0301280369
DETROIT FREE PRESS
030128
Tuesday, January 28, 2003
METRO FINAL
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Photo MANDI WRIGHT AND JULIAN H. GONZALEZ/Detroit Free Press
Lions president Matt Millen sheds little light on why he fired Marty
Mornhinweg. Millen said: "You don't sit idly by and worry about how it looks
or whose feelings get hurt." The M&M Boys went 5-27.
HE'S OUT: MORNHINWEG
* Marty Mornhinweg compiled a 5-27 record in two seasons as Lions coach: 2-14
in 2001 and 3-13 in 2002.
* He lost all 16 of his road games.
* Although fired Monday, he will be paid for next season, the final guaranteed
year of his contract. (The Lions had options for two additional years.)
HE'S NEXT? MARIUCCI
* Steve Mariucci compiled a 60-43 record in six seasons with the San Francisco
49ers. His teams reached the playoffs four times.
* He is an Iron Mountain native, a Northern Michigan grad and Tom Izzo's
childhood friend.
* Unless he takes another NFL job, the 49ers owe him $2.2 million for next
season.
MITCH ALBOM FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
Copyright (c) 2003, Detroit Free Press
LIONS COACH FORCED OUT; IS MARIUCCI NEXT IN LINE?
MILLEN WON'T SAY IT, BUT HE EXPECTS FORMER 49ERS COACH TO LEAD LIONS
"We will make no changes. I will be here and Marty Mornhinweg will be
here." Matt Millen, four weeks ago
So he called an audible. So what? You're telling me you were happy with the way things were?
Lions president Matt Millen fired coach Marty Mornhinweg on Monday afternoon,
a move many were hoping for a month ago, but a surprising number were critical
of now. It's not that they suddenly became Marty fans. They just see Millen
throwing a chewed-up sail over the bow of the boat, without another sail to
replace it.
"Do you have a new coach hired?" I asked Millen.
"No."
"Have you interviewed one?"
"No."
"What if you get caught without a coach?"
"It's a possibility. We'll deal with that if it happens."
Don't believe it. Millen is a lot of things. Dumb isn't one of them. If he
didn't feel that he had something in place, or close to in place, he wouldn't
have done what he did.
And this is what he did. He called Mornhinweg into his office and told him it
was over. Their two-year partnership was kaput. You don't just do that because
you're having a bad day.
Ask yourself this: What changed between four weeks ago and today? Did Marty
lose another game? Did he blow another coin toss?
No. The only thing that changed is that a certain coach named Steve Mariucci
suddenly became available. And if Tampa Bay's Super Bowl victory taught us
anything, it's that when a coach is there, and you think he's the man, you do
what you gotta do.
"I have to make this thing work," Millen said. "Whatever it takes to get us to
win, I'll do. You don't sit idly by and worry about how it looks or whose
feelings get hurt. I want to win and I want to win now."
So he fired a coach who lost 27 of his 32 games. And in doing so, he broke a
long Lions tradition that includes Darryl Rogers and Wayne Fontes -- namely,
keeping coaches around who were going nowhere.
You know what? I think Matt Millen just did what a team president is supposed
to do.
Maybe we're not used to it.
A nickname basis
"How do you reconcile what you said last month with what you did today?" I
asked Millen.
"I can't. You make the decisions based on the information you have."
"Why not wait until you have a new coach in place before firing Marty?"
"I could have done that. But I didn't think it was fair to keep Marty twisting
while I interviewed people."
"How much is the marketplace a factor in this?"
"It's a factor."
Translation: It's THE factor. And Mariucci's availability is the swing factor.
Sure, you hear talk about Dennis Green or Nick Saban. But folks, this isn't
rocket science. If Dennis Green were really the man, the Lions could have
talked to him in December. If Saban, now at LSU, were really their heart's
desire, he could have been here by now.
Mariucci seems to be the clear choice, and in between his choppy words, you
can hear Millen admit it.
"Four years ago, when we first tried this, I talked to Mooch but it didn't
work out," Millen said, referring to when the Lions first approached him about
the president's job. "And two years ago, I tried talking to him but it didn't
work out. So yeah, he's a candidate."
Uh, correct me if I'm wrong here, but if you're on a "Mooch" basis, isn't it
more like a first choice than a candidate?
And make no mistake: Mariucci is a first-choice kind of guy. He took over a
49ers team and got it to the NFC championship game in his first season, 1997.
He went to the playoffs again in 1998 before suffering two down seasons, then
rebounding to 12-4. This year, the 49ers went to the playoffs and beat the
Giants in an amazing comeback, before being crushed by the Bucs, 31-6.
So why was he let go? In San Francisco, they see missing the Super Bowl as a
down year.
Detroit's standards are a tad less extreme.
A good man exits
Now. A moment here for Mornhinweg. He was truly a good fellow, and his players
liked playing for him. He did what he could. But he was often, let's face it,
over his head. He'll find a new job on someone's staff and he'll be good at
it, and maybe, in time, he'll get another head spot in a less precarious
position. We wish him well.
Is it fair that he goes and Millen stays? Of course it is. They're not on an
equal basis. One works for the other. If the Fords find a better team
president and want to dump Millen, they can do to him what Millen is doing to
Mornhinweg.
But this isn't about who's to blame for the Lions' losing ways. This is about
upgrading your coach. On one hand, you have Mariucci with a 60-43 record. On
the other hand, there's Marty with his 5-27. You tell me: Whom do you pick?
"How soon do you figure to have this done?" I asked Millen.
"Within two weeks."
"Is Marty's failure a reflection on you?"
"Yeah," he said. "It is."
He is trying to correct that. He gets the chance to try. Right now, people see
an empty coach's office and they panic, thinking the ship is moving without a
sail.
But if Mariucci is at the helm two weeks from now, people will feel a lot
better. And if he isn't? Well. This time, there will be only one "M" to blame.
Contact MITCH ALBOM at 313-223-4581 or albom@freepress.com. Catch "The Mitch
Albom Show" 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760).
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