Teams Are a Changin’
Folks, it is that time of year once again. The time of year where the football teams in college or the professional ranks which had subpar seasons or the season they were not expecting to have decide to replace their head coaches. It is no different this year, except this year more than any year I can remember in a very long time there are coaches out there waiting for that phone call you would never expect to be waiting for the phone call.
Not only are there coaches out there which were either fired or parted ways for ‘mutual’ reasons with their teams but we had a legend decide about two weeks after losing the College Football Playoff Semifinals to hang up his clipboard and whistle without even a hint of advance notice. Yes, Nick Saban decided to retire as the coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide, just after the first national letter of intent signing period. Intentional or not, he left a lot of young men on the hook to now decide what they would like to do with their future. These players had to wonder who would be the next head coach, with some starting college early in this spring semester with only a week or two to decide if they wanted to stay with their letter of intent or transfer somewhere else with really no time to decide. This also will now go into a conversation or blog if you will for another day when we discuss players left on the hook when their coach decides to leave for another job.
Then, of course, there is the NFL. After the season came to an end, we had some coaches fired like Mike Vrabel and some teams which “mutually” parted ways with their coaches like Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll among others. Belichick coached the Patriots for 24 years, winning six Super Bowls. Like him or not, that is one hell of a legacy and now at 71, he is a free agent head coach for the first time in a very long time. Where will he go? Will he coach this year? Will he decide it isn’t worth it and retire? My bet is he will coach again and we will get to that in a minute. Then there is Pete Carroll who also had a successful run. He ‘only’ coached in Seattle for 14 years. No Belichick, but not too shabby. He had one Super Bowl victory but he was in the hunt for most of those years. He self admittedly is ready to go and coach again…. somewhere. Lastly, there is Vrabel, who if you ask anyone, were utterly shocked the Titans decided to cut ties with him. There is nobody out there who understands how this could have occurred, but here we are with him sitting there unemployed. There is no doubt he will coach again. Where it will be is anyone’s guess. Any team would be very lucky to have this man as their head coach.
Then we have ‘dem Cowboys. We all saw what happened on Sunday late afternoon/early evening (excuse me while I laugh again). How could this have happened? This was the number two seed who people were picking to go to the Super Bowl, and yet there they were, losing at home when they have not lost there all year. Will Jerry Jones decide it is time to hire a new coach, yet again? Will he renounce his role as general manager? If he does, will he throw tons of money at any of these coaches? Will it be Belichick? Then we have that job that nobody wants in the Carolina Panthers head coaching position. Who will be the poor sap that takes over this club? We also have the possibility of any college coaches making the jump to the NFL whether they have been there before or not. Will Jim Harbaugh leave Michigan after winning the national championship?
In the end, we will have to wait and see. Will any other teams now decide to part ways with their head coaches seeing who is on the open market? It should make for an interesting next few weeks to see who is hired for all of these open positions.