Getting fired is the norm for Atlanta coaches
If Seattle defensive coordinator Dan Quinn is hired as the Atlanta Falcons’ next head coach, as expected, he will also be the next Falcons head football coach to be fired.
If history is any indication, the new head coach’s firing will take place somewhere between five and seven years. There is a saying in professional sports that you are hired to be fired, and Atlanta surely bears that out.
The Falcons, who begin their 50th season in the NFL this fall, have had 12 head coaches and five interims since their first season in 1966. Only two left before they were fired.
Marion Campbell, known as the “Swamp Fox,” was dismissed by the Falcons after five games in 1976 and got a second chance in 1987. He retired 12 games into the 1989 season, apparently seeing the writing on the wall, finishing 11-36 in his second stint after going 6-19 in his first.
The only other Atlanta head coach to leave by his choice was the infamous Bobby Petrino, who bolted to Arkansas in the middle of the night in 2007 after 13 games when the team was 3-10. It was just a matter of time before he would have been ousted.
The Falcons’ first head coach, Norb Hecker, was hired off of Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers staff and went 4-26-1 in his two-plus seasons before being fired early in the 1968 season. Hall of Fame quarterback Norm Van Brocklin replaced Hecker and was with the team until halfway through the 1974 season, when he was fired after eight games with a 39-48-4 record.
Then it was Campbell for two-plus seasons before Leeman Bennett took over in 1977 and stayed until 1982. He had a 46-41 record and took Atlanta to its first playoff game in 1978. In 1980, his Falcons lost a heartbreaker to Dallas in the NFC championship game in Atlanta.
Next up was Dan Henning, who spent four seasons on the Falcons’ sidelines, where his teams went just 22-44-1. I saw a list recently that called Henning one of the worst all-time coaches in the NFL.
Following Campbell’s second stint -- he had been Henning’s defensive coordinator -- Atlanta turned to the colorful Jerry Glanville, who went 27-37 from 1990-93. Glanville coined the phrase “Not For Long” for the letters of the NFL.
After Glanville was fired, Atlanta hired pass-happy June Jones and his run-and-shoot offense. The head coach and offense got the ax after three seasons and a 19-29 record.
Georgia native Dan Reeves assumed the head coaching position in 1997, became the only head coach to take the Falcons to a Super Bowl, and was fired in 2003. Reeves was dumped after 13 games in 2003, four years after taking the Falcons to Super Bowl XXXIII, where they lost to the Denver Broncos 34-19.
Jim L. Mora, the son of former New Orleans and Indianapolis head coach Jim E. Mora, was owner Arthur Blank’s choice to lead the franchise following Reeves. He was in Atlanta three seasons and compiled a 26-22 record with Michael Vick as his starting quarterback.
After the Petrino fiasco, Mike Smith was hired. Smith compiled a 66-46 overall record, the best in club history. But he was just 1-4 in the playoffs, and the Falcons went 10-22 the past two season, leading to his firing on December 29.
There are very few coaches in NFL history who haven’t been fired at one time or another.
New England’s Bill Belichick, who is looking for his fourth Super Bowl title Sunday, got the pink slip at Cleveland.
Even the legendary Tom Landry of the Dallas Cowboys was let go by owner Jerry Jones in favor of Jimmy Johnson. Chuck Noll, Don Shula and George Halas are among the exceptions. Of course, Halas didn’t worry about being fired since he owned the team.
Firings in Atlanta are not unique to the Falcons.
Since the arrival of the three major sports teams in the 1960s, the only head coaches/managers that I can recall leaving on their own accord are the Braves’ Bobby Cox (retired) and Hawks head coaches Lenny Wilkins and Mike Fratello. Wilkins left to take a new job with Toronto and Fratello quit and moved into a broadcasting position with NBC Sports.
Contact Bobby Pope at bobbypope428@gmail.com.
This story was originally published January 26, 2015 at 9:18 PM with the headline "Getting fired is the norm for Atlanta coaches ."