Many NFL coaches, GMs fired on Black Monday
BY Associated Press
Tuesday, January 01, 2013
1/01/13 at 6:01 AM
Quite a day for NFL sacks.
Seven coaches and five general managers were fired Monday in a flurry of pink slips that were delivered the day after the regular season ended.
There could be more, but so far the sent-packing scorecard looks like this:
Andy Reid in Philadelphia, Lovie Smith in Chicago, and Ken Whisenhunt in Arizona, all coaches who took teams to the Super Bowl, Norv Turner in San Diego, Pat Shurmur in Cleveland, Romeo Crennel in Kansas City and Chan Gailey in Buffalo.
Three teams made it a clean sweep, saying goodbye to the GM along with the coach - San Diego, Cleveland, Arizona. General managers also were fired in Jacksonville and in New York, where Rex Ryan held onto his coaching job with the Jets despite a losing record.
Reid was the longest tenured of the coaches, removed after 14 seasons and a Super Bowl appearance in 2005 - a loss to New England.
Smith spent nine seasons with the Bears, leading them to the 2007 Super Bowl - a loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
Turner has now been fired as head coach by three teams. San Diego won the AFC West from 2006-09, but didn't make the postseason the last three years.
Whisenhunt was fired after six seasons, including taking the Cardinals to a Super Bowl loss to Pittsburgh after the 2008 season. He had more wins than any other coach in Cardinals history, going 45-51, and has one year worth about $5.5 million left on his contract. GM Rod Graves had been with Arizona for 16 years, nine in his current position. A 5-11 record after a 4-0 start cost him and Whisenhunt their jobs.
Gailey was dumped after three seasons with the Bills; Shurmur after two; and Crennel had one full season with the Chiefs.
Reid took over a 3-13 Eagles team in 1999, drafted Donovan McNabb with the No. 2 overall pick and quickly turned the franchise into a title contender.
He led them to a run of four straight NFC championship games, a streak that ended with a trip to the NFL title game. But the team hasn't won a playoff game since 2008 and after last season's 8-8 finish, owner Jeffrey Lurie said he was looking for improvement this year. Instead, it was worse. The Eagles finished 4-12.
Shurmur went 9-23 in his two seasons with the Browns, who will embark on yet another offseason of change - the only constant in more than a decade of futility.
Crennel took over with three games left in the 2011 season after GM Scott Pioli fired Todd Haley. Kansas City will have the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft as a result of having one of the worst seasons in its 53-year history.
Smith and the Bears went 10-6 this season and just missed a playoff spot. His record was 81-63 with the Bears, and he took them to one Super Bowl loss and to one NFC championship game defeat.
Original Print Headline: Coach firings begin in NFL
NFL Black Monday
Fired coaches
Arizona: Ken Whisenhunt
Buffalo: Chan Gailey
Chicago: Lovie Smith
Cleveland: Pat Shurmur
Kansas City: Romeo Crennel
Philadelphia: Andy Reid
San Diego: Norv Turner
Fired GMs
Arizona: Rod Graves
Cleveland: Tom Heckert
Jacksonville: Gene Smith
New York Jets: Mike Tannenbaum
San Diego: A.J. Smith
Associated Images:
Kansas City coach Romeo Crennel was fired by the Chiefs organization Monday. BEN MARGOT / AP
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