Former Titans HC Mike Munchak wouldn’t fire his staff
By Mike Dyce
The Tennessee Titans parted ways with head coach Mike Munchak. It is being reported that his unwillingness to fire staff members played a role in his own firing.
“I can’t fire someone when I don’t believe they should be fired. Firing someone is awful. Too many people were going to be affected,’’ Munchak said, via the Tennessean. “I didn’t do anything to look like I was a great, loyal guy who went above and beyond the call of duty by not firing coaches. I did what you should do and what I thought was right. For me to maintain a job and a lot of guys lose jobs on a plan I didn’t think was right, I couldn’t do that.”
“I’ll make tough decisions, but not if they’re not right.”
Had he made the changes president Tommy Smith and general manager Ruston Webster wanted, he might have been able to keep his job. Of course we’ve seen in Dallas how a general manager and owner making coaching staff decisions works out.
The Tennessean lists offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains, defensive coordinator Jerry Gray, offensive line coach Bruce Matthews and linebackers coach Chet Parlavecchio as among those coaches they wanted gone.
“It wasn’t just about Chet or Bruce. People say, ‘Those are Munch’s guys.’ It was about the big picture. A lot of guys were going to be affected. If it was the right thing to do, I would do it. I have fired offensive coordinators (Chris Palmer) before. And I let go of a special teams coach (Alan Lowry).
“It’s not like ‘Munch isn’t here anymore because he wouldn’t fire two guys.’ In my eyes, that’s not what we disagreed on. There was more to it than that. Obviously they made it easy. They fired all of us so they could start over.”