David Fizdale out as head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies. I do believe this is the first coach firing of the NBA season.
He was 50-51 after a little more than a year with the team. The big problems seem to be that he was 7-12 so far this season, they’ve lost eight games in a row, and Mr. Fizdale got crosswise with Marc Gasol (one of the team’s star players).
In other news, Ty Detmer is also out as offensive coordinator for BYU.
David Bailiff out as head coach at Rice.
He’d been there for 11 seasons and was 57-80 overall.
He also took Rice to four bowl games.
After going 3-9 in Bailiff’s first season in 2007, Rice rebounded with a 10-3 year and won the Texas Bowl in 2008. But since winning the Owls’ first outright conference title in 56 years in 2013, Bailiff’s teams have done progressively worse.
Rice went 8-5 in 2014 and won the Hawaii Bowl. They ended 2015 with a 5-7 record and finished 3-9 in 2016.
And they were 1-11 this year, which is not a good look.
…I think this is the strangest football story (college or pro) I’ve seen so far this season. I didn’t know anything about it until this morning when I checked my phone: Mike the Musicologist had pinged me overnight, but the media wasn’t covering this when I wrote last night’s loser/firings update.
But I digress. As you know, Bob, Tennessee fired Butch Jones a few weeks ago. So they’ve been looking for a replacement, and found one…
…Greg Schiano, current defensive coordinator with Ohio State.
The name “Greg Schiano” may ring some bells with longtime readers. Gregg Easterbrook had serious issues with Mr. Schiano during his previous coaching tenures, which include a stint at Tampa Bay (where he was fired after going 11-21) and at Rutgers for 11 years before that (where he was 68-67). Most of Easterbrook’s issues seemed to be with Mr. Schiano’s alleged lack of “sportsmanship”: Mr. Schiano famously bragged about telling his teams to disrupt kneel-down plays.
Anyway. The university apparently signed a “memorandum of understanding” with Mr. Schiano, and word got out on Sunday.
Hilarity ensued. If by “hilarity” you mean “a massive s–t fit”.
Tennessee students, fans, and some political figures did not like the idea of hiring Mr. Schiano. At least part of the objection seems to be that Mr. Sciano’s previous coaching stints also include a stop at Penn State during the Sandusky era.
Schiano was known in the NFL as being a domineering leader with a challenging personality.
Giggle. Snort.
Now Tennessee has apparently backed out of the deal. USA Today. ESPN.
Question 1: does Tennessee owe Mr. Schiano money? And if so, how much?
There are reports that TN will owe Schiano $20 million in a buyout for a contract that was signed but TN backed… https://t.co/fouiHHZmjl
— Brad Jones (@BradJonesBBBTV) November 27, 2017
I think Brad Jones knows more about this stuff than I do, but $20 million seems unlikely to me. I can see this costing the university some money, maybe even in the seven-figure range. But it looks like Mr. Schiano still has his Ohio State job, and the contract was “subject to approval” by the board of regents…
Question #2: does athletics director John Currie quit, or get fired?
Look, national media can think what they want about us, but at no point in history has every member of #VolTwitter AND the Tennessee media agreed on something. That's how big of a deal this Schiano thing is.
— Brian Rice (@briancrice) November 26, 2017
NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:
Cleveland.
I remain cautiously optimistic. The Browns play the woeful Chargers next Sunday, and the Chargers are the team that ruined Cleveland’s shot at a perfect season last year. But: the Browns are playing in LA, those Chargers are 5-6, and they just beat Dallas at home (on Thanksgiving, yet, so those Chargers will have a few extra days to get ready and healthy).
Firings watch: in a move that was speculated on before Thanksgiving, Texas A&M fired Kevin Sumlin. He was 51-26 over six seasons, and the team is 7-5 (4-4 in conference).
As one of the articles I read put it: they were paying Sumlin %5 million a year, and just finished renovations to Kyle Field. They want and expect better than 7-5.
As much as I dislike linking ESPN, here’s a handy chart of coach firings for you.
What do we always say, folks?
That’s right: don’t bring a knife to a gunfight.
Mike Riley out as Nebraska head coach. 19-19 over three seasons.
And this isn’t sportshirings.com, but that soft wet sound you heard recently? That was the sound of Gregg Easterbrook’s head exploding. (For those who don’t remember, Easterbrook had some sort of grudge against Chip Kelly during his NFL coaching career, and wasn’t hesitant to advance that grudge in his column.)
And, of course, we have questions:
This literally just in: the other shoe has dropped in Arkansas. Bret Bielema out as head coach. He was 29-34 overall in five seasons, with a record of 4-8 overall and 1-7 in SEC play this season.
My prediction: Cleveland gets the first pick and takes either Darnold or Rosen. SF gets the second pick and takes whichever one Cleveland doesn’t. Whoever Cleveland takes plays for two years, gets battered and beaten, then gets tossed aside for another first round draft choice quarterback, and is probably out of the NFL by 2025.
I wish I didn’t think this: I’d like to see the Browns win a Superb Owl in my lifetime. But how many franchise quarterbacks have they drafted or signed from elsewhere over the years?
This is your yearly reminder that, if you shop at Amazon using the search tool on my sidebar, links in my posts, or through my store, I get a small kickback on each purchase.
Said kickbacks allow us to indulge our eccentricities, and purchase such things as expensive books on Smith and Wesson revolvers, knives, and even the occasional firearm accessory. Thank you for your continued support.
While we are on the subject of the holidays: if you are inclined to get me a present, please do not purchase this book for me. Not in a one, ten, or 20 pack. Thank you.
Also, while I would kind of like a hat from The Boring Company, $20 seems way way high to me for a gimmie cap.
Officer Damon Allen of the Texas Department of Public Safety was killed yesterday.
The suspect is in custody. What makes this even more awful is that this is the second DPS line of duty death this month: officer Thomas Nipper was killed on November 4th, after a vehicle crashed into the back of his car during a traffic stop.
Headline of the day:
There’s a dog head possibly infected with rabies lost in TX mail
Happy Thanksgiving. Yes, we’re late again. Frankly, we had trouble working up the motivation to deal with this week’s TMQ.
On the plus side, though, if we hadn’t waited, we wouldn’t have been able to link this article: please go read it now, before or after you have your turkey, it doesn’t matter which.
(Thanks to Ken “Popehat” White for the tip.)
After the jump, this week’s TMQ…
Seems like the story of my life, firings and obits. Anyway:
Ken Norton Jr. out as the defensive coordinator for the Oakland Raiders.
I don’t think this is the dumbest thing I’ve read on ESPN, but I do think it is in the top 10.
…if you are a college football player, try to avoid punching one of your assistant coaches in the head twice.
Because that behavior doesn’t just get you benched: it gets you thrown off the team and expelled from the university.
And now, it gets you charged with aggravated assault.
Bob Stitt out as Montana’s head coach.
Obits, mostly for the record: David Cassidy. Della Reese.
This would be the third person placed on the “permanently ineligible” list by Rob Manfred, and the second one this year. (Previously. Previously.)
In addition, the Braves “must forfeit 13 international prospects”:
(Kevin Maitan is described in the article as the team’s “best prospect”.)
Also, Gordon Blakely, who used to be a “special assistant” with the team, has been suspended for one year.
(Sorry for linking to ESPN. I would rather have linked to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution‘s coverage, but they haven’t updated their story.)
Man, it was a weekend, wasn’t it? Sorry I didn’t get to some of this yesterday, but I spent a large part of the day foraging for food in Westlake (Why is it so hard to find a restaurant that’s open on Sunday in that part of town?) and then on an expedition to Pflugerville to visit the new Aldi grocery store. (The natives are wary, but I think we started to win them over.)
Anyway: Malcolm Young, AC/DC co-founder. I feel a musical interlude coming on, but I think I’ll do a jump first.
Mel Tillis, who sang both types of music: country and western.
Dr. John C. Raines is dead at the age of 84. This name is probably not familiar to you, but the story is interesting.
Dr. Raines, along with seven others, broke into a FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania on the night of March 8, 1971 (during the Frazier-Ali fight) and stole a large number of FBI internal documents. They later released those documents to the press and to members of Congress.
The NYT obit gives a pretty good summary of the whole affair. But, if you’re interested, I recommend The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI by Betty Medsger: it gives a detailed account of the planning, the execution, the aftermath, and what happened to the principals (as of 2013-2014).
Last, and definitely least, Charles Manson is burning in Hell. NYT. LAT. Lawrence.
I’ve felt for a while now that we would be much better as a culture if we all agreed to ignore Manson, beyond providing him with basic human needs (food, shelter, medical care). No publicity, no interviews, no cover versions of his “music”: we should have just let him rot silently.
They’re creepy and they’re kooky, they’re all together spooky, the Manson family.
I do like that paragraph: “semiliterate habitual criminal and failed musician”, indeed. This one, too:
Manson was a pathetic, cowardly con man & should be remembered for that alone.
Time for a palate cleanser. After the jump, musical interludes.
NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:
Cleveland
San Francisco had a bye this week, so they remain at 1-9. And shockingly, the New York Football Giants actually won another game. (Against Kansas City, in overtime, 12-9. That must have been another titanic offensive struggle.)
I think that’s going to mess up their shot at a high first-round draft choice. Sorry, Infidel.
Firings: Jim Mora fired as head coach at UCLA. After six seasons. On his birthday. “Happy birthday. Here’s your present: it’s a pink slip.”
But don’t cry too hard:
…
Marcus Satterfield out at Tennessee Tech. 6-16 over two seasons.
Edited to add: This seems to be official now: Denver fired offensive coordinator Mike McCoy. The team is 3-7 and has lost six games in a row.
Ferdie Pacheco, Muhammad Ali’s fight doctor and later television boxing analyst.