Bobby Johnson have been fired from the NY Football Giants. Additionally, Don “Wink” Martindale has “resigned” as defensive coordinator.
Edited to add 1/9: late on Monday, Jacksonville fired defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell and a whole bunch of other folks:
D.J. Smith fired as coach of the Ottawa Senators. Also out: assistant coach Davis Payne.
Five seasons as coach. I don’t have a full record, but the team hasn’t made the playoffs at all under Smith “…with their strongest finish coming last season when they went 39-35-8 but finished six points behind the Florida Panthers for the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot.”
The other problem is that the team is completely screwed up. “restricted free agent forward” Shane Pinto is sitting out a 41-game suspension for gambling on sports.
And I got an early Christmas present. Really, more like two early Christmas stocking stuffers, but it is the thought that counts.
The worthless LA Chargers got stomped by the Las Vegas Raiders last night, 63-21.
And I guess pretty much as a direct result of that (though everyone was saying it was coming, I think the timeline was accelerated), Brandon Staley is out as head coach. Tom Telesco is out as general manager, too.
ESPN. Since I prefer to link to local coverage when I can, here’s an archived version of the story from the LAT, but I know some folks may not be able to read that. (It hasn’t made it in the Wayback Machine yet.)
Staley’s teams finished 24-24 in the regular season and made one playoff appearance. In his first year in 2021, the Chargers were eliminated from postseason contention on the final snap of the regular season.
The defeat at Las Vegas was a record-setter, the Chargers surrendering an all-time high in points for a game. Also, no Chargers team ever had trailed by 42 points at halftime.
You know what I say: shut the franchise down, throw all the players out of the NFL, reduce all of their facilities to rubble, plow the rubble into the earth, and sow the ground with salt so nothing ever grows there again.
Craig Berube out as coach of the St. Louis Blues. ESPN link for those who are having problems with archive services.
He was 206-132-44 over about six seasons, and his team won the Stanley Cup in 2019. The team is 13-14-1 so far this season.
Frank Reich fired as head coach of hapless the Carolina Panthers. ESPN for the archive challenged.
The Panthers are currently 1-10. Which, by a curious coincidence, is also the number of games Frank Reich coached.
Tom Allen out as head coach of Indiana. (“Sources say”)
Seven seasons, 33-49, and 18-43 in conference. Indiana lost their final three games and went 3-9 this season.
According to ESPN, Indiana will have to pay a $20.8 million buyout, since they fired Allen before December 1st of this year. If they had waited until next year, the buyout would have been only $8 million.
ESPN is reporting (“sources say”) that Dana Holgorsen is out at the University of Houston. I have been unable to find any backup for this on the HouChron website or the two local TV station websites I checked.
31-28 over five seasons. The buyout is estimated at $14.8 million, but there’s an offset clause if he gets another coaching job.
Edited to add: the Holgorsen firing seems official now. HouChron
Edited to add 2: Some additional firing updates I ran across on ESPN. I’m just going to cover them quickly:
Terry Bowden gone as head coach of Louisana-Monroe. 10-26, 5-10 in conference, and 2-10 this season.
Frank Cignetti Jr. out as offensive coordinator for Pitt.
Dana Dimel out as head coach of UT-El Paso. 20-49 in six seasons, one bowl appearance in 2021, but 3-9 this season.
Jack Del Rio out as defensive coordinator of the Washington NFL team.
The Commanders’ defense ranks last in points allowed and 29th in yards allowed — one year after ranking seventh and third, respectively, in those categories. The Commanders consistently gave up big plays and failed to make many of their own.
Washington has allowed a league-high 49 pass plays of 20 yards or more. The Commanders haven’t intercepted a pass in the past six games or caused a turnover in the past three.
Washington lost 45-10 to Dallas yesterday, is 4-8 this season, has lost three games in a row and eight out of the last 10.
Matt Canada out as offensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Non-archive link, extremely aggressive about turning off your ad blocker. Archive link, which may not work for some people. ESPN, which will probably work for almost everyone.