I was watching SportsCenter and they were discussing all of the NFL head coaches who have been fired recently, and talking about which teams they might go to. This got me thinking:
Have there been head coaches of prominent, recognizable teams* who were fired and then couldn’t find another coaching job? Did they go on to open sporting goods stores in the town of the home team? Did people snicker and shake their heads as they shopped for golf clubs?
Any team in the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, or a high-profile college or other team that’s likely to be found on a network station or at least ESPN. So for colleges, universally recognizable Division I-A teams are OK. Preferrably high-profile enough that most college fans would recognize the coach’s name.
Ted Nolan coached the BUffalo Sabres for two years and was let go after winning the Jack Adams trophy for top coach during the season. He has never gotten another NHL coaching job.
Well, I can think of many guys who were fired from head coaching/managing jobs, and subsequently never worked in pro sports again. But very, very few were completely blackballed or shunned. Many could have gotten a head coaching/managing job that they considered beneath them, Many more could have found SOME kind of assistant coach or assistant manager position, which MIGHT have given them a chance to get another head coaching job at some point, but decided not to pursue such jobs.
A few guys who were pretty much unemployable, just a year or two after having some major success:
Barry Switzer won a Super Bowl as head coach of the Cowboys, but was fired two years later, at which point, nobody wanted to give him another job. That’s largely because Switzer was perceived as a mere figurehead who wasn’t doing any real coaching in Dallas in the first place.
Hank Bauer managed the Baltimore Orioles to a World Series win in 1966, but was fired not long afterward (replaced by some guy named Weaver… wonder whatever happened to him), and says he never got another offer to work in baseball, in any capacity. He left baseball completely at that point. He said years later, “I still loved the game, and I’d have loved to work in baseball in some capacity… but what can I say, the phone never rang.”
You’re right, HockeyDB says that after six years of minor league coaching, one year as an assistant coach at Hartford and then two years heading the Sabres–and he turned them from an under-.500 team to a team that won in the first round of the playoffs. Do you remember a reason why he was fired?
Why?
Also, do you know if he has any relation to the Hank Bauer who played for the San Diego Chargers and is currently a radio commentator for same?
Rich Kotite coached the Eagles and Jets between '91 and '96 and lost 31 of his last 36 games. I have no idea what he’s doing these days but AFAIK he’s not had another coaching job to speak of.
Ray Handley coached the Giants following Parcells departure and after two unceremonious season was gone never to be heard from again.
I never understood why Art Shell, who did a decent job with the Raiders but couldn’t get them over the hump, only had that one shot at a head coaching position, while the likes of Rich Kotite and Bruce Coslet seemed to hang around the NFL for quite some time. (And in Kotite’s case, actually get multiple chances to coach!)
The team(well, Dominik Hasek, but he was the team) didn’t like him. Hasek gave the team a “he goes or I go” ultimatem.
To be honest, I never though much of him as a coach. He rode a very good goalie to a division title. His team barely got by the 7th seed in the first round of the playoffs and was handled soundly by the Flyers in the second round.
For me, the most inexplicable example of this was Walt Michaels.
Michaels was named Jets coach in the late 70s, after twice being passed over (for Charlie Winner, the most incorrect last name in the history of sport, and Lou Holtz). He took the team from being a laughing stock to two touchdowns away from the Superbowl, when the lost to Miami 14-0 on a muddy field that slowed their offense. It was the Jets second trip to the playoffs in two years, one of the few times they’ve accomplished that.
Then he was fired. The ostensible reason was that they wanted to promote Joe Walton before Walton was hired away from them (they should have let him go – he was a lousy head coach). I have heard rumors that people claimed he had a drinking problem. (I’m reminded of Lincoln’s comment when people complained about a similar problem about Grant.)
Michaels was hired by Donald Trump for the USFL, where he had a 25-11 record.
Then. . . nothing. He was only 57, showed a lot of ability as a coach, lost his job after one of the team’s best seasons ever, yet he never coached again. Maybe working for the USFL hurt him (though it didn’t hurt Marv Levy). Maybe it was working with Donald Trump. Maybe he just decided to retire. But he never coached again.
Back to the OP, there are many. Going with the NY Mets (and not counting interim managers, and those who retired or died), you have Wes Westrum, Joe Frazier, Bud Harrelson, Dallas Green, Bobby Valentine (at the moment – he may be back), and Art Howe (at the moment). For the Jets, it Clyde Turner, Charlie “Winner,” and Joe Walton (not counting Weeb Eubank, who retired and named “Winner” – his son-in-law – to replace him).
Actually, Bauer managed once more, for the Oakland A’s in 1969, but what’s weird is that he was fired toward the end of the season when the A’s were in second place with an 80-69 record. Cite. Bauer was replaced by John McNamera, who would be listed on a thread about mediocre head coaches who somehow continued to keep getting hired.
Art Shell’s biggest problem problem isn’t mere racism. Consider this:
John Madden’s career winning percentage is one of the highest of any coach in pro football history. IS he in the Hall of Fame? No.
Tom Flores won two Super Bowls. That’s just as many as Don Shula and Tom Landry. It’s MORE than George Allen, Hank Stram, Marv Levy or Don Coryell. But have you ever heard ANYONE call Tom FLores “a genius”? Is FLores in the Hall of Fame? No.
Mike Shanahan had a terrible record as head coach of the Raiders. Did anyone hold it against him? Did it cost him any subsequent jobs? No.
So, why don’t Madden and Flores get any respect? Why didn’t anyone hold Shanahan accountable for his failure?
ANSWER: No matter who the nominal head coach of the Raiders is, EVERYONE assumes that Al Davis is really running everything. So, whe the Raiders win, Al Davis gets the glory. When they lose, he gets all the blame. Madden and FLores get no credit for their championships, just as Mike Shanahan gets no blame for his losses.
Art Shell deserves a chance to be a head coach again, but he’s not getting any credit for his victories with the Raiders, because people have already made up their minds that Al Davis was the real coach, and Art Shell was just a figurehead.
That may be grossly unfair, but that’s life with the Raiders.
Butch Hobson had a brief run as manager of the Boston Red Sox in the early 90s but was shitcanned in 1994. He hasn’t managed in the majors since, but lately has managed Nashua in an unaffiliated league (maybe the cocaine incident has something to do with it).
While managing in the minors, he was arrested for cocaine possession when he received a couple of grams of coke in an overnight package mailed to his hotel room. He admitted to cocaine use and was subsequently fired from his position as manager of the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Red Barons.
He initially told the cops that he was *shocked * to find that packet of coke in his toiletries bag, and was just on his way to turn it in to them when they showed up instead.
Allen coached the Chicago team in the USFL in the 1980s.
While checking out this USFLl site while research Coach Allen happened upon another good candidate for this thread: Red Miller who coached the Denver Bronco “Orange Crush” team that knocked out the Madden-Stabler Raiders and then lost the Super Bowl to Dallas.