By CHUCK POLLOCK, Sun Senior Sports Columnist
If you doubt that being a head coach in the National Football League is a high-risk job, consider this:
• Last season, a record 10 coaches left their jobs either by firing or resignation. That tied the mark set in 1978, ’97, 2006 and 2022. However, those 10 in ’78 were significant in that the NFL was a 28-team league that season rather than the current 32.
• Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin decided that 19 years without a losing record was an ample going-away gift to the Steelers.
Tomlin was replaced by Mike McCarthy, who won a Super Bowl with the Packers, but was fired by the Cowboys after the 2024 season.
• John Harbaugh coached the Ravens to a Super Bowl win, and headed Baltimore for 18 years before being axed. He wasn’t unemployed for long and quickly signed with the struggling Giants.
• Kevin Stefanski coached the Browns for seven seasons before being signed by Atlanta.
• Robert Saleh coached the Jets for four years before being fired after the 2024 season but he landed on his feet, being hired by the Titans.
• Six others are getting their first head-coaching shot: Mike LaFleur (Arizona), Jesse Minter (Baltimore), Todd Monken (Cleveland), Klint Kubiak (Las Vegas), Jeff Hafley (Miami) and Joe Brady (Buffalo), the offensive coordinator, replacing the highly-successful Sean McDermott.
And that elevation by the Bills can’t pass without comment.
McDermott, in nine seasons, took Buffalo to eight playoff berths. He was 98-50 in the regular season, 8-8 in the playoffs.
His crime, apparently, was a failure to steer the Bills into the Super Bowl despite the presence of an elite quarterback, Josh Allen.
But, alas, Buffalo’s general manager, Brandon Beane, not only survived the purge, he was also promoted to President of Football Operations.
Clearly, he was not held accountable by team owner Terry Pegula, with the notable exception of Allen, for five mostly-average drafts. For instance, over his last four lotteries (2019-2022), 18 players are no longer on the roster.
Indeed, there are Bills’ fans who maintain Pegula fired the wrong guy.
But, there’s no question Beane is literally aware that this year’s Bills are playing for his job … as it should be.
I’ve always been a “loyalty” guy, and the fact McDermott hired Beane from Carolina — where the two worked together, yet was fired by that same guy — is a prime example of ingratitude.
(Chuck Pollock, a Wellsville Sun and Olean Star senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@wnynet.net.)
