Packers fire RB coach Sam Gash, TE coach Fontenot

Thanks, R GoldieMan. 

https://packers.timesfour.com/t...9#476998202686540589

FYI Fontenot gone also. 

more to come, per Rapoport.

Intresting.

Fontenot has been with GB for awhile correct? must've been a tough call for MM

I doubt anything is a tough call for MM. It's about winning championships (plural).

I wanted to win 1 last year or this year. I want to be the most hated team in the NFL.

Definitely time to clean some assistants out.

So offense today with Gash and Fontenot gone. The likely more to come is either:

a - remaining offensive staff shack-up (Bennett as RB or back to WR coach). AVP to just QBs

b - defensive staff firings tomorrow or Thursday.

Boris posted:

I want to be the most hated team in the NFL.

Tough task. There's too much competition.

He's been out of coaching a few years, but James Lofton was in HC discussions (Stanford, job went to Harbaugh & Oakland, job went to Kiffin) about 6 or so years back. Lofton was WR coach at SDG for 6 or so years and 1 or 2 years with OAK.

Minny's RB coach just got nixed to be promoted to "running game coordinator" with the Cleveland Browns and apparently was none to happy about it either.

But just like MM can refuse his assistants from going anywhere other than HC, so can the rest of the NFL.

So pure guess, but I'm thinking MM will have to look among the college talents to find these replacements because I highly doubt a coveted assistant from an NFL is going to be allowed to switch to the Packers. So it's either that or it's an assistant who's been unemployed awhile.

Here's the link. I love these titles btw:

According to Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the Browns wanted to make Wilson their running game coordinator, which would qualify as a promotion. Minnesota, however, told Wilson he couldn’t go, with a source telling the Pioneer Press “Kirby is under contract. Period.”

“He’s disappointed, but he’s not going to jump up and down hooting and hollering,” said John Wooten, chairman of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, which promotes minority hiring in the NFL. “When a guy gets a chance to advance, the team should not deny him that because there’s only so many opportunities. My position is that the team should let the guy go. It was not a lateral move. We were talking about an elevation to running game coordinator.”

Kirby is probably Chilis new best friend. 

Pretty sad to scapegoat Fontenot.  I don't think too many coaches could have done better with what he was given.

Gash deserved it, especially since his job title was running back dietitian.

None of us know jack **** about the actual reasons behind these firings. 

packerboi posted:

Here's the link. I love these titles btw:

According to Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the Browns wanted to make Wilson their running game coordinator, which would qualify as a promotion. Minnesota, however, told Wilson he couldn’t go, with a source telling the Pioneer Press “Kirby is under contract. Period.”

“He’s disappointed, but he’s not going to jump up and down hooting and hollering,” said John Wooten, chairman of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, which promotes minority hiring in the NFL. “When a guy gets a chance to advance, the team should not deny him that because there’s only so many opportunities. My position is that the team should let the guy go. It was not a lateral move. We were talking about an elevation to running game coordinator.”

 

Yes.  This is the same philosophy that Ron Wolf believed in.  Let him go and don't give him more money to stay...but make sure he is paid on par with his peers.

From what we have read and seen, it appears MM had too many cooks in the kitchen.  Too many levels of communication.  That was evident from how they team executed on the field.

It will be interesting to see if he lets anyone move on.

cuqui posted:

None of us know jack **** about the actual reasons behind these firings. 

I agree with cuqui.  I would say though that MM tends to be more than fair in giving people a chance to fix their mistakes.  He'll typically give a guy one year too many, but at the same time he plans a year ahead.  I think Fontenot getting the boot has as much to do with the failure to develop Bostick and whatever happened this year sealed the deal. 

I think it's interesting to go back and see what Sam Gash was saying when he was hired.

Sam Gash had his plan for RB Eddie Lacy right in front of him Monday.

It was an empty space.

"Leave him alone. Let him run," said Gash, who on Friday became Lacy's running backs coach, replacing Alex Van Pelt, who moved to quarterbacks coach.

"Just point him in the right direction and let him go," Gash said. "Just talk to him about the little things, the part about being a pro. He’s a young guy and he plays hard, but there’s an art to being a pro. I’m definitely not going to mess him up. That’s something I learned a long time, let runners run."

Gash said as soon as he got the job he called Lacy and introduced himself. He said he began watching some tape of Lacy recently and based on his conversation with the rookie and what he saw on tape, he said he thought there were similarities between Lacy and Martin.

"Even though he’s bigger, same mentality," Gash said. "Curtis didn’t like watching football. If anybody watched his Hall of Fame speech, he was a guy who didn’t necessarily like watching football, but he was instinctive and just a great player.

"Eddie is pretty similar in his mentality. But you watch him on film, which I’m just starting to do, he’s an exciting prospect."

Gash became aware of the Packers' open running backs job when Van Pelt, a former teammate at Buffalo called him and asked him to interview for the job.

Curtis Martin was also a guy who was held accountable by Bill Parcells.  I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Gash didn't have the same motivational prowess as Parcells.  I'd also say MM probably won't be asking Van Pelt if he knows anyone who's looking for a RB coaching gig this year.  I'm guessing Zook might have his ear right now.  Whoever they hire may well have a connection to him.      

I find it strange.. Obviously we don't know much but from a production per talent view, what did they expect out of Fontenot?  It makes me wonder if the are seeing DikRod as something he clearly isn't. 

You know, the ole Polish a turd adage. 

PackerJoe posted:

Pretty sad to scapegoat Fontenot.  I don't think too many coaches could have done better with what he was given.

Gash deserved it, especially since his job title was running back dietitian.

Didn't Fontenot come in on the slow coach with Campen and Philbin?

I don't recall any development projects at TE being worth much over the years.  I also don't think when you have DikSlowRod looking like Bubba Slowplodder that gets overlooked.  I recall the press about Rodgers playing at different weights because of what he was being asked to do by different OCs in college and how he would slim down in the pros.  Yeah, didn't happen.  When Quarles is an upgrade in SPEED when he was already set as the utility/blocking TE, there's a problem.

MM hasn't gone far enough yet.

I believe Fontenot was also responsible for short yardage game planning due to his OL background.

And we know that's been a raging success for years.

Enraging?

According to Demovsky the firings were the result of underachieving at the RB and TE positions.  Not sure DickRod underachieved as much as he just hit his ceiling and it's not particularly high. The organization appears to have a much higher opinion of him than I think is warranted.

And if that last sentence is true, that's rather frightening. I don't care who's coaching him, that kid is never going to be Jordan Reed.

JMO. MM looked at Lacy and Dick Rod as the unconditioned poster boys on the 53 and held those two accountable. If the conditioning coach get's his papers today then I might be onto something. 

If the coaches can't get their charges to do the basic stuff like, you know, be able to run 30 yards. There's a good chance they won't be able to master the big stuff. Like run 60 yards. 

I wonder if we're going to see a shift backwards in duties.  If Clements remains the OC, not good.

If Clements sticks around after being told to grab a coloring book and some crayons while the adults worked on some problems then he's not worth keeping around. 

TRUE accountability means nothing in the NFL.  If it did then the first individual that would have been fired this off-season is Eddie Lacy.

I have no problem with Gash getting fired.  While Gash cannot control all the food that Eddie piles in his mouth he still needs to have some influence over his players.  The Lacy/Harris curfew thing certainly isn't Gash's fault but it doesn't make him look good either.  Add in Starks fumbling problems late in the year and the entire unit was a train-wreck.

But Fontenot on the other hand...I really don't see much there that deserves a firing.  Rodgers is what he is and I don't think another coach gets that much more out of him.  Check out the receiving numbers from the 2014 class of tight ends and I think most would be pretty surprised to see how Rodgers stacks up.  One of the Journal-Sentinel writers had a comment that maybe Backman didn't progress as expected but he was a late round gamble..."mid-major" school, moderate production, wasn't really in the discussion to be drafted until he ran a very fast 40 at a pro day workout.  That type of player has developmental player, and oftentimes requiring multiple years, written all over him.

I think we all know the politics of football.  Point is they were on hook because both positions took a huge step backwards after the offensive coaching staff shifted.

Eddie wasn't pieholing it the first two years.  Fontenot?  If he's in charge of short yardage that alone is enough to get him **** canned years ago.

Good point. If these firings were ( in part or primarily )  due to the lack of  success in short yardage situations this past season then maybe we see a new OL coach too ?

One can hope.

Tretter's sister is my choice.

If coaches getting canned for poor performance from units, Moss and Capers would have been gone a long time ago.  

I am pretty unbalanced having discovered sugar free margaritas and talked with my financial adviser who I fired today but EKB once again clears the fog with low humidity reasoning.  Sitting down and talking to these players is so yesterday!

Party on....

[Homer and Gabe] Jason Wilde, Packers reporter on the firings: 1/20/16 => http://c.espnradio.com/s:5L8r1...01-20-193725.64k.mp3

Hungry5 posted:

I believe Fontenot was also responsible for short yardage game planning due to his OL background.

Even with the acquisition of the 49er line coach?  Name escapes me.

Perhaps MM needs to fire the guy who thought it was a brilliant idea to play Barclay and Sitton at LT. The Fontenot move strikes me as a bit like Sherman scapegoating Donatell for his own failings.

Try to contain yourself Henry.

New from JS: Report: Packers may lose OL assistant Solari to Giants https://t.co/XnSoYEiOg1 #Packers

— Tom Silverstein (@TomSilverstein) January 21, 2016

Can they make it two for one deal and send James Campen as well. 

They should be in contract talks with Tretter's sister right now.  

michiganjoe posted:

Perhaps MM needs to fire the guy who thought it was a brilliant idea to play Barclay and Sitton at LT. The Fontenot move strikes me as a bit like Sherman scapegoating Donatell for his own failings.

So, himself? 

Podcast:

Season Wrap Up With Coach Mike McCarthy http://media.mwcradio.com/podc...arthy-show-1-052.mp3 

Talks about; how proud he was of the effort from the team and everything they overcame,  injuries, how he's in the middle of a two year plan involving analytics and the coaching staff, Jeff Janis, the coin flip, fan support at away games, personal agendas in the media and how some of the players thought it was personal.  Worth a listen, imo.