Nick Underhill: Saints Might Not Move on from DA

3ParStillDriver said

Firing a head coach mid season really hurts a team more then anything.

• It shows lack of professionalism in the front office as well as lack of logical emotional control
• The former bullet discourages other coaches from taking the job, knowing they could get canned mid-season, increasing the likelihood of getting a lesser, less capable, desperate for a promotion coach since coveted coaches, and up and coming coaches will have offers from more stable front offices
• A new coach mid season isn't going to suddenly turn your team into a playoff contender, making the playoffs. The logical thing to do is stick with em, get a great, very valuable draft pick that will help entice high profile would-be-head-coaches to take the job after releasing the original head coach when the season is over.

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Normally, I'd agree with you. He should have been fired after Year 2. But it's become apparent in the middle of Year 3 that was a mistake. So here's a list of reasons why it would be a positive move, rather than a negative:

• in an emergency situation, step #1 is ALWAYS "stop the bleeding" ASAP; Saints need to stop the bleeding, or at least MAKE THE ATTEMPT
• it's pretty obvious the players aren't giving their best effort. firing the HC mid-season sends a message that things are going to be different. for those who WANT to be here, it's a message of encouragement.
• for those who are "coasting" through the season, they're being served notice that their game film will be auditioned by a NEW (to be determined) staff. they'll be playing for their jobs. I expect the team will play better because anyone "going through the motions" won't want a new regime making decisions based off less-than full effort
• can't speak for others, but I'm under no delusions of turning things around and competing for NFCS division title this season. my eyes are on the 2025 season, and getting the right coach and players to play from that point forward.

As to the 4th bullet point, I'd even CONSIDER eating as many bloated "dead money" contracts as I could in 2025, with the understanding we would be terrible in 2025; but with hope for 2026 and beyond. if we're bad enough in 2025, I think Arch Manning will be within reach for our 2026 draft position. If that's the direction we're going, I'd add one more year to a new coaches contract so that he has THREE YEARS of HIS REGIME and HIS PLAYERS, not including the "dead year" of all the purges. For me, this scenario is preferred over retaining DA ad nauseum, because THIS scenario has hope in my eyes. It's no guarantee of future success, but it's only the 2nd-worst scenario I can envision. Retaining DA is the doomsday scenario, IMO.

So that's my list of reasons why it could be a GOOD thing to fire the HC mid-season. We missed the end-of-season window, so mid-season is the next best thing. and I DO think it's gotten critical.