Archive for the ‘Firings’ Category

Random notes: February 19, 2013.

Tuesday, February 19th, 2013

Well, isn’t this special. Julie Roe Lach, the NCAA’s chief enforcement officer, has been fired. You may remember Ms. Lach from such hits as “my people totally f–ked up the Miami investigation”.

Is Sherlock Holmes in the public domain? Or is he under copyright?

…according to a civil complaint filed on Thursday in federal court in Illinois by a leading Holmes scholar, many licensing fees paid to the Arthur Conan Doyle estate have been unnecessary, since the main characters and elements of their story derived from materials published before Jan. 1, 1923, are no longer covered by United States copyright law.

The scholar in question is Leslie S. Klinger, the man behind the recent Annotated Sherlock Holmes. Klinger and the mystery writer Laurie R. King are planning a collection of “Holmes-related” stories by various authors, but the Conan Doyle estate is demanding a licensing fee. Klinger and King did a previous collection of Holmes-related stories in 2011, and paid a $5,000 licensing fee.

The complaint asks that the court make a declaratory judgment establishing that the basic “Sherlock Holmes story elements” are in the public domain, a point that some have previously argued, if not in court.

What can you say about the only college Greco-Roman wrestling program in the country? What are they going to do if wrestling is no longer an Olympic sport? I don’t know, and I wasn’t going to say anything until I read this:

After losing its federal funding last year, the program relies on USA Wrestling and the university for financial support.

Wait. The Federal Government was funding a wrestling program? On the God-forsaken Upper Peninsula of Michigan?

Hermann always has recruits visit the campus during the summer, which he acknowledges is a bit of subterfuge. When they arrive as freshmen, just as the cold winds are beginning to blow, Hermann instructs their parents to wait in the parking lot for a few minute
“I’ve actually had recruits turn around and go back home the same day,” he said.

Competition tractor restoration. No snark here: I think this is nifty. (And, really, it isn’t any different than car shows, is it? Indeed, thinking about it some more, this might also be worth noting as an example of how the mass media is out of touch with the rest of the country.)

In addition to the Delo, which is sponsored by Chevron’s brand of oil and lubricants and is considered a Super Bowl of tractor restoration, there’s also a tractor restoration Web series (“Tractor Fanatic,” with episodes available in a two-DVD set) and Midwest tractor shows that draw thousands of fans each summer.

Insert Trojans joke here.

Monday, January 14th, 2013

Been busy all afternoon, first chance I’ve had to blog, but still ahead of FARK:

The University of Southern California has fired men’s basketball coach Kevin O’Neill.

O’Neill was 48-65 overall at USC (this was his fourth season there), and 7-10 so far this season.

(I don’t think any other major college basketball coaches have been axed yet this season. Am I wrong? Tell me in comments.)

Enough of this Mularkey.

Thursday, January 10th, 2013

The Jacksonville Jaguars have fired head coach Mike Mularkey after one season.

The team went 2-14.

More from ESPN.

TMQ Watch: January 1, 2013.

Wednesday, January 9th, 2013

Time for the backdated TMQ watch. What bloodshed and infamy did we miss last week? Let’s open the briefcase and find out.

(more…)

Ah, that warm feeling of schadenfreude.

Wednesday, January 9th, 2013

No players were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame this year in a polarizing vote that reopened the wounds of the steroid era.

The first question I had when I heard this was: are they going to even have a ceremony, if nobody was elected? Answer:

For the first time since 1960, the Hall of Fame — located in Cooperstown, N.Y. — will host a ceremony with no living inductees. The July 28 ceremony will honor the three inductees selected by a committee on baseball’s pre-integration era, but all of those inductees have been dead for at least 74 years.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have fired their general manager, Brian Burke. The Maple Leafs, as I understand it, play an obscure sport known as “hockey” which is popular in Canada.

Skulls for the skull throne!

Friday, January 4th, 2013

Hey, remember Bloody Monday? Wasn’t that a time?

Remember how the Kansas City Chiefs fired Romeo Crennel as head coach, but didn’t fire Scott Pioli as general manager?

Well, about that

Beyond the losing on the field, Pioli’s management style created a toxic atmosphere within the organization. Haley told The Star a few days before he was fired in December 2011 that he suspected rooms at the team facility were bugged so that team administrators could monitor employees’ conversations. Haley also believed his personal cellphone, a line he used before being hired by the Chiefs, had been tampered with.

And this is sportsfirings.com, not sportshirings.com, but we have to add this note:

The move clears the way for the Chiefs to hire…

Yes, Andy Reid is the new coach.

Blood for the blood god!

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013

The man who TMQ would describe as “the tastefully named Gregg Williams” is apparently out as defensive coordinator in St. Louis, according to ESPN.

This is kind of an interesting situation: Williams worked for the Saints, took the job with the Rams in the off-season, and was then suspended indefinitely by the NFL for his part in the bounty scandal. He didn’t coach at all this season, and has not been reinstated by the NFL. So I’m not sure why they’re letting him go now; couldn’t they have just as easily fired him before the season started?

Both ESPN and ProFootballTalk are reporting that Blake Williams, Gregg’s son and the linebackers coach, has also been fired. Blake actually coached this season: PFT states “After Gregg was suspended, [Rams coach Jeff] Fisher gave many of Gregg’s responsibilities to the 27-year-old Blake, making him one of the youngest assistant coaches ever to handle play calling in the NFL.

Beats me, but I just report ’em.

Monday morning coming down.

Monday, December 31st, 2012

My plan is to do one post covering all of today’s NFL firings, and to update it whenever possible throughout the day.

So far:

Gene Smith is out as general manager of the (2-14) Jacksonville Jaguars. Khaaaaaaaaaaan!

Andy Reid. Eagles. Everyone knew it was coming.

According to the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, the Jets have fired general manager Mike Tannenbaum, but plan to retain Rex Ryan as coach. That’s a “WTF?”item.

The Cleveland Browns have canned coach Pat Shurmur and general manager Tom Heckert.

Various sources are reporting that Romeo Crennel is out as head coach in Kansas City, but the team plans to keep Scott Pioli as general manager. There’s nothing official from the team yet. (Edited to add: the KC Star reports that this is now official. And “Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said in a statement that the entire football operation will remain under review and no final determination has been made about Pioli’s job status.”)

Edited to add and bumped: Lovie Smith gone as head coach of da Bears.

Chan Gailey out as head coach of the Bills.

Edited to add: Reports are that Norv Turmer and AJ Smith are out in San Diego, but I have not seen anything official yet. (Edited to add: official now.)

Edited to add: FARK has an official “Black Monday” thread going. You are, of course, welcome to comment here as well.

Edited to add: Ken Whisenhunt out as coach and Rod Graves out as general manager of the Arizona Cardinals. (ETA2: and a whole bunch of offensive coaches as well.)

Edited to add: I think everyone who’s going to be fired today, has been. So let’s wrap this for now with a fitting musical interlude.

Edited to add: Mike Munchak retains his position as head coach, and Ruston Webster stays general manager, in Tennessee. But Mike Reinfeldt is out as chief operating officer.

And Jim Schwartz stays coach of the Lions, but three of his assistants got kicked to the curb.

TMQ watch: December 25, 2012.

Sunday, December 30th, 2012

Yes, we admit it. We’re lazy and evil. Also, we got a little behind with the holidays. This is the first chance we’ve had to post this week’s mini-TMQ watch for this week’s mini-TMQ.

Before we start, though, we do want to note that NFL.com is currently reporting the firing of Andy Reid as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, but it does not sound like the team has made an official announcement. Yet. Monday is the usual “blood in the streets” day for NFL firings.

After the jump…

(more…)

Ooops.

Friday, December 28th, 2012

Forgot to note this, especially since Lawrence gave me a heads-up:

 Avery Johnson out as coach of the New York Nets.

The team is 14-14, and Johnson was “coach of the month” in November. However, the team is also 3-10 in December, which seems to have motivated the firing.

Random notes: December 3, 2012.

Monday, December 3rd, 2012

Jim Washburn is out as defensive line coach of the Eagles. Yes, already.

Obit watch: David Oliver Relin, journalist and co-author of Three Cups of Tea. I wish I had more to say on this, but right now I’m not sure what I can say.

As I recall, the case of the lawyer who shot at a census worker was well publicized at the time. The lawyer. Carolyn Barnes, denies the incident ever happened. But she was declared incompetent to stand trial and sent off to a state mental hospital.

Here’s the punchline: her law license is still valid, and she’s representing at least one client.

From Barnes’ perspective, the fact that she has been permitted to continue practicing law is clear evidence she should be released from her forced confinement in the state hospital and be allowed to proceed to her own trial. Her logic: If she is legally able to represent Gourley, as she has been doing, then she is more than capable of understanding the charges against her and participating in her own defense – the legal standard used to determine if a defendant is mentally competent to stand trial.

So, in other words: if the state hasn’t taken away her law license, she’s sane and can be tried for shooting at the census worker. If the state takes away her law license, that just certifies that’s she’s insane and can’t stand trial. That’s some catch.

Monday firing update.

Monday, November 26th, 2012

Widely reported yesterday, but noted here for the record (I wanted to let the press shake out a bit before linking): Gene Chizik out at Auburn.

33-19 overall, 15-17 in conference, 3-9 overall and 0-8 in conference this season. And, yes, he won a national championship in 2010, but what had he done lately?

North Carolina State fired Tom O’Brien: 40-35 and 22-26 in conference over six seasons.

Jon Embree is gone at Colorado after two seasons, during which he was 4-21, and 1-11 this season.

Danny Hope out at Purdue: 22-27 over four seasons, 13-19 in conference. And Purdue is going to a bowl game…

And, finally, as far as I know, Frank Spaziani out at Boston College:

The Eagles finished 2-10 in 2012, concluding with a 27-10 loss to NC State on Saturday, and won just six games the past two seasons. His teams got progressively worse each season under his watch.

(Loser update: the Washington Wizards are now 0-11, and still have a shot at being the first NBA team to go 0-82.)

Oh, those Golden Bears…

Tuesday, November 20th, 2012

Jeff Tedford: out as coach at the University of California, Berkeley.

Tedford’s overall record is 82-57, “the most wins in school history by the longest-tenured coach in school history“. The problem was, Tedford went 15-22 in his last three seasons, 9-18 in conference, and 0-3 against Stanford.

The low point came in the last two weeks of this season as the Bears lost by a combined 90 points to Oregon (59-17) and Oregon State (62-14). Those two defeats are the biggest back-to-back losses in the 118-year history of Cal football.

And this one goes out to Gregg Easterbrook:

More damning still, the most recent NCAA figures showed Cal as having the worst graduation rate in football in the Pac-12.

Hang down your head, Derek Dooley.

Monday, November 19th, 2012

Out as coach at Tennessee.

Dooley was fired after posting Tennessee’s longest run of consecutive losing seasons in more than a century. Dooley owned a 15-21 record that included an 0-15 mark against Top 25 teams. Dooley was 4-19 in Southeastern Conference competition and had lost 14 of his last 15 league games.

My apologies for not noting this yesterday, but I was out with friends from early in the morning until late in the evening. Yes, I did have fun, thank you very much.

What can Brown do for you?

Friday, November 9th, 2012

Apparently, coaching the Lakers is not one of those things.

The Lakers were 41-25 in Brown’s first season, losing to Oklahoma City in the second round of the playoffs.

The team is 1-4 so far this season. (And, BTW, Washington and Detroit still have a shot at going 0-82.)