It gives me no pleasure to talk about people getting fired. OK, maybe it does when it comes to a few politicians and coaches of various teams across sports. But I think I can get a pass on those folks. NFL coaches in particular get little sympathy since they make a ton of money and some of these guys are simply not fit for the responsibility they are given. Running an NFL team is not easy, so only the best and brightest should be hired. It doesn’t take long to figure out if the right person was chosen in most cases. At other times a coach can just wear out his welcome. Here are the top ten signs that an NFL coach is about to get the ax.
- Press conference meltdowns are a good signal that a head coach is stressed to the max and doesn’t have any answers for his team’s struggles. See “PLAYOFFS?!?!”, “They are who we thought they were!”, and “You – play – to – win – the – game!”.
- The inability to win home games will get a guy canned in a hurry. It is one thing to lose on the road, but losses in front of the home town fans repeatedly is a no-no.
- High expectations can be a death punch for a head coach. If the team is picked to go to a Super Bowl but loses five of the first six games, the head coach is going to have to explain the mess.
- Local beat writers who are usually supportive of the home team begin to turn on the head coach as press conferences become nasty affairs during bad years.
- Boneheaded decisions that get plenty of run on SportsCenter are a bad sign. Detroit’s former head coach Marty Mornhinweg famously chose to give the opponent the ball in sudden death overtime once. WTF?
- Players start to publicly question the coaching staff. “We were not ready to play”, is a player quote that is a direct shot at the head coach.
- A Gatorade bath from the players after beating a mediocre team. This is a sign that even a victory over a nobody is a source of pride for your team. That won’t cut it in the NFL.
- The team owner says repeatedly that he has full confidence in the coach. It is like he is trying to convince himself or it is an obvious lie.
- The team can’t get past a certain level. Making the playoffs each year is great, but higher expectations are then born. If the coach can’t get to the next level, then another guy will be hired to make it happen with the old coach’s players. See Tony Dungy in Tampa Bay.
- The team quits on the coach to make sure he does not return the next year. Once a coach loses the respect of the locker room, he is dead man walking.