Chargers Will Fire Norv Turner, Possibly A.J. Smith At Season's End, According To Report

http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2011/12/3/2607940/san-diego-chargers-fire-norv-turner-aj-smith

(pound of salt suggested)

he San Diego Chargers will reportedly fire head coach Norv Turner at the end of the season. They are also likely to fire GM A.J. Smith according to a recent report.

The San Diego Chargers will have a new head coach next season, and they may have a new general manager as well. According to a report from the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Chargers will fire Norv Turner at the end of the season. A.J. Smith, the team's general manager, is likely to be out in San Diego as well according to the same report.

Turner and the Chargers have provoked ample discontent among their fan base after squandering a 4-1 start to the season. The Chargers have lost their last six games, including an overtime loss to the Broncos last week. That skid put them in the basement of what was once a wide open race for the AFC West.

This is Turner's fifth season as head coach in San Diego. He led the team to the playoffs in his first three seasons.

Kevin Acee cites sources close to Chargers President Dean Spanos who say that Turner will be fired at season's end. As for Smith, Spanos is said to be still wavering to some degree, with the source saying the odds are "72/25" that Smith is working elsewhere next season. If the Chargers can right the ship and win the division, both Turner and Smith may be able to salvage their jobs. That scenario seems unlikely with San Diego sitting three games behind the Raiders in the standings.

Both Smith and Turner could be considered for jobs elsewhere around the league next year. Acees includes some speculation about Smith and the Oakland Raiders. Head coach Hue Jackson assumed responsibilities for personnel decisions in the wake of Al Davis' death.

As for Smith's replacement, Acee speculates that current St. Louis Rams General Manager Billy Devaney is one option. Devaney spent a decade with the team, including a stint as director of player personnel, a position he held when the Chargers drafted Ryan Leaf.

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/ex...hargers-will-fire-turner-could-fire-smith-too



03 Dec 2011
Report: Chargers Will Fire Turner, Could Fire Smith Too

According to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, Chargers president Dean Spanos feels he has "no choice" but to fire long-tenured coach Norv Turner at the end of the season, and that the odds of firing general manager A.J. Smith are now "75/25" as well. Smith is under contract through 2014, and has been with the Chargers since 2003.

Posted by: Rivers McCown on 03 Dec 2011

WTF?????????

IF and that is a big if, Acee knows what he is talking about, and not just speculating... The only thing I can think of, is when I saw pictures of the game yesterday the stands looked 1/2 empty. That was in the endzone I saw that hit me as perhaps a sign of the fans displeasure. One of the long held truths I have seen just about every forum go'er cling to for over 8 years since the days I started posting of forums back at the UT was the statement "The onyl way to influence the owner is to not buy tickets".

Not sure if that has reached a point the Spanos clan feel they have no choice, but I cant imagine they are blind to the empty seats or deaf to the discontent from their fan base....

Those articles were written last year

Yup. Saw that after I posted. That said, I am wondering what Spanos is thinking of the recent lack of personnel in the stands...

Was waiting for someone else to pick up on it too...

I went to read the articles just to be certain, because the excerpt mentions a "last week" OT loss to the Broncos... and last I checked we played the Ravens in the week prior to this last one. But then with the mentioning of AJ being owed 3 years of salary (when his contract is up in 2014) and being atop the list for GM candidates for the Raiders (who just hired Reggie McKenzie this year), I was certain.

Conc, stop getting our hopes up prematurely.

I saw Dec 13... Stupid hurts...

Norv gets a 3 year extension.

the first thing I notice was "after squandering a 4-1 start to the season"

Full revolt... I thought Spanos's butt was backed against the wall at the end of last season but Norv somehow returned.

BTW Spanos is a buffoon. He would show the fan base a whole lot more to me if he fired Norv as soon as er get mathematically eliminated (after next game). We hear nothing from ownership calling out the bad coaching and player performance... Spanos says a lot by saying nothing... he's telling me he really doesn't give-a-sh!t.

He's holding his bells and whistles until he hires his new coach (and maybe GM).

Everyone here knows Norv is gone at the end of the season. I think most of us agree that A.J. needs to go as well. Even if you don't agree that he has helped create the fiasco that is the Chargers right now, I think we can all agree that Chargers park needs a face and attitude lift and the fans and ownership need a fresh start. Clean house. There are a few coaches I would like to keep on the staff, but in the end, I want my coach to pick his staff to take advantage of his strengths and weaknesses.

My real question after being at the game yesterday is why is that asshat still on the sideline? I know all the arguments about us having no play callers on the coaching staff, and Spanos wanting to wait it out hoping continuity would keep more fans in the stands (Not working at all by the way), but its time to clean house. We gain nothing by keeping him, and Spanos would gain more respect getting rid of him (might even sell more tickets).

Your team is 4-7, has been having issues moving the ball and scoring, you manage to get it to the 2 yard line and you punt on 4th down instead of going for it? I knew at that moment we would lose the game. I knew we would struggle on offense. I even guessed the defense would outscore the offense (Again!). When I heard the **** he talked about Ryan Mathews this week, I knew he had lost the locker room. Saying Mathews has vision issues (which he does need to work on) without commenting that there are no holes to run through, we never get to the second level on blocks, and that every big play he broke was called back on some kind of O-Line penalty. He never talks bad about any players, never benches them for poor play or fumbling, except for Ryan Mathews. I really think these 2 don't get a long, and because of that Rivers doesnt get a long with him much either (See Rivers+Norv=Butt Buddies). It's time to toss Norv out on his ***. I'm fine with Shelmon handling the OC duties with Rivers calling the plays from the huddle.

I noticed straight off it was an old piece, that was why I posted (WTF?????) That said, Norv should already be gone and interviews taking place. AJ need to get his shyte straight or hit the bricks, fawk it, fire his arse too.

Dean should raid the Stillers for his next hire they just seem to win. The sad part of that whole Stiller beginning is that Chuck Noll was a defensive coach with the Bolt's before he turned that franchise around. Maybe they can return the favor.

I agreed with everything you said until you got to the part about Rivers calling the plays in the huddle. As someone stated in another thread, Rivers shows signs of PTSD and they should limit all decision he can make when possible. He needs an O-line that protects and regains his confidence before his head will be together enough for the coaches to trust his judgement. He has made too many BAD decision this year.

Clary, Harris, and Green will likely be out this week to, which means someone who does not have a job right now is going to be signed of the street, and starting for us at left tackle this week. And we're playing the STEELERS, IN PITTSBURGH. There's really nothing left to do but laugh.

Norv needs to give the ball to Whitehurst this week, along with a hand written apology letter.

A few things:

1) Clarence Shelmon hasn't been on this staff all season, so I'm not sure how he would take over playcalling duties. Hal Hunter is a "coordinator" in name only, he has no prior play-calling experience. If Norv were ousted mid-season (which really, what is the point of firing a coach with 4 games to go in a season when your OL is riddled by injuries?), the only guy on the staff that has play-calling experience is Steve Fairchild.

2) Any interim coach put in at this point is set up for failure given the injuries. We're not going to see that guy just up and decide to start all the youth guys - though we're getting to the point where whoever the coach is may not have a choice given the injury situation. Any interim coach is still going to try and field the best results he can in order to make himself look as good as possible for future job opportunities - you don't get that by just arbitrarily fielding young, untested guys just for ish and giggles to "see what they got".

3) There's a far better success at turnaround rate for teams that don't go the "interim" coach route and just allow themselves to go through the full hiring process with a fresh, clean slate. We don't know that Pagano or Bisaccia are great HC material, it's only conjecture at this point, and 4 games is hardly a proper sample size to get a good idea, particularly when they're working with half the normal squad due to injuries. And Dean is exactly the type of owner that would just not even bother going through the full hiring process if an interim HC yielded a few games of success that were ultimately inconsequential at the close of a season, and then we're potentially right back in the Norv "I'm not sure I want to fire him" boat all over again.

4) This team NEEDS (MM, you said it yourself) a shift in identity and paradigm away from Norvall's wonderful blunders. Is the temporary relief of 4 Norv-less games this season really worth jeopardizing that? Seems really, really short-sighted to me.

THE TIME TO FIRE AJ AND NORV IS NOW.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/blog/n...ld-fire-gm-aj-smith-and-coach-norv-turner-now

I thoroughly enjoy reading intelligent reporting/writing...it is so difficult to find gems like this article.

I liked it as well.. no bull crap like UT San Diego.. Where Nick Canepa is the biggest waste of space there! The guy one week is all over Norv Turner and how bad of a coach he is, to saying the same about AJ Smith and how bad of a GM he is. Then a few weeks later is covering for Norv & AJ saying it's not their fault.. Make up your damn mind!

What a stat by the way, "Norv Turner is 49-73-1 in games decided by a touch down or less" .. For Christ sake, he is flat out TERRIBLE, don't even tell me those 73 loses occurred with a bad team or injured plagued team.. That's just something I can't stomach..

This stat did it for me... Meanwhile, the Chargers' failure to play a complete game should come as no surprise. Turner is the second worst game manager in NFL history with a 49-73-1 record in games decided by one score or less, according to ESPN stats.

I know most people probably won't remember, but I remember the Bolt Talk Podcast a week or two after we hired Norv Turner, and Ray brought on a guy he knew who was a Redskins fan, and his exact quote was "you've never seen a coach more capable of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory."

I think that about sums up his time here in San Diego as well.

I hear yah, just saying it cant be any worse than Norv's play calling. Hell, lets sign Jarret Lee back and send him out there. Rivers and Whitehurst may be worth too much to send either of them out there behind this line.

The longer this saga goes on the less time and opportunity for hiring a great HC exists in terms of the silent message being sent of "enough is enough". The Bolt's are in a death roll tail spin without hopes of pulling out of it, bail out and pull the ripcord and land safely. Staying the course only prolongs the agony at this point and may restrict HC and GM options to those who may view it as a weakness in the ownership department. Any serious suitors that would be an upgrade over the present duo of doom, may wish to exclude themselves from the running as there seems to be no commitment to winning from the top of the organization.

I was particularly interested in reading one part of this article: " Turner is the second worst game manager in NFL history with a 49-73-1 record in games decided by one score or less..."

Wow, that kinda says it all really doesn't it?

There's nothing restrictive about waiting to fire your HC until Black Tuesday. We won't suddenly, magically get access to additional candidates if we drop Norv now, either.

Only that the seed of doubt be planted that Dean doesn't have a clue and is already a year and a half behind in turning the program around!!. You see it your way, I see mine!

I think greasy Deano needs to publicly apologize to the City of San Diego for keeping these clowns on board another year....and then s**t-can them both right after.