Winning superbowl’s, national championships, world series championships apparently are not enough to keep your coaching job anymore. Wow, aren’t we a bunch of spoiled fans.
It’s amazing after reading Tony Dungy’s first book, that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers let him go after 4 out of 6 years in the playoffs. He had one losing season there and that was his first. He took them to the NFC championship and lost an amazing game to the eventual Superbowl champ Rams. From what I remember the Bucs were embarrassing before Dungy. Still it wasn’t enough to win 10 games and go to the playoffs, so they fired him and then one year later they win a Superbowl with his chemistry and players. Sure Jon Gruden did a great job coaching them, but still. Now Gruden has been kicked to the curb.
What about my man Tubby Smith at Kentucky? UK ran him out of town after winning a championship. Sure he had Rick P’s players but I’ve often thought Tubby was a better X and O guy anyway. He has a very good record against his old boss and often with less talent. Explain that. Sure his recruiting became complacent, but the future is still to determine how it will work out.
What about Joe Torre? Joe brought the bronx back to life in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Not enough. Move on along Joe, you wore out your welcome here.
We could go on and on. The problem might not be the coaches. It could be the fans and owners who have no patience and are all about instant gratification. This fact will never change. Only one team wins each championship each year. Every other team is a failure then right? There are 63 teams of failures every year in late March early April when the NCAA crowns it’s champ. The same goes for football and baseball. Only one can win it and it’s really hard to do.
I think we can still have a passion as fans without being obsessive about constant success. With the way we see sports now I figure these guys could be in trouble. There jobs could be in jeopardy, which is absurd- but you never know.
- Bill Belichick- 3 years in a row with no Superbowl
- Jim Calhoun- missed the NCAA Trmt one year and lost to George Mason
- Rick Pitino- lots of talent and only one final four with no national championships
- Lou Pinella- Cubs went to the postseason but lost 3 in a row
