Sez Me:
“There are two kinds of coaches, them that’s fired and them that’s gonna be fired.”
— Bum Phillips
I’m bummed, Bum, you brilliant son of a gun. You missed a few.
Coaches leave their teams/programs to get higher paying jobs, abandoning the university, its fans, and the recruits who trusted them.
Some simply retire, even healthy ones, although most successful, locked-in, paranoid (especially football) coaches belong to a phylum scientists cannot identify. Many resurface like old whales.
Some retire and away. Bear Bryant died four weeks after he coached his final game at Alabama, Joe Paterno a few months after his. It’s in the blood.
How many times during the week we just stepped out of did we hear: “Once in a lifetime. We’ll never see its likes again.”
Well, of course we will. Just not anytime soon. There is far too much coaching experience and years of service and survival of drastic change in their sport for a repeat in our lifetimes of Bill Belichick, Nick Saban and Pete Carroll to all be on the street, legends without a home — and almost simultaneously.
And so, I can look at the week we just stepped away from as the most extraordinary — and perhaps the most important — in the history of the game of football.
In a matter of hours, three of the greatest coaches of all time were gone from their places of employment. Each was over 70.
Belichick, who won six Super Bowls and went to nine with New England, was “allowed to leave” after 20 years of remarkable success. He was canned. He ain’t finished.
Saban is. He coached six national championship teams at Alabama, one at LSU, by far the best of the modern era.
Carroll most definitely was dumped in Seattle. He went to two Super Bowls with the Seahawks, winning one and blowing the other with an awful call. He won two national championships at USC, losing one with another bad play call that probably would have beaten Texas.
But the Seahawks, despite finishing over .500, didn’t make the playoffs, so the Good Ship Pete was ready for mothballs. Carroll may be 72, but he’s a nuclear-powered ship. I don’t know if he’ll coach again, but he’s going to try.
Jerod Mayo already has replaced Belichick (he was coach-in-waiting and had it in his contract, so no search was necessary).
There now are eight NFL positions for rent (they’re all rentals), and more could pop up within the next few days, depending how nutty owners feel about playoff losses.
Belichick wants a job, and he’s going to get one. Will he have total control, as he had in New England? He didn’t forget how to coach. He forgot how to get players, and became a lousy GM.
Who came first, Belichick or Tom Brady? It’s a tough one. I don’t know if either would have been nearly as successful if not together. Going back to Paul Brown-Otto Graham, you’re not finding a Hall of Fame captain of an NFL dynasty who didn’t have a Hall of Fame quarterback — or two.
, before the Brady Miracle, Bob Kraft probably was firing Bill. QBs drafted in the sixth round are camp fodder.
There has been some talk The NFL Team That Used To Be Here has interest in Bill. But I don’t make Belichick and Fredo a good match. I truly believe Jim Harbaugh wants that job. He’s a franchise resurrector, his star now bright enough for TMZ, and absolutely loves Justin Herbert. I can’t see him leaving Michigan for a team without a franchise QB.
Saban got tired of racing with the rats and hated what college football has become, knowing it will get worse, and he’s both right and hypocritical. It’s a mess. It needs organization. It needs a czar. Besides, Saban is the richest man in Alabama, and the best college coaches work too hard. Kalen DeBoer already has left Washington to replace him.
But this is football of the 2020s. Greed always has been there, but its cocktail of avarice liquor and bitters has been poured too strong and now goes down hard and ugly. Colleges are no different, except universities, if anything, are less patient.
It all happened in a finger pop. It can’t happen again. Maybe we’ll have to wait for Saint Peter to give the news, but it will. …
RIP, Claude Gilbert. A terrific coach, a great man, and as honest and trusting a football coach as I’ve known. He had better teams at San Diego State than Don Coryell, who hired him. My condolences to Mary Lou. …
How trusting? Claude once allowed the two beat reporters (Bill Finley was the other) to sit in on a meeting in which he changed the entire defense. …
Does anyone know how hard it is not to score a TD in a modern NFL game? Hard. …
Peacock reportedly paid the NFL $110 million to live stream-only a playoff game. Does any owner other than Fredo Spanos really need the $3.5 million? Man, NFL fans can take a punch. It is a garbage dump of greed. …
But gamblers will watch. …
Weather postpones Steelers-Bills? Does that mean the Judases-Bengals “Freezer Bowl” gets suspended retroactively? …
What’s the over/under on the date the Bears tip their hand and lose leverage on the No. 1 overall pick? …
Vic Fangio compares Josh Allen to John Elway. Again, allow me to defer to my dear old dad: “He has to eat a few beans yet.” Sorry, pop. Josh can eat every bean in Boston and it won’t be enough. …
Babe Ruth gave some lucky stiff $20 U.S. Depression money in 1934 for his 700th home run ball. That’s $2 million in current currency. Guy retired. …
Tired of “Our guys battled. We played hard.” Losing coaches need new writers. …
Kawhi Leonard has signed a three-year, $152.4-million extension with the Clippers, which is $140 million more than Donald T. Sterling paid for the team and moving expenses. And it makes Kawhi the wealthiest former Aztec since Art Linkletter. …
The Ham-&-Egger-In-Chief wants a street near Petco named Peter Seidler Way. A great idea honoring a great man. Question: Will any vehicle with four wheels ever be allowed on it? …
Spend a week’s salary on an NBA game and what do you get? Pelicans go on the road and beat Warriors by 36. Damn it’s a bad league. …
Tiger and Nike have untied their shoes. So I’m back to Keds. …
RIP, Ron Hahn, the man who revitalized the Sports Arena and saved hockey in San Diego. …
If I hear “All hands on deck” one more time, I’m walking the plank. …
“Aaron Rodgers got two A’s on his report card, and both were in the word, ‘Aaron.’ ” — Jimmy Kimmel.
There’s a street in Berlin named Jesse Owens Way. Pretty sure he was honored post-WWII. …
