In a surprising move, the Titans announced last night that they were parting ways with long-time coach Jeff Fisher. After weeks of tension between the coach and owner Bud Adams about Vince Young's place on the team, the final straw apparently came when the Titans refused to let Fisher hire his son as quality control coach (Adams has said for years that he doesn't approve of nepotism on his staff, so he is sticking to his guns here).
It was a decision that will hurt both parties because of the mere fact that it comes so late after the end of the regular season. At this point in the game there's no team with a head coach opening, so look for Fisher to go the Jon Gruden route and become a TV commentator. As for the Titans, the list of possible replacements is much shorter than it was four weeks ago. Early reports have them looking towards offensive line coach Mike Munchak.
Putting aside the timing of the decision, was this still a smart move for Tennessee?
In a league where most owners have a quick hook for their employees, it was abnormal to see the Titans stick with their coach for over a decade and a half. It was also surprising, given Adams' prior history. From 1965 to 1994, the owner hired and fired 14 coaches in 35 years (and that's not even including interim coaches). In fact, when Adams fired Jack Pardee to hand the reins to Fisher, Pardee had just led the Oilers to 4 straight winning seasons. With his predecessors averaging two and a half seasons in the job, it's almost shocking to see Fisher hold the position for over 16 years. Adams must have had high regard for the coach to stick with him for so long. But was his faith warranted?
Many see Fisher's 16-year tenure with the Titans and assume that he must be a great coach to last all this time. In fact, only four other men in the Super Bowl era coached longer with their teams. Let's compare them:
Notice that nearly every coach on this list led his team to at least 10 playoff berths and one championship. Bud Grant never hoisted the Lombardi trophy, but he took the Vikings to four Super Bowls in his first 10 years with the team. This chart clearly shows that Fisher is the least-accomplished coach to ever lead a team for 16 years.
But perhaps it's not fair to compare Fisher to his long-tenured predecessors. After all, every other coach on that list started their career in the '60s and didn't have to worry about hundreds of sports radio hosts and thousands more bloggers questioning their every decision. Perhaps Fisher's record holds up better against his contemporaries of the internet age:
Although not as stark a contrast, Fisher still doesn't stack up well against other coaches who have been in their current position for seven or more years. Andy Reid and Bill Belichick have been postseason mainstays for over a decade and Tom Coughlin and Lovie Smith have nearly as many playoff berths as Fisher in nine less seasons. Marvin Lewis and Jack Del Rio fall short of Fisher in both regular season and postseason success, but outperforming the Bengals and the Jaguars is not exactly a gold star on your coaching resume.
A glass-half-full Titans fan might point to Bill Cowher's career path as the possible upside of sticking with Fisher for so long. The Steelers coach followed a Super Bowl appearance in 1995 with a decade of playoff underachievement until he finally seized the Lombardi Trophy in his 14th season. But take away that championship and Cowher still had nearly twice as many playoff appearances as Fisher and a vastly superior regular season record. And given the Titans' current hole at quarterback, would anyone bet on Fisher finally bringing home a championship in his 17th or 18th season?
It's tempting to look at Jeff Fisher's long tenure with the Titans and say that he's a good coach and Tennessee will regret letting him go. But whether you compare his long resume to his predecessors or his current colleagues, Fisher just doesn't stack up. There is something to be said for longevity. Just don't equate it to greatness.
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