After 14 Years - Shanahan and Broncos Part Ways
This is what the Broncos Website had to say on the subject of Shanahan's dismissal:
Shanahan, Broncos Part Ways
"Denver Broncos Owner Pat Bowlen today relieved Mike Shanahan from his position as Executive Vice President of Football Operations/Head Coach of the National Football League team, effective immediately.
Broncos owner Pat Bowlen issued the following statement: "After giving this careful consideration, I have concluded that a change in our football operations is in the best interests of the Denver Broncos. This is certainly a difficult decision, but one that I feel must be made and which will ultimately be in the best interests of all concerned.”
Bowlen added, “I appreciate the 21 years that Mike Shanahan has given to the organization as an assistant and head coach, and the two Super Bowl wins in that time. His contributions hold a special place in Broncos history.” "
NFL.com had this to say:
"After 14 seasons and two Super Bowl wins, Mike Shanahan is out in Denver.
The Broncos fired Shanahan on Tuesday, parting ways with the coach after three consecutive seasons of failing to make the playoffs. Shanahan had three years and upwards of $20 million remaining on his contract, according to NFL Network's Adam Schefter.
The move was announced in a statement by team owner Pat Bowlen.
"After giving this careful consideration, I have concluded that a change in our football operations is in the best interests of the Denver Broncos," Bowlen said. "This is certainly a difficult decision, but one that I feel must be made and which will ultimately be in the best interests of all concerned.
"I appreciate the 21 years that Mike Shanahan has given to the organization as an assistant and head coach, and the two Super Bowl wins in that time. His contributions hold a special place in Broncos history."
The Broncos finished 8-8 this season, but held an 8-5 record before losing their final three games, including a 52-21 defeat Sunday night in San Diego that gave the Chargers the division title.
Shanahan, who just completed his 14th season at the helm of the Broncos, was the longest tenured coach in franchise history and held the second-longest tenure in the NFL behind Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher.
He also held the title of executive vice president of football operations.
Shanahan guided the Broncos to nine winning seasons, seven playoff berths and three conference championships. He coached the Broncos to consecutive Super Bowl victories in 1998 and 1999 and compiled a record of 146-89 with the team."
Here is the link to see the video of Adam Schefter breaking the news:
http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d80dc4ebc
I have mixed emotions about this. I have always been a big fan of Mike's. I honor his past performance with the team, where he lead John and the Boys to 2 NFL Titles in 2 years. I honestly didn't think that this would come to pass this year. For a number of reasons, 1. He is a Hall of Fame Coach. 2. He won 2 championships here. 3. He and Pat Bowlen had always seemed to be good friends. 4. He was great for the community of Denver. And, finally, 5. He had 3 years left on his contract worth over 20 million dollars.
Rather than fire Shanahan, I thought that they would overhaul the defense, and give the job to a D coordinator that had better credentials... a better motivator. Shake up the player personnel who were underperforming... but I thought Mike was safe for one more year.
But, on the yin side of this yang, I thought he might be tired of coaching here. The team has not seemed terribly motivated in recent years. Losses in crucial/winnable games seemed to increase in frequency over the past 3 or 4 years. When you see an all-pro corner like Champ Bailey running next to a ball carrier, and instead of tackling them, he just swatted aimlessly at the ball, I think that is proof that the players had lost faith too.
So, what I hope here is that this shake-up has positive ripples thru the Broncos, and that it helps Mike realize what it is that he wants to do. Does he want to coach again? Maybe do the TV/Radio thing for a while. I would love to see him coach again (just not in the AFC, and certainly not in the AFC West).
There are several coaches that I would be happy with in Denver. Beginning with Bill Cowher. I will have to wait and see who the Broncos begin to parade in and out of Dove Valley over the next few days and weeks.
I guess life is about change, and this is just another one of those changes.
~ickarus maximus
Shanahan, Broncos Part Ways
"Denver Broncos Owner Pat Bowlen today relieved Mike Shanahan from his position as Executive Vice President of Football Operations/Head Coach of the National Football League team, effective immediately.
Broncos owner Pat Bowlen issued the following statement: "After giving this careful consideration, I have concluded that a change in our football operations is in the best interests of the Denver Broncos. This is certainly a difficult decision, but one that I feel must be made and which will ultimately be in the best interests of all concerned.”
Bowlen added, “I appreciate the 21 years that Mike Shanahan has given to the organization as an assistant and head coach, and the two Super Bowl wins in that time. His contributions hold a special place in Broncos history.” "
NFL.com had this to say:
"After 14 seasons and two Super Bowl wins, Mike Shanahan is out in Denver.
The Broncos fired Shanahan on Tuesday, parting ways with the coach after three consecutive seasons of failing to make the playoffs. Shanahan had three years and upwards of $20 million remaining on his contract, according to NFL Network's Adam Schefter.
The move was announced in a statement by team owner Pat Bowlen.
"After giving this careful consideration, I have concluded that a change in our football operations is in the best interests of the Denver Broncos," Bowlen said. "This is certainly a difficult decision, but one that I feel must be made and which will ultimately be in the best interests of all concerned.
"I appreciate the 21 years that Mike Shanahan has given to the organization as an assistant and head coach, and the two Super Bowl wins in that time. His contributions hold a special place in Broncos history."
The Broncos finished 8-8 this season, but held an 8-5 record before losing their final three games, including a 52-21 defeat Sunday night in San Diego that gave the Chargers the division title.
Shanahan, who just completed his 14th season at the helm of the Broncos, was the longest tenured coach in franchise history and held the second-longest tenure in the NFL behind Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher.
He also held the title of executive vice president of football operations.
Shanahan guided the Broncos to nine winning seasons, seven playoff berths and three conference championships. He coached the Broncos to consecutive Super Bowl victories in 1998 and 1999 and compiled a record of 146-89 with the team."
Here is the link to see the video of Adam Schefter breaking the news:
http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d80dc4ebc
I have mixed emotions about this. I have always been a big fan of Mike's. I honor his past performance with the team, where he lead John and the Boys to 2 NFL Titles in 2 years. I honestly didn't think that this would come to pass this year. For a number of reasons, 1. He is a Hall of Fame Coach. 2. He won 2 championships here. 3. He and Pat Bowlen had always seemed to be good friends. 4. He was great for the community of Denver. And, finally, 5. He had 3 years left on his contract worth over 20 million dollars.
Rather than fire Shanahan, I thought that they would overhaul the defense, and give the job to a D coordinator that had better credentials... a better motivator. Shake up the player personnel who were underperforming... but I thought Mike was safe for one more year.
But, on the yin side of this yang, I thought he might be tired of coaching here. The team has not seemed terribly motivated in recent years. Losses in crucial/winnable games seemed to increase in frequency over the past 3 or 4 years. When you see an all-pro corner like Champ Bailey running next to a ball carrier, and instead of tackling them, he just swatted aimlessly at the ball, I think that is proof that the players had lost faith too.
So, what I hope here is that this shake-up has positive ripples thru the Broncos, and that it helps Mike realize what it is that he wants to do. Does he want to coach again? Maybe do the TV/Radio thing for a while. I would love to see him coach again (just not in the AFC, and certainly not in the AFC West).
There are several coaches that I would be happy with in Denver. Beginning with Bill Cowher. I will have to wait and see who the Broncos begin to parade in and out of Dove Valley over the next few days and weeks.
I guess life is about change, and this is just another one of those changes.
~ickarus maximus
My 2 cents : This thing ran its natural course. I think that football coaches get stale after too long a time in one place. Also the team members get stale too and some of it is contamination from the coach's staleness. The best thing in this situation is change. I dont think it has anything to do with the coach messing up or the players either. Change will revigorate any organization that is underachieving due to staleness -- too much of the same, day to day, year to year.
ReplyDeleteI think you are exactly right. There have been some coaches however that have been able to stay fresh for much longer periods of time. Mike Shanahan was one of those coaches, in my opinion. You could say the same about Jeff Fisher in Tennessee.
ReplyDeleteI guess now, I hope that Denver will get a quality guy who will buck the staleness game for a long time to come.
Thanks for reading me... blogreader1! I appreciate it.
~ickarus