Top 5 Shortest NFL Coaching Tenures
It's that time of the year in football when the good tidings of the holidays enter the rear-view mirror, and coaches are fired, hired and swapped around in a commotion that can only be rivaled by the annual MLB trade deadline. Rex Ryan said "goodbye" to New York and "hello" to Buffalo, Jim Harbaugh left his heart in San Francisco, and John Fox, Jack Del Rio and just about everyone else is descending from the Rocky Mountains in Denver.
Once the dust settles, and the NFL's January and February couch-dwelling franchises start to admire their shiny new coaches, a new hope emerges that each team's coaching woes are clearly a thing of the past — or so they think. While some coaches find success, achievement and ultimately, a new home, many more are kicked out of their new position just as fast as they were hired.
We take a look at some of the shortest tenures for NFL coaches:
5.) Bobby Petrino, 13 games
After Petrino's success at the Louisville's helm from 2003-06 and taking into account his earlier years as a quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator with the Jacksonville Jaguars, he returned to the NFL as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons in 2007 on a five-year, $24 million deal. The idea was to develop quarterback Michael Vick into a more balanced quarterback. However, that was the year Vick was convicted in a dog-fighting operation. After a 3-10 season, Petrino promptly left the NFL to coach at Arkansas.
4.) Lou Holtz, 13 games
Having coached the College of William & Mary and North Carolina State to titles and bowl games, Holtz turned down a coaching job at Tulane to try his mettle with the New York Jets. However, before his first season was over, Holtz resigned, with one game remaining in the season, having gone 3-10. His next great successes would come in Arkansas and, more notably, Notre Dame, before his career in front of the camera took off.
3.) Pete McCulley, 9 games
Climbing the ranks, including serving as a backfield coach in Houston during the early 1960s, McCulley was named head coach of the San Francisco 49ers for the 1978 season. However, after going 1-8, he was out of a job, having coached just nine games. He would be replaced by interim coach Fred O'Connor.
2.) George Allen, fired in preseason
When Chuck Knox led the Rams to a 54-15-1 regular-season record and left to coach the Buffalo Bills, he left large shoes to be filled. Team owner Carroll Rosenbloom went to former head coach George Allen to take on the task. Just a quickly, after two preseason losses, Allen was dismissed, and ultimately joined the CBS Sports crew as an NFL analyst.
1.) Bill Belichick, one day
That's right, the Bill Belichick spent a single day as head coach of the New York Jets. After working as a defensive coordinator for Bill Parcells in the late 1990s, he got the job when Parcells left to coach the Dallas Cowboys. During his introductory conference, however, Belichick announced his resignation from the Jets, and officially replaced Pete Carroll as the new head coach of the New England Patriots.