I don't understand the rotating head coach thing

[milestogo]

Somebody loses a job as head coach after a terrible season... usually within a year he'll pop up somewhere else, and another place after that. Doesn't anybody ever just flunk out of coaching completely?

[Walleye]

1. I was just thinking about when the Eagles let Andy Reid go. They were sure he was done.

[milestogo]

2. Wow.

Well I will be interested to see where McCarthy ends up. He wasn't a bad coach for the Packers.

[BOSSHOG]

4. New Orleans is looking at him

He was an assistant there 20 years ago. Has a little history.

[Walleye]

5. They really are second acts in America

There’s a line in a Dylan song that goes
“ you can always come back, but you can’t come back all the way“

[multigraincracker]

3. I don't like how college athletes switch schools all of the time.

I’m all for removing sports from school, other than within each school. We have enough tribalism in the world.

[Voltaire2]

6. It is a time honored tradition. Everyone knows these firings are usually just symbolic.

In most cases the head coach did the best he could with a shitty dysfunctional team. But you can't fire the team, you can trade some of them, but that doesn't perform the symbolic sacrifice that firing the coach does. So 'off with his head'.

[Redleg]

7. Plus it keeps the NFL stocked with mediocre white coaches

just saying

[milestogo]

9. How many non-white head coaches are there?

[milestogo]

8. Two teams that I have supported have won Super Bowls -

Bears in 1986 and Packers in 2011. Mike Ditka got fired a few years later, so did Mike McCarthy. The job is only secure if your most recent season was good. And if it wasn't, somebody else will still hire you.

[rsdsharp]

10. Although it's not about football coaches, what Leo Durocher said about baseball managers is pretty much true.

“When you’re winning, no one can take your job. When you’re losing, no one can save it.”

Which doesn’t explain why the losers keep getting rehired.

[milestogo]

11. That's the harsh part.

And the end comes swiftly. The game ends, and a few hours later there's an announcement. And sometimes the season isn't even over yet.

[ProfessorGAC]

12. I Think Everflus Is Done

Probably Nagy, & Josh McDaniels.
Not everyone gets a second chance, but it does happen a lot.

[Morbius]

13. There are 32 teams in the NFL.

Fewer than half have a proven head coach, which I define as a guy with a winning record after at least three seasons. Part of the reason for the high failure rate of new head coaches is that the top candidates tend to be successful coordinators, either offensive or defensive, and head coaching requires a different skillset than play-calling. Sometimes successful college coaches move to the NFL; this has had mixed results.

Mostly, guys who fail as head coaches return to be coordinators, or go down to the college ranks. It's rare for a head coach to get another opportunity if he's unsuccessful in his first try. Generally, the few who do get a second opportunity are excellent play callers, whether on offense or defense.