Angry Pope
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Line Of Scrimmage: Coaches On The Hot Seat, And Who's Next
By Tony Moss, NFL Editor
Philadelphia, PA -- - Time was, an NFL head coaching candidate needed to ask himself one simple question when entertaining a job offer.
"Can I win there?"
Those days are gone, banished for all time along with pay phones, $2 tanks of gas, and country music that actually sounds like country music.
In 2007, the only pertinent question goes like this:
"Can I win now?"
Consider the case of Romeo Crennel. It was way back in February of 2005 when the then-New England Patriots defensive coordinator, en route to his third Super Bowl title in four years, was a highly sought-after head coaching candidate. He landed with the Browns, who looked at the time to have made a major score with the hire.
Cleveland made sufficient if not earth-shattering progress in year one of the Crennel era, improving from 4-12 to 6-10 in '05 and giving long-suffering Browns fans some hope for the immediate future.
Then Crennel made two decisions that will likely haunt him for the rest of his days. He hitched his wagon to two people, offensive coordinator Maurice Carthon and quarterback Charlie Frye, who eventually proved incapable of performing their respective jobs. The Browns went 4-12 again in 2006, and Crennel was lucky to stay out of the firing line when the season careened to a hideous halt.
In this past April's draft, the Browns made a statement of intent by drafting Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn, who will likely start but can't realistically be expected to win in 2007. Which means that unless Crennel has some type of magic serum he's keeping from the rest of us, Cleveland is staring in the face of double-digit losses again this season.
That quickly, Crennel is likely to be a highly sought-after defensive coordinator entering next season.
Given what he inherited and the wayward direction of the organization, is it fair to judge Crennel on three less-than-stellar campaigns? Not really, but chances are the 60-year-old coach will be among the least surprised people in C-Town if and when he is eventually let go.
No matter the circumstances, you won't find many NFL owners who will allow a coach to survive three consecutive losing seasons. Program building is all well and good, provided you can build quickly. And the highly-paid men who take these high-pressure, ultimate accountability jobs know the score going in, which is why there won't be many tears shed for Crennel if he gets the boot.
Crennel will be a victim of his time, and a victim of the fact that he didn't get much of it.
Below we take a look at all of the coaches that enter 2007 on the hot seat, followed by a glimpse of the possible next generation of league head men:
THE HOT SEAT
1. Romeo Crennel, Browns (10-22 in two seasons with Cleveland)
So many of Cleveland's struggles in the past two seasons have seemed beyond Crennel's control (the dearth of talent left by the Butch Davis regime, major injuries on both sides of the football, the strength of the AFC North), but even the head coach's apologists know that another campaign producing double- digit losses would justifiably mark the end of the line. It's going to be tough for Crennel to avoid that ignoble fate, since the talent on defense remains spotty, the offensive principles are greener than the Cleveland Browns Stadium grass, and the division rival Ravens, Bengals, and Steelers are all high-quality outfits.
2. Tom Coughlin, Giants (25-23 in three seasons with New York, 0-2 in playoffs)
Coughlin has waded through a contentious NFC East to lead the G-Men to a couple of playoff bids in the last three years, but has not exactly been embraced in the swamps of Jersey. His players either don't like him, can't stay healthy, or both, franchise player Eli Manning has not developed quickly under Coughlin's watch, and there have been big-game meltdowns aplenty. With Tiki Barber gone and the defense looking only marginally better on paper, Coughlin is fighting an uphill battle to make it to a fifth year at the helm.
3. Jon Gruden, Buccaneers (39-41 in five seasons with Tampa Bay, 3-1 in playoffs)
Tampa Bay was mostly uncompetitive during last year's 4-12 disaster, the second time in the last three years that the Bucs have finished at the bottom of the NFC South. Noted offensive wizard Gruden couldn't inspire his team to score any points a year ago, prompting the seemingly desperate offseason signing of veteran quarterback Jeff Garcia and a re-tooling of the offensive scheme. In a division that includes at least two superior teams (New Orleans, Carolina) Gruden needs to pray that Garcia has some magic left. Otherwise, his matinee-idol countenance could be staring through a camera lens on an ESPN studio set in 2008.
4. Joe Gibbs, Redskins (21-27 in three seasons with Washington (current stint), 1-1 in playoffs)
Think it would be awkward for the Redskins to cut ties with the man that led them to three Super Bowl titles? Think again. In terms of heartlessness, Daniel Snyder is the Ann Coulter of NFL owners, and if Gibbs fails to win in 2007, the coach will be back watching cars drive in circles. It won't be easy for Gibbs, who needs last year's 31st-ranked NFL defense to be light-years better, and needs an oft-stagnant offense to jell in its second year under coordinator Al Saunders.
5. Jeff Fisher, Titans (105-93 in 13 seasons with Tennessee, 5-4 in playoffs)
The Titans pulled something of a Lazarus act last season, as Fisher led a young team that lost its first five games to an 8-8 finish and a late (and ultimately failed) run at the playoffs. There was major talk of Tennessee rewarding Fisher with a long-term deal, but those negotiations appear to have cooled. And the Titans had a terrible offseason, losing key offensive pieces like Travis Henry and Drew Bennett while also contending with the Pacman Jones circus. If Tennessee posts its fourth straight non-winning season in 2007, which looks like a real possibility, it seems unlikely that the Titans brain trust would reward Fisher with a lucrative long-term deal.
6. John Fox, Panthers (44-36 in five seasons with Carolina, 5-2 in playoffs)
Fox has been to a Super Bowl and a couple of NFC Championships in his five years with the Panthers, but that doesn't mean Carolina fans are necessarily enamored of their coach. Two of Fox's past three teams have underachieved, including a 2006 edition that was believed to have Super Bowl talent but missed the playoffs altogether. The wolves are not yet at the door for Fox, but if the Panthers endure another second-half meltdown in '07, those whispers about the head coach's job security could turn to screams.
7. Lane Kiffin, Raiders (first season with Oakland)
Here's a statistic that should frighten the young Kiffin: of the last six Oakland Raiders head coaches, team owner Al Davis has canned five after two seasons or fewer. That means Kiffin, who had never previously been a head coach on any level nor held a meaningful NFL job, won't be afforded lot of time to feel his way around. A franchise that is 15-49 (.234) since its Super Bowl season of 2002 needs to be exciting offensively and win to appease Davis, and there's not a heck of a lot of evidence to suggest that the 31-year-old Kiffin can get both done.
8. Herm Edwards, Chiefs (9-7 in one season with Kansas City, 0-1 in playoffs)
Kansas City snuck into the playoffs a year ago, but you probably won't find many in the vicinity of Arrowhead Stadium who would call Edwards' first season on the job an unqualified success. Year two will find Edwards playing to win the game while dealing with gaping holes at quarterback, on the offensive line, and at wide receiver, all while fielding a defense that is looking mighty long in the tooth at present. Edwards will probably get a mulligan if Kansas City goes in the tank in '07, though the franchise that canned Gunther Cunningham after two years and a 16-16 record back in 2000 might do some serious deliberating about that future.
9. Mike Holmgren, Seahawks (72-56 in eight seasons with Seattle, 3-5 in playoffs)
Seattle has made four straight playoff appearances and is just two years removed from its first trip to the Super Bowl stage, but it appears that the window of opportunity is closing for Holmgren's crew. The offense is aging, the defense remains deficient in places, and the weak division that partly enabled Seattle's prolonged prominence is getting better. If the Seahawks fail to make the postseason in 2007, the 59-year-old Holmgren will have a choice between cutting bait while keeping his reputation intact or remaining the captain of a fishing boat that looks to be taking on water.
10. Marvin Lewis, Bengals (35-29 in four seasons with Cincinnati, 0-1 in playoffs)
It might seem ridiculous that Cincinnati would consider axing a head coach that has presided over a rare period of respectability for the franchise, but the Bengals and their fans are well within their rights to expect more from Lewis than he has produced. Like Dick LeBeau, Bruce Coslet, and Dave Shula before him, Lewis has not led Cincinnati to a playoff victory, despite possessing one of the league's top offenses. The club's many off-the-field problems aren't helping matters either. Lewis will probably get until at least 2008 to move his team up the ladder, before management begins to question whether someone else is better suited to get the organization to the next rung.
cont'd...
Line Of Scrimmage: Coaches On The Hot Seat, And Who's Next
By Tony Moss, NFL Editor
Philadelphia, PA -- - Time was, an NFL head coaching candidate needed to ask himself one simple question when entertaining a job offer.
"Can I win there?"
Those days are gone, banished for all time along with pay phones, $2 tanks of gas, and country music that actually sounds like country music.
In 2007, the only pertinent question goes like this:
"Can I win now?"
Consider the case of Romeo Crennel. It was way back in February of 2005 when the then-New England Patriots defensive coordinator, en route to his third Super Bowl title in four years, was a highly sought-after head coaching candidate. He landed with the Browns, who looked at the time to have made a major score with the hire.
Cleveland made sufficient if not earth-shattering progress in year one of the Crennel era, improving from 4-12 to 6-10 in '05 and giving long-suffering Browns fans some hope for the immediate future.
Then Crennel made two decisions that will likely haunt him for the rest of his days. He hitched his wagon to two people, offensive coordinator Maurice Carthon and quarterback Charlie Frye, who eventually proved incapable of performing their respective jobs. The Browns went 4-12 again in 2006, and Crennel was lucky to stay out of the firing line when the season careened to a hideous halt.
In this past April's draft, the Browns made a statement of intent by drafting Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn, who will likely start but can't realistically be expected to win in 2007. Which means that unless Crennel has some type of magic serum he's keeping from the rest of us, Cleveland is staring in the face of double-digit losses again this season.
That quickly, Crennel is likely to be a highly sought-after defensive coordinator entering next season.
Given what he inherited and the wayward direction of the organization, is it fair to judge Crennel on three less-than-stellar campaigns? Not really, but chances are the 60-year-old coach will be among the least surprised people in C-Town if and when he is eventually let go.
No matter the circumstances, you won't find many NFL owners who will allow a coach to survive three consecutive losing seasons. Program building is all well and good, provided you can build quickly. And the highly-paid men who take these high-pressure, ultimate accountability jobs know the score going in, which is why there won't be many tears shed for Crennel if he gets the boot.
Crennel will be a victim of his time, and a victim of the fact that he didn't get much of it.
Below we take a look at all of the coaches that enter 2007 on the hot seat, followed by a glimpse of the possible next generation of league head men:
THE HOT SEAT
1. Romeo Crennel, Browns (10-22 in two seasons with Cleveland)
So many of Cleveland's struggles in the past two seasons have seemed beyond Crennel's control (the dearth of talent left by the Butch Davis regime, major injuries on both sides of the football, the strength of the AFC North), but even the head coach's apologists know that another campaign producing double- digit losses would justifiably mark the end of the line. It's going to be tough for Crennel to avoid that ignoble fate, since the talent on defense remains spotty, the offensive principles are greener than the Cleveland Browns Stadium grass, and the division rival Ravens, Bengals, and Steelers are all high-quality outfits.
2. Tom Coughlin, Giants (25-23 in three seasons with New York, 0-2 in playoffs)
Coughlin has waded through a contentious NFC East to lead the G-Men to a couple of playoff bids in the last three years, but has not exactly been embraced in the swamps of Jersey. His players either don't like him, can't stay healthy, or both, franchise player Eli Manning has not developed quickly under Coughlin's watch, and there have been big-game meltdowns aplenty. With Tiki Barber gone and the defense looking only marginally better on paper, Coughlin is fighting an uphill battle to make it to a fifth year at the helm.
3. Jon Gruden, Buccaneers (39-41 in five seasons with Tampa Bay, 3-1 in playoffs)
Tampa Bay was mostly uncompetitive during last year's 4-12 disaster, the second time in the last three years that the Bucs have finished at the bottom of the NFC South. Noted offensive wizard Gruden couldn't inspire his team to score any points a year ago, prompting the seemingly desperate offseason signing of veteran quarterback Jeff Garcia and a re-tooling of the offensive scheme. In a division that includes at least two superior teams (New Orleans, Carolina) Gruden needs to pray that Garcia has some magic left. Otherwise, his matinee-idol countenance could be staring through a camera lens on an ESPN studio set in 2008.
4. Joe Gibbs, Redskins (21-27 in three seasons with Washington (current stint), 1-1 in playoffs)
Think it would be awkward for the Redskins to cut ties with the man that led them to three Super Bowl titles? Think again. In terms of heartlessness, Daniel Snyder is the Ann Coulter of NFL owners, and if Gibbs fails to win in 2007, the coach will be back watching cars drive in circles. It won't be easy for Gibbs, who needs last year's 31st-ranked NFL defense to be light-years better, and needs an oft-stagnant offense to jell in its second year under coordinator Al Saunders.
5. Jeff Fisher, Titans (105-93 in 13 seasons with Tennessee, 5-4 in playoffs)
The Titans pulled something of a Lazarus act last season, as Fisher led a young team that lost its first five games to an 8-8 finish and a late (and ultimately failed) run at the playoffs. There was major talk of Tennessee rewarding Fisher with a long-term deal, but those negotiations appear to have cooled. And the Titans had a terrible offseason, losing key offensive pieces like Travis Henry and Drew Bennett while also contending with the Pacman Jones circus. If Tennessee posts its fourth straight non-winning season in 2007, which looks like a real possibility, it seems unlikely that the Titans brain trust would reward Fisher with a lucrative long-term deal.
6. John Fox, Panthers (44-36 in five seasons with Carolina, 5-2 in playoffs)
Fox has been to a Super Bowl and a couple of NFC Championships in his five years with the Panthers, but that doesn't mean Carolina fans are necessarily enamored of their coach. Two of Fox's past three teams have underachieved, including a 2006 edition that was believed to have Super Bowl talent but missed the playoffs altogether. The wolves are not yet at the door for Fox, but if the Panthers endure another second-half meltdown in '07, those whispers about the head coach's job security could turn to screams.
7. Lane Kiffin, Raiders (first season with Oakland)
Here's a statistic that should frighten the young Kiffin: of the last six Oakland Raiders head coaches, team owner Al Davis has canned five after two seasons or fewer. That means Kiffin, who had never previously been a head coach on any level nor held a meaningful NFL job, won't be afforded lot of time to feel his way around. A franchise that is 15-49 (.234) since its Super Bowl season of 2002 needs to be exciting offensively and win to appease Davis, and there's not a heck of a lot of evidence to suggest that the 31-year-old Kiffin can get both done.
8. Herm Edwards, Chiefs (9-7 in one season with Kansas City, 0-1 in playoffs)
Kansas City snuck into the playoffs a year ago, but you probably won't find many in the vicinity of Arrowhead Stadium who would call Edwards' first season on the job an unqualified success. Year two will find Edwards playing to win the game while dealing with gaping holes at quarterback, on the offensive line, and at wide receiver, all while fielding a defense that is looking mighty long in the tooth at present. Edwards will probably get a mulligan if Kansas City goes in the tank in '07, though the franchise that canned Gunther Cunningham after two years and a 16-16 record back in 2000 might do some serious deliberating about that future.
9. Mike Holmgren, Seahawks (72-56 in eight seasons with Seattle, 3-5 in playoffs)
Seattle has made four straight playoff appearances and is just two years removed from its first trip to the Super Bowl stage, but it appears that the window of opportunity is closing for Holmgren's crew. The offense is aging, the defense remains deficient in places, and the weak division that partly enabled Seattle's prolonged prominence is getting better. If the Seahawks fail to make the postseason in 2007, the 59-year-old Holmgren will have a choice between cutting bait while keeping his reputation intact or remaining the captain of a fishing boat that looks to be taking on water.
10. Marvin Lewis, Bengals (35-29 in four seasons with Cincinnati, 0-1 in playoffs)
It might seem ridiculous that Cincinnati would consider axing a head coach that has presided over a rare period of respectability for the franchise, but the Bengals and their fans are well within their rights to expect more from Lewis than he has produced. Like Dick LeBeau, Bruce Coslet, and Dave Shula before him, Lewis has not led Cincinnati to a playoff victory, despite possessing one of the league's top offenses. The club's many off-the-field problems aren't helping matters either. Lewis will probably get until at least 2008 to move his team up the ladder, before management begins to question whether someone else is better suited to get the organization to the next rung.
cont'd...
