Archive for the ‘Firings’ Category

Crash of the Titans.

Tuesday, December 6th, 2022

Jon Robinson out as general manager of the Tennessee Titans.

The Titans went 66-43 under Robinson, reaching the AFC Championship during the 2019 season and securing the No. 1 seed in the playoffs in 2021. But despite postseason berths in four of Robinson’s six full seasons, including the past three, a confluence of failed selections at the top the NFL Draft, the untimely trade of star receiver A.J. Brown and some uncharacteristic performances this season put Robinson’s tenure in the cross-hairs.

Interestingly, the Titans are 7-5 and at the top of their division…

…but haven’t looked particularly dominant. They have lost three of their past five games, including a 35-10 loss at NFL-leading Philadelphia on Sunday that saw Brown torch his former team for 119 yards and two touchdowns.

Firings watch.

Monday, December 5th, 2022

Former first round draft pick and Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield waived by the Carolina Panthers.

The Browns picked him first in the 2018 draft, and traded him in July to the Panthers for a fifth-round draft pick (“…that could have become a fourth had Mayfield, the first pick of the 2018 draft, played 70% of the snaps.”)

Firings watch.

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2022

This is a weird one.

Sean Kugler out as offensive line coach/running game coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals..

Why fire Kugler? Well, they are 4-7…but apparently that’s not why.

Answer: there was some sort of unspecified “incident” while the Cardinals were in Mexico City for Monday Night Football. More from ESPN, although the article seems speculative.

Lazy firings watch.

Wednesday, November 9th, 2022

Jeff Scott out as head coach of the University of South Florida.

The team is currently 1-8, has lost seven games in a row, and got beat 54-28 by Temple last week.

Scott compiled a 4-26 record (1-19 AAC) in his two-plus seasons with the Bulls.

Norts spews.

Monday, November 7th, 2022

I feel like I am obligated to say something about the Houston Astros winning the World Series.

With that out of the way, I wanted to mention my Theory of Compensatory Suckage.

The Astros won the World Series. The Houston Texans are 1-6-1 so far this season, which gives them the worst record in the NFL at the moment. The Houston Rockets are currently 1-9, which is the worst record in basketball at the moment. Seems like everything balances out.

In other news: Frank Reich out as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts.

40-34-1 over roughly four and a half seasons.

… the coach’s tenure in Indianapolis began to go wrong when Reich “stuck his neck out” for the team to bring in Carson Wentz in 2021, a decision that ultimately led to a potential playoff team’s collapse in the final two games, and the collapse of a 2022 team that many national experts picked to win the AFC South ultimately ended Reich’s tenure, nine games into his fifth season.

The triggering event seems to have been the Colts losing 26-3 to New England on Sunday, and putting up 121 yards of offense in the process.

Net loss.

Tuesday, November 1st, 2022

And the latest on the firings front: Steve Nash out as coach of the Brooklyn Nets.

94-67 over roughly two years.

But wait, it gets even better! Though this is technically not part of the firings watch: Ime Udoka is rumored to be next up as Nets coach.

That’s Ime Udoka, who was suspended for a year by the Boston Celtics for having an inappropriate relationship with a female subordinate.

Personally, I’m thinking: this is not a good look.

Firings watch.

Tuesday, November 1st, 2022

Bryan Harsin out as Auburn football coach.

Harsin’s tenure on the Plains lasted just more than 22 months, and he finishes with a 9-12 record at Auburn that included a 4-11 mark against Power 5 opponents. He’s the first Auburn coach to finish his tenure with a losing record since Earl Brown’s three-year stint wrapped with a 3-22-4 record between 1948-50.

He was two years into a six year contract. He was also the subject of an inquiry by the university back in February:

Former players spoke out publicly about their experience with Harsin last season, while current players rallied around the embattled coach. After an eight-day investigation and uncertainty about whether Harsin would see a Year 2, Auburn announced its decision to retain the coach, with Gogue releasing a statement on the matter, explaining that it “would have been an abdication of the university’s responsibilities” to not investigate concerns raised about the football program. Gogue added that the university was committed to Harsin and providing him the support necessary to achieve his goals as head coach.

Ultimately, though, it was the on-field product:

After starting 6-2 in Year 1, Auburn spiraled to close out the 2021 season, ending the year on a five-game losing streak. That skid included blown double-digit leads against Mississippi State, South Carolina and Alabama, ultimately losing the Iron Bowl in a quadruple-overtime classic at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The year was capped with a loss to Houston in the Birmingham Bowl, which solidified the program’s first losing season since 2012 and its first five-game losing streak to end a season since 1950.

…

Two uneven performances against opponents from the FCS and Group of 5 to open the [2022 – DB] season, followed by a humiliating loss to Penn State that marked the program’s worst at home in a decade. Auburn escaped its SEC opener against Missouri in overtime before losing each of its next three. The death knell came in the form of Saturday’s double-digit loss to the Razorbacks, which dropped the Tigers to 3-10 in the last calendar year and brought an end to a coaching tenure that was uncomfortable, unfounded and ultimately didn’t work.

Firings watch.

Monday, October 17th, 2022

Executive vice president of football operations Jack Easterby out in Houston.

More from Pro Football Network by way of Lawrence.

Not much more to add to this, really: nobody seems unhappy with Easterby’s performance in the role. There’s a lot of “it was just time”.

The Texas are 1-3-1 and had a bye this past week.

Firings watch.

Monday, October 10th, 2022

Matt Rhule deposed as head coach of the Carolina Panthers, in the first NFL coach firing this season.

Rhule posted an 11-27 record during his tenure in Carolina, winning 10 total games during his first two seasons, before getting off to a miserable 1-4 start this season.

…

As with the offensive coordinator dilemma, Rhule never identified a long-term, efficient quarterback. The team signed journeyman Teddy Bridgewater to lead the offense in 2020, but he was traded to the Denver Broncos following a 5-11 debut season under Rhule.
The Panthers traded three draft picks to the New York Jets for former first-round pick Sam Darnold last offseason. Darnold faltered as the franchise QB in Carolina, as he did in New York, and the Panthers remained on the hook for his salary through this season after picking up his fifth-year option following the trade to acquire him.
This summer, the Panthers tried to upgrade the QB spot by trading for former first overall pick Baker Mayfield. Through five games, Mayfield has struggled mightily, completing just 54.9% of his passes for 962 yards, four touchdowns and four interceptions.

Firings watch.

Friday, October 7th, 2022

Mike Matheny out as general manager of the Kansas City Royals.

Also out: pitching coach Cal Eldred.

While they avoided a 100-loss season, the Royals (65-97) finished in last place in the AL Central and recorded the fifth-worst record of any club in the majors. They went an MLB-worst 26-55 on the road.
Matheny inherited a 103-loss team in 2019. In his first season, the Royals went 26-34 playing a pandemic-shortened 2020 schedule.
The Royals went 74-88 last season after adding veteran pitcher Mike Minor, first baseman Carlos Santana and left fielder Andrew Benintendi.

ESPN:

Matheny finished 165-219 during his time with the Royals, though the number that perhaps is more important to the future of the club is 29 — the number of players who made their major league debut during his tenure.

On, Wisconsin!

Tuesday, October 4th, 2022

Missed this yesterday: Paul Chryst out as head coach of the Badgers.

Chryst, 56, who was born in Madison, finishes 67-26 in seven-plus seasons at Wisconsin, his alma mater. He won 10 games or more in four of his first five seasons with the Badgers, winning a Cotton Bowl, an Orange Bowl and three Big Ten West Division titles. But the program fell off beginning in 2020, going 4-3, before a slow start to the 2021 season, in which the Badgers finished 9-4.

The team is 2-3 this season.

If it ain’t a rambling wreck, it’ll do until the wreck gets here.

Monday, September 26th, 2022

Geoff Collins and athletic director Todd Stansbury out at Georgia Tech.

Collins was 10-28 as Georgia Tech’s coach after arriving from Temple. Stansbury had been Georgia Tech’s athletic director since 2016. Stansbury hired Collins and made the decision to bring him back last year after a 3-9 season.

Georgia Tech is 1-3 this season. That one win came against Western Carolina.

(Apologies for linking to ESPN, but the AJC is pretty much unreadable and unlinkable without a subscription.)

Firings watch.

Monday, September 19th, 2022

Herm Edwards out as football coach at Arizona State.

He was 20-26 overall (about five years) and 1-2 so far this season. AZ State lost 30-21 at home to Eastern Michigan, who was playing their backup quarterback.

The bigger issue, though, seems to be that AZ State is under a major NCAA investigation.

In June of 2021 an investigation was launched into recruiting violations which occurred during a COVID-dead period. That resulted in the firing or resignation of five coaches including Antonio Pierce who was recruiting coordinator and defensive coordinator and at one point being groomed to be Edwards’ successor as head coach.

That investigation is still ongoing.

More from ESPN.

Frost bitten.

Monday, September 12th, 2022

We’re only two (or three, depending on schedules) games into the college football season, and we already have our first firing. (As far as I know: at least this is the first major school firing.)

Scott Frost out at Nebraska. Rather unceremoniously: they fired him now, three games in, rather than waiting until October 1st. On the first, his buyout amount would have been halved.

Frost was pretty well regarded: as a quarterback, he led Nebraska to the national championship in 1997. Nebraska hasn’t won a championship since. As a coach, he led Central Florida to a 13-0 season in 2017.

Then he came to Nebraska. His record in four and a quarter seasons was 16-31, “worse than any of the previous four Husker head coaches who had been fired this century”. His record in “one-score” games was 5-22.

The final straw seems to have been Saturday’s game against Georgia Southern, a cupcake team that Nebraska paid $1.423 million to play in Lincoln. Nebraska lost 45-42, at home, after being a a three touchdown favorite. They’re now 1-2 this season.

More from ESPN.

Firings watch.

Monday, August 15th, 2022

Chris Woodward out as manager of the Texas Rangers.

Currently, the Rangers are 23 games out of first in the AL West.

The Rangers, on their way to their sixth consecutive losing season, are 211-287 in Woodward’s three-plus seasons. The .424 win percentage is the sixth worst in MLB in that time.

…

After flirting with .500 in June, the club has seemingly taken a step backward. The Rangers are 15-25 since July 1 and have fallen back to a 90-loss pace.