Coaching Ramblings

-The Monday following the last day of the NFL regular season has become known as 'Black Monday' because it is the day a lot of coaches get fired. While I don't quite understand the tag (you would think the color would be pink, as in 'pink slips'), I have decided to embrace it, because it is just as legitimate to me as 'Cyber Monday' and everyone seems to treat that like it is some long-standing tradition.

-One of the coaches reportedly on the way out this afternoon is the Bengals' Marvin Lewis. Now, technically he won't be fired; it will be a mutual parting of the ways because his contract has expired and simply will not be renewed. But, it was the manner in which he is going out that might be the smartest thing he has ever done in his time in Cincinnati: Lewis told the organization that he wasn't going to discuss an extension unless they met several of his demands. (It is important to note that Marvin Lewis has had two winning seasons in eight years.) Not surprising, the organization has decided not to listen to a coach with no leverage and Lewis is expected to be let go. But, by leaking to the media that the reason he wants out is because ownership is unwilling to spend the money to improve things like the training facilities and scouting department, Lewis suddenly looks like a guy who was fighting an uphill battle his entire tenure, and not an above average defensive coordinator in over his head as the man in charge. Very savvy.

-Another firing that happened over the weekend was Pittsburgh new head coach getting fired following an arrest and a complaint of domestic violence, just two weeks after being given the job. Congratulations, George O'Leary, you are off the hook for shortest college coaching tenure that simultaneously brought the most embarrassment to the school that hired you. O'Leary might have only been Notre Dame's head coach for a couple of days, but all he did was lie on a resume. That's downright professional by comparison.

-Speaking of former Notre Dame head coaches, Charlie Weis is reportedly leaving the Kansas City Chief offensive coordinator position to take over the offense at the University of Florida. This makes almost no sense to me. You have to figure that Charlie, like all people who were at one time a head coach, would like to be the man in charge once again. Well, you are much more likely to get that opportunity as a coordinator in the NFL than one in college. I can only assume that he and Chiefs coach Todd Haley are not seeing eye-to-eye on play-calling. Even then, you would think he would want to stay in the NFL given how badly his last college gig turned out.

-And, while we're on the subject of a coach making a questionable move, UConn head coach Randy Edsall left the Huskies to be the head man at the University of Maryland. Now, I'm not going to crap on him for ditching his team right after their bowl game, because that's the nature of college football. What I wonder is why he would leave a program he built from nothing into a conference champion for a middle-of-the-pack ACC school. You would think if a guy was going to leave it would be for a much better job, and I'm not sure Maryland is all that much better than UConn. I guess when at one school as the football coach you rank behind both the men's and women's basketball coaches, only being behind the men's basketball coach at the new school is somewhat of an improvement.