Commentary

Tip Sheet notes: A short stay for some

For some new head coaches, their first season might be their last

Originally Published: December 24, 2009
By Len Pasquarelli | ESPN.com
Not counting the Bay Area tandem of the 49ers' Mike Singletary and the Raiders' Tom Cable (who took over as interim coaches last season), there are nine new coaches this season, and front-office shakeups in a few of their franchises could render some of them one-and-done sideline bosses.

This week's hiring of Mike Holmgren in Cleveland, along with the pending top-of-management turnover in Seattle, could put Browns coach Eric Mangini and Seahawks coach Jim Mora in jeopardy. There are also whispers that first-year Tampa Bay coach Raheem Morris might be in trouble after a disastrous season.

Economics and pragmatism could play some role in their short-term futures, but all three men might be wise not to consider long-term leases. To this point, those coaches have managed only 10 total victories.

These days, owners expect (and some demand) quick results, so dismissing a coach after one season is not as unthinkable as it once was. Still, firing a coach after only one season has been rare in the recent past. But it's difficult to say what that trend bodes for Mangini, Mora and Morris.

There have been only three one-and-done coaches in the NFL this millennium, with Cam Cameron of Miami (2007) the most recent one. Over the past 25 seasons, there hasn't been a year in which more than one coach lost his job after only one season.

But Bill Parcells dumped Cameron after one year with the Dolphins, following a review of the entire franchise, and Holmgren is expected to undertake the same kind of thorough evaluation of the Browns. The successor to former Seahawks president Tim Ruskell may decide he wants his own man in control. No matter what kind of job Morris has accomplished with the Bucs, it is a results-oriented league, and the Glazer family can't be very happy with only two wins.

Stay tuned, because the weeks following the completion of the regular season could be interesting ones. And it could be a year in which the number of one-and-done coaches in the league since 2000 is doubled.


To read the rest of Tip Sheet notes -- including how Mike Shanahan might fit in Washington -- you must be an ESPN Insider. Insider

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