The NFL coaching cauldron continues to churn. There is no surprise when, in the three or four days that follow the end of the NFL regular season, a half-dozen or so teams fire their coaches and start to interview successors. For some teams, it takes a while until they hire a new coach; but this year we have seen teams wait until well after the normal “firing period” has passed to pull the trigger so to speak. The Raiders fired Hue Jackson later than normal; and only yesterday, the Colts fired Jim Caldwell. I have no idea how much better the Colts’ record – - without Peyton Manning taking a snap during the season – - would have to have been for the Colts to decide that Caldwell was good enough to hold onto. I doubt that any coach could have made the Colts a .500 team this year. I have no idea what coach out there who might want the job will be able to make the Colts a .500 team next year if Peyton Manning is similarly unable to play.
After a long process of interviews and commuting between St. Louis and Miami, Jeff Fisher decided he would rather coach the Rams than the Dolphins. Supposedly, the nexus of his decision was that Fisher would have had to cede some personnel authority to GM, Jeff Ireland, within the Dolphins’ hierarchy. If true, you can look at that information in one of two ways:
A. Fisher is an egomaniac who does not play well with others and does not want his next job dependent on the whimsical decisions of anyone else.
B. Fisher looked at the roster GM Ireland assembled for this year and the last couple of years and wondered why that guy still has a job.
I do not read minds. You make the call.
Here is what Mike Bianchi had to say about Fisher’s decision in the Orlando Sentinel:
“Jeff Fisher chooses the St. Louis Rams over the Miami Dolphins. That’s sort of like choosing the beets over the Brussels sprouts.”
Meanwhile, down a notch on the food chain from NFL head coaches, Mike Martz announced his retirement from coaching. “Mad Mike” had his glory days with the Rams back when Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, Isaac Bruce and Tory Holt were in their primes; he was the offensive coordinator under Dick Vermeil when the Rams won it all. When Vermeil retired, Martz took over the Rams, his record in St. Louis was 53-32, and yet the Rams canned him. If you look back over the reporting surrounding Martz’ last year with the Rams, you will have difficulty deciding if Martz was more like Captain Queeg, Captain Ahab or Horatio Hornblower as the guy in command of the ship.
Since leaving the Rams, Martz’ career has been peripatetic. He was the offensive coordinator in Detroit, SF and most recently in Chicago. None of those teams achieved great success – - offensively or overall – - while he was on the staff. Now, he has announced his retirement after he sought a contract extension in Chicago, and according to some reports, leaked a rumor that Arizona State was interested in him to take over the head coaching job there as a means of leveraging his contract extension request. I have no idea how long this “retirement” is going to last…
There are reports that Marty Schottenheimer is on the list of candidates to be the new coach in Tampa Bay. Last season, Schottenheimer guided the Virginia Destroyers to the championship of the United Football League. Here is what Bob Molinaro had to say about that possibility in the Hampton-Roads Virginian Pilot:
“Our guy: Not to be selfish, but should Marty Schottenheimer get the Tampa Bay Bucs head coaching job, writing about the Virginia Destroyers just won’t be the same.”
Before I leave the subject of the NFL and coaches, riddle me this:
If the lockout and the lack of off-season “team events” were responsible for the underachievement of teams – - as has often been suggested about the Eagles and the Redskins – - how come the Niners went from 6-10 last year to 13-3 this year with a new coach, a new system and no off-season “team events”?
Same for the Bengals going from 4-12 last year to 9-7 this year with a rookie QB…?
In college football, the word “playoff” has been heard in something other than a whisper and in something other than a negative context among the folks who run the sport. Any long-term reader of these rants knows that I am in favor of a playoff system in college football. In fact, back in the days when there were only 23 bowl games [Aside: How did we get by on such a meager diet back then?] I devised a system where those 23 bowl games would be the early round games in a bracket for a 24-team NCAA football playoff and I sent that idea to the mavens in the NCAA for consideration. I think a playoff system would be great for the fans – - more games between very good teams – - and it would be great for the schools – - more revenues coming in.
A playoff would also minimize the value and the importance of polls. Clearly, poll voters do not watch all the teams play so their votes are “uninformed” at best. This year, even after the Alabama/LSU rematch, there was ambiguity in the poll voting. Greg Cote of the Miami Herald had this insightful and incisive comment on that matter:
“Alabama got 55 of 60 votes in the final Associated Press poll. I can almost see the four votes for Oklahoma State; it’s like supporting Ralph Nader. You know you are hopeless but you get to pretend you are standing for something. But can someone please explain the one vote for LSU? After last night? That voter should be identified and stripped of his voting rights. Seriously.”
Can I get an “Amen!” here…?
Finally, I am not a Pollyanna; I know that a playoff system in college football will not remove all doubt as to which is the best team in the country every year. However, it is a step forward and not backward. Here is Greg Cote again pointing out one immediately obvious “problem” with a 4-team playoff system:
“College football commissioners are discussing a proposal that would change the Bowl Championship Series to a four-team playoff. Everybody seems to love the idea except the team ranked fifth every year.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………