BR Posters – Use this thread to post NFL coaching updates whenever there’s a move through the off-season

The intro to our Week 17 NFL Picks looked at the coaching landscape heading into Sunday’s games with suspicion it could soon be in for an overhaul:

“Let’s just say if your name is Raheem, Norv or anything that rhymes with magnolia, you might want to think twice before renewing that mortgage!”

Two of those three coaches were fired Monday and Norv will stay on with San Diego, which I think is a good move. You else are you going to get to come in and design a playbook that will more often than not, produce 400-plus yards of offense?

Amazing they missed the playoffs but after seeing Denver make it, I wouldn’t be surprised if a few of those Chargers are born again throughout the off-season.

Keeping Reid was a good call in Philly, too, but there were three HC moves made during the regular season and there has already been two more this week:

Week 13-11: Mel Tucker, Jags, took over for Jack Del Rio

Week 15-11: Romeo Crennel, Chiefs, took over for Todd Haley

Week 15-11: Todd Bowles, Dolphins, took over for Tony Sparano

Black Monday, Jan. 2-12: Bucs fire Morris; Rams fire Spagnuolo and general manager Bill Devaney

Tuesday, Jan. 3-12: Bears fire general manager Jerry Angelo; O-Co Mike Martz resigns

Greg Manusky was fired today by the San Diego Chargers after just one year with the team. Manusky came over from San Fran a year ago when Harbaugh took over and filled the vacancy left by Ron Rivera, who moved into the HC role with Carolina.

After finishing 8-8, missing the playoffs and deciding Norv was too important to the offense to let go, Manusky took the fall.

If it isn’t special teams, injuries or bad decisions by QB Rivers in SD, I suppose it’s defense?

- Jeff Fisher was in St. Louis today; seems to be leaning that way and you gotta know the offer will be hard to beat

- Raheem Morris was in Washington today talking to Shanny and the Skins about possible position with defense (secondary coach, perhaps?)

- Mike Sherman is a prime candidate for the HC vacancy left by Morris in T-Bay. Bucs want to go away from the “Young and Stupid” movement and get a vet who has actually won more than 15 games in his lifetime. Sherman has 60 NFL wins and playoff experience

Crennel has been given the official nod to stay on as HC of the KC Chiefs; announced Monday, January-09-12

Big mess in New York and it looks like the chemistry pot has started to boil over. Players flocking to the media to call out other players, O-Co Brian Schottenheimer resigns and it sounds like ex-Dolphins HC Tony Sparano is moving in.

Found: NFL Network
From a football standpoint, Sparano's play calling is an ideal fit for a Jets team that might benefit from more of a ground-and-pound approach. Was it boring in Miami? Often, yes. But if you go back to Sparano's days in Dallas, when he called plays under Bill Parcells, his approach was often much more aggressive, if still run-oriented. Saints coach Sean Payton, whose team has come to be known for its explosive aerial attack, actually attempted to hire Sparano to run his offense in 2006 (they are close friends), but Parcells blocked the move. Sparano's style could make for an ideal union with Ryan's defense.


- The Jags have named former ATL O-Co Mike Mularkey as their new HC, taking over for I-HC Mel Tucker who filled in when Del Rio was fired Wk 13. Tucker may be back with the Jags next year but they wanted a more offensive minded coach who could help develop QB Gabbert.

- Oakland fired HC Hue Jackson and the search is on for his replacement

Washington has hired ex-TB HC Raheem Morris to coach the Redskins DBs, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Morris was fired after a disappointing 4-12 SU season in 2011 and it was a classic “Too much, too soon” case, coming on the heels of a 10-win season in 2009.

Morris takes over for Steve Jackson in Washington, inheriting a defense that ranked 12th against the pass (TB was 21st). Most of his coaching experience comes from the defensive side of the ball, including two stints with the Bucs (2004-05, 2007) and a season as D-Co in Kansas State (2006).

Jeff Fisher is in at St. Louis, taking over the team that beat him and his Titans in Fisher’s only Super Bowl appearance (1999 season).

The Rams were a mess in 2011 but they also lost nearly as many starter games this season as the Green Bay Packers in 2010. St. Louis probably had just as many injuries but it’s hard to call anyone in that secondary a “starter” when they make two backup appearances, start one game and then suffer a season-ending injury, which was pretty much the case all season.

Fisher is a dynamic coach who can design playbooks around his skill players and with QB Bradford, RB Jackson and WR Lloyd, he’ll have plenty to play with.

STL SWT in 2011 was 7.5 wins and the missed it by a longshot, going 2-14 SU. With Fisher in place I could see the books posting a similar number in 2012, perhaps a 6.5 or 7, but I think they’ll be hard pressed to go .500.

AFC games will be against the East, NFC West games will be tough and 3-3 is a best-case scenario. The NFC rotational opponents will be DAL, PHI, WSH and NYG and bottom feeder matchups will be against Minnesota and Tampa.

My early prediction is 6-10 (likely) and 7 wins MAX.

Colts have released a statement saying Jim Caldwell is finished and owner Jim Irsay is expected to make it official in a press conference later today with the team’s new GM, Ryan Grigson.

Things were steady for so long in Indy before Peyton’s surgery and right now, it’s tough to say where this team is heading. It will be interesting to see what kind of odds sportsbooks put up on for the 2012 Draft, as far as Luck getting picked first overall. It will be an easy favorite but I suppose the technical thing to watch for is whether or not it will be the Colts picking first. They could get a lot for that pick and if Manning’s healthy, maybe they slip down the order.

I wasn’t at my usual office Monday, where I can casually note all the late-breaking deals from Around the League, but it sounds like former Saints D-Co Gregg Williams is on his way to St. Louis is going to join Jeff Fisher in St. Louis (as D-Co).

Williams hadn’t signed an extension in New Orleans and speculation is that he was keeping his options open while Fisher, an old friend, made a decision on a team. They’ve worked together, have good chemistry and share the same coaching philosophy; should be a good fit.

Apparently Jack Del Rio is on the Saints’ radar as a potential replacement for D-Co.

Other news:
Mike Nolan left as Miami's defensive coordinator after being hired to the same position with Atlanta, the Falcons announced Tuesday. Nolan’s spent the last two seasons as defensive coordinator with the Dolphins. He also served as defensive coordinator with Denver, Baltimore, Washington and with both New York teams; the Jets and Giants. Nolan also had an unsuccessful stint as San Francisco's head coach.

Busy off season so far. Who do you guys think is the best of the 4 playoff coaches?

I like Belichick. For all his cheating ways, he knows how to get it done. Leaning on Patriots to cover this weekend too.

The Saints must have made Steve Spagnuolo an offer he couldn’t refuse Wednesday. The former Rams head coach has signed on with New Orleans today as the team’s new defensive co-ordinator, replacing Gregg Williams.


Miller, I agree that Belichick is the is the best coach of the four remaining and probably one of the top 2-3 in the business. Not too comfortable laying a TD at this point in the playoffs though; I bet the Ravens at +7.5 in my Early Action thread.

For a breakdown on all four coaches, check out this week's First and 10

Still no news out of Miami but Bruce Arians has decided to hang em up in Pittsburgh. Early reaction is that the Steelers will look outside the organization for his replacement.

ESPN reports the Dolphins are close to signing Packers O-Co Joe Philbin as their new head coach. Philbin is obviously familiar with free agent QB Matt Flynn and it’s been at least 2 months since Miami changed starting QBs, too, so they are due. Perhaps Flynn could be lured this summer if the price was right.

The Indianapolis Colts have named Chuck Pagano as the new head coach Wednesday, taking over for Jim Caldwell who was fired Jan. 17 following a 2-14 SU season.

Pagano was D-Co for the Baltimore Ravens in 2011 after serving three years as the team’s DBs/secondary coach.

Pagano’s bio; Found: NFL Network
Pagano was the Ravens' secondary coach from 2008 to 2010. He served in the same capacity with the Cleveland Browns from 2001 to 2004, then coached the Raiders' defensive backs from 2005 to 2006.

Prior to joining the Ravens, Pagano spent the 2007 season as the defensive coordinator for the North Carolina Tarheels. Pagano spent several years in the college ranks, including at Miami, where he was the secondary coach and special teams coordinator from 1995-2000.

Oakland stayed within the division for their coaching search, going with Broncos D-Co Dennis Allen as the team’s new HC. The Raiders fired Hue Jackson in the second week of January after finishing the year at 8-8 SU.

Allen is 39 years old, making him the league’s youngest head coach.

Already feeling like this has been the busiest off-season for NFL coaches ever but I don’t have the official numbers. Today, the Bucs made Greg Schiano the team’s next head coach after 11 years at Rutgers where he was 68-67.

That’s only a game above .500 but in the past six seasons, Schiano was 49-28 including a 9-4 mark in 2012. Most of his experience is in the college ranks but Schiano also worked as defensive assistant in Chicago during the mid-90’s.

Cleveland Browns hired former Vikings HC Brad Childress as their offensive coordinator.

News out of Baltimore today that Dean Pees will take over as D-Co in place of Chuck Pagano (IND). After getting teased his whole life, Pees was a D-Co at NE and also coached BAL’s linebacker corps.

The Ravens also announced O-Co Cameron will stay on and how could he not? Baltimore is 44-20 SU during Cameron’s tenure, they’ve made the playoffs four-straight seasons and if Evans holds onto that ball last week in Foxboro, we’re not even discussing this right now – we’re breaking down BAL vs. NYG for the Lombardi Trophy.

Flacco’s numbers need to take a step forward in 2012 and I think they will. My early prediction is that the Ravens will win double-digits and challenge for the AFC North title once again.

Been a busy day on the co-ordinator front and latest news out of the Mile High City a la Twitter is that Jack Del Rio has been hired to replace recently departed Dennis Allen (OAK).

In eight-plus seasons under Del Rio, the Jaguars could not consistently stay above .500 (69-73 SU, including postseason). He was fired after Week 12, 2011 when the Jags were 3-8 SU but he’s much more suited to a D-Co role and knows John Fox from their time together in Carolina (D-Co, 2002).

Del Rio becomes the Broncos' fifth coordinator in five seasons.

One more update from Miami where new HC Philbin hired his two main men Friday.

Former GB Mike Sherman is the new O-Co and CIN’s D-Co Kevin Coyle has jumped ship to join the Dolphins (write-up Found: USA Today)

Sherman and Philbin have a relationship that goes back decades — Sherman was once Philbin's high school English teacher. When Sherman was head coach at Green Bay, he gave Philbin his first NFL coaching job. Sherman joins Miami after four years as head coach at Texas A&M. He also has been on the staffs at Seattle and Houston, along with college stops at Tulane, Holy Cross and UCLA.

Coyle has been a coach in Cincinnati since 2001, serving the last nine of those years as the Bengals' defensive backs coach. He has been a defensive coordinator at the college level at schools including Syracuse, Maryland, Fresno State, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and Holy Cross, and has also worked as a collegiate assistant at Cincinnati and Arkansas.

Combined, the 57-year-old Sherman and the 56-year-old Coyle have 68 years of football coaching experience.