Mid Season Coaching Changes

[Big Sexy]

Every year there are head coaches on the hot seat in every sport. Most that don't succeed end up getting fired at the end of the year but there are always cases where a team will make a mid season coaching change. My question to you is: Do you think mid season coaching changes are a good idea? What are the positives and negatives that go along with making a mid season change?

I see these changes as being alright but ONLY under specific circumstances.

1. If the team is underachieving and the owner believes that a head coaching change can spark the team and allow them to make a run at the playoffs.

2. If the head coach has completely lost the team.

3. You have some assistant that is capable of getting the job done as a head coach. There has to be someone else on staff that either has some head coaching experience or someone that you know has potential to be a head coach in the league and has been groomed a little to some day make that leap.


A guy like Mike Singletary a couple years ago in San Fransisco was a good choice as interim head coach because he had been a top assistant for a couple years and a head coaching job was going to be in the very near future for him. Another good change was in 2006 when the Miami Heat had acquired Shaq and were seen as a title contender. Pat Riley didn't like what he saw from the team so Stan Van Gundy was let go and the veteran Riley took over and led them to the NBA title.

There are also some negatives to making a mid season change. Often times there can be some locker room tension if a head coach is let go mid season. Some players may like the move and some may have thought the current coach wasn't the problem. The direction of the team also changes somewhat when these moves are made. The whole philosophy may not be different but no two head coaches are completely alike.

Another negative is that a lot of these interim guys stand almost no chance of getting hired for real once the season is over. A lot of times these interim guys are coaches that are well liked/respected by the players and if someone else is hired in the off season that doesn't work out then that could cause some tension. Back in 2000 the Lions were 5-4 and fighting for a playoff spot. Bobby Ross, who was head coach at the time, suddenly quit and Gary Moeller took over. He led the Lions to a 4-3 record and just fell short of the playoffs by one game. Many of the players liked Moeller but instead of retaining him they decided to try going in a younger direction and Mary Morningweg was hired. I think we all no how that turned out.

So basically if one, two, or all three of the criteria I listed above is met then I don't see a problem with a mid season head coaching change. However, if a change is made just to make a change then it can do more harm then good.

 

[LSN80]

I agree with the majority of what you're saying. I think that a change should be made only if a team isn't performing, and not responding to the current coach.

I remember the 1999-2000 Pittsburgh Penguins, my favorite team. They were coached by Kevin Constantine, who ran the team like a dictatorship. He had been hired 2 years prior, for a team that was in sore need of discipline. However, after he consitently called out his star players in public, they began to tune him out(especially Jaromir Jagr), and mail in their efforts.

So the Penguins fired him midseason, and hired 1980 USA Olympic team coach Herb Brooks, who was a heck of a motivator himself, except he stood up FOR his players, rather then call them out. The result was a team that looked like they may miss the playoffs wound up in the Eastern conference Finals.

Constantine had completely lost the team. They weren't responding to his techniques, so i agreed with the change, even if they had kept losing. He had basically "run his course" in Pittsburgh, it wasn't as if they were just a bad team playing badly, they were capable of so much more.

Brooks was a scout for the team that was well respected already, and was able to provide that necessary spark that got the teams attention, as well as got the maximum effort out of the team. It was obvious the team WASN'T going to respond until a change was made, so it was the right move. Constantine never coached another game at the NHL level.

So yeah, if a coach has lost the team, and a suitable replacement, young or old(Brooks was near retirement) is available, then Im all for a mid-season coaching change, even if I don't agree with players phoning it in just to get their coach fired. It's unprofessional, and very childish. But I can also see the potential harm, as it would take time to learn a new system, and sometimes you can't blame a coach for his team either underperforming, or just plain being bad.

Usually, however, you can distinguish between a team that's phoning it in, and a team that just plain stinks. There was alot of negative that came out of this, as no suitable, younger coach was ready when Brooks retired, and the Pens hired one of their broadcasters to coach the team, and it was an absolute disaster. They suffered through 4 of the worst seasons in franchise history following Brooks retirement. So I feel there will always be positives and negatives that come out of replacing a coach mid-season, regardless of the reason why, or the circumstances in play.

 

[People's Champ]

You pretty much hit the nail on the head Big with what the circumstances need to be in order to make such a move. The biggest one for me is the fact that you need to have someone on staff who you feel can take over as interim HC. You used Singletary as an example of him being the right choice. I'll stick with 49ers and look at it the other way. A lot of 49ers fans have been asking for the firing of Singletary now, or after their London game. And the same question keeps getting brought by the radio guys-who on the staff would you replace him with? And the answer is no one. None are ready or capable to take on that role. So it would be stupid to fire him with no one to take that spot.

But let's say they did have a guy there. The facts are, this team loves Singletary, and by that I mean the players. Would you risk having a divided locker room because you felt the team was underachieving? Do you think it would really create a spark under your team if the guy they liked was fired?

Now I know not every team has circumstances like this. Some teams do have coaches who are not liked and have guys who can take over. But for the most part, its not like that. And I believe you need to have both circumstances going on in order to make a midseason coaching change. Taking out a head coach who either a) is still well liked, or b)has no one who is capable of taking over his job is a bad move. Now, that doesn't mean they shouldn't be fired after the season. Once the season ends, you can make any move you want. But for me, you got to have all those cicumstances you mentioned Big, in order to make such a move. And even then, its still a gamble.