NFL: Which of the Black Monday Fired Coaches Will Find Employment
Which of the four NFL coaches that fell victim to Black Monday will be back to coach again?
Black Monday fell upon the NFL once again, taking out a number of coaches. These coaches’ teams under-performed this season, or the last few seasons, and the front offices decided that they had to go.
No one is saying that these coaches are no good. To the contrary, each of them have their positives. It’s just that they just are no longer fits for their teams. Something happened that stalled their progressions. Whether it be egos not meshing well, poor leadership, or perceived weaknesses, the management of these teams did not feel that the franchise could go on successfully with these guys.
This Black Monday, FOUR coaches lost their jobs. This is a relatively small number of coaches when you consider there have been years in which six or seven coaches were fired. Last year, five coaches were given their walking papers.
The fact that the number of coaches who got fired has gone down doesn’t make it any easier for those who were. It hurts not only the coach, but also his family and his assistants on staff. Of those that did get fired, though, who will be manning the sidelines again soon?
NOTE: San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh and the owners both mutually decided it was time to move on. Harbaugh already has a landing spot. He signed a contract with his alma mater, the University of Michigan.. That takes him off this list.
Marc Trestman
Trestman started out his head coaching career with the Bears last season. He began
the season 3-0, but things went downhill from there. The Bears had a record of 5-8 after that start to finish the season 8-8, after a 10-6 final season with former coach Lovie Smith.
Hopes were high for Chicago this season. After the first season under Trestman produced the best Bears offensive team in franchise history, they figured all they had to do was fix their defense and things would be good.
Well, the 2014 season was an abject failure. The team finished 5-11, losing their last five games. Arguments in the locker room were made public. Players admitted they tuned out coaches, and Jay Cutler took a giant step backwards.
Trestman’s leadership was questioned. He ruled with a feather, and the players took advantage of that. In what many already felt was his final game last week against the Minnesota Vikings, Trestman’s players could not even score a touchdown.
Things were so bad that after just two seasons the Bears decided they had to let Trestman go. Even the general manager who brought him in, Phil Emery, was fired as well.
As bad as things turned out, I don’t see Trestman getting a head coaching job anytime soon. He just doesn’t have the personality to take charge of an entire team. He has had success as a quarterbacks coach, and I think, after a few years, he can get back to the NFL. Barring that, I see him going back to the Canadian Football League, where he won multiple championships.
Rex Ryan
Ryan is another coach who started out fast, but then things spiraled down. For him, however, things took a little longer. His first two seasons, he had a 20-12 record,
and went to the AFC championship game both seasons. In his last four seasons, he compiled a 26-38 record, and failed to get into the playoffs in any of those seasons.
Even though Ryan has not been successful with the New York Jets in his last four seasons, players just love playing for him. They play hard for him. Some argued that the problem was with John Idzik, the general manager of the Jets. They say he failed to get the right players for Ryan to coach.
The Jets did agree with the belief that Idzik was a problem, so he got fired as well. It still did nothing to save his job.
Look for Ryan to patrol the sidelines somewhere next season. He did meet with ESPN and he will certainly have a job with the network should he not get a coaching job, but coaching is in his blood, and he wants to get right back in it. Some coaches take a year off, enjoy themselves and the free money they get from the team that fired them, but I don’t think Ryan can stay away.
Ryan has reportedly already set up interviews with the 49ers and Atlanta Falcons. There may also be a chance that he could interview with the Bears, the team his father, Buddy, had the most success with.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank is said to want to make a splash in his hiring. He also wants the Falcons to have a tougher identity than what they have now. He has been interested in Ryan for a while now, so look for him to make a strong run at Ryan.
Mike Smith
Speaking of the Falcons, Mike Smith was the other Black Monday victim. Two
seasons ago, he was just a minutes away from going to the Super Bowl. Today, he is unemployed.
Smith’s Falcons had a miserable 2013 season in which they went 4-12. There was hope that this season things would get better, and they did, but by only two games. They had a 6-10 record in 2014.
Even though the Falcons had a losing record again this season, Smith still had a chance to win the division. The NFC South had a down year, and it came down to Smith’s Falcons and the Carolina Panthers. If the Falcons won the final game of the season, Smith might still be the coach.
Instead, the Falcons got blown out in that game, 34-3, and the 7-8-1 Panthers ended
up being a playoff team. Smith, meanwhile, found himself on the chopping block.
Smith had the problem of having his teams called soft. His offenses have been high-powered for the most part, but his defenses have been really porous. This season, the Falcons ranked 27th in points allowed, last in yards allowed, last against the pass and last in rushing touchdowns allowed.
The problem on defense is that there was no pass rush. Smith and general manager
Thomas Dimitroff had differences in how to build the defense, with Dimitroff wanting pass rushers and Smith wanting interior linemen to stop the pass. While Smith won out in that argument, the fact they got killed by the pass and ended up giving up a lot of touchdowns against the run ended costing Smith his job.
It will be some time before Smith becomes a head coach again. I believe he will get another shot, but it might not be for the foreseeable future. He will probably have to build himself up again as an offensive coordinator somewhere.
So there you have the fired coaches and their outlooks on future work. Rex Ryan is probably the only one of the fired coaches that will be coaching again next season. The others may get jobs later, but don’t look for them to be in charge of a team anytime soon.