Tag: Coaches

Teddy Bridgewater shares unexpected connections with 2024 Saints team

Teddy Bridgewater, who plans to make an NFL return in the near future, shares some surprising connections with the Saints’ new-look coaching staff:

Former New Orleans Saints quarterback Teddy Bridgewater has announced that he plans to make an NFL return in the upcoming weeks, and while the Saints may not be the most likely landing spot, he does share some intriguing connections with their current offensive staff. Beyond his two-season stint from 2018-2019 with the Saints, there are some former faces he may recognize from around the league currently on the Saints coaching staff as well.

First up is current Saints quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko, who worked with the Minnesota Vikings from 2015 to 2017, which overlaps with three of the four seasons Teddy Bridgewater played for the Vikings. While Janocko was not a quarterbacks coach at the time, he was an offensive quality control assistant for the first two of those seasons before moving to be an assistant offensive line coach, so they likely worked together in those first two seasons.

Another notable coaching overlap is current Saints senior offensive assistant Rick Dennison, who was the offensive line coach and run game coordinator in 2018 for the New York Jets, where Bridgewater spent his offseason before being traded to the Saints prior to the season.

Interim head coach Darren Rizzi and general manager Mickey Loomis would ultimately make the calls on any potential signing if one were in the works, and both of them were obviously here during the time frame Bridgewater was, and got to see how successful he was in the absence of Drew Brees during his thumb injury. We will see where Bridgewater ultimately ends up, but there are definitely a few notable ties between him and the current Saints staff (as well as the roster) worth noting.

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The highest-paid NBA coaches and how they compare to players

Last week, Sportico released its list of the highest-paid coaches in American sports, with NBA coaches well represented and led by the Warriors’ Steve Kerr. However, their yearly earnings pale in comparison to NBA players, with coaches’ salaries …

Last week, Sportico released its list of the highest-paid coaches in American sports, with NBA coaches well represented and led by the Warriors’ Steve Kerr.

However, their yearly earnings pale in comparison to NBA players, with coaches’ salaries more closely matching those of rank-and-file players in the league.

Check for yourself below:

Sorry, Baltimore: The Steelers didn’t want Diontae Johnson for good reason

While Baltimore may be excited to acquire Diontae Johnson from Carolina, the former Steelers WR carries a lot of baggage as well.

Memo to Ravens fans: Be careful what you wish for. While the Steel City faithful appreciate wide receiver Diontae Johnson’s efforts as an elite route-runner for Pittsburgh from 2019-2023, fans will be quick to remind Baltimore exactly why he was traded away to Carolina last offseason. 

Johnson struggled with making routine catches early in his career and bore more than his fair share of blame for drama in the Steel City, ranging from lack of effort on multiple plays to heated arguments with Steelers players and coaches. 

On a crucial play last season against the Cincinnati Bengals, running back Jaylen Warren fumbled the football, and Johnson seemingly walked away from the opportunity to recover it. His initial response left much to be desired: “I’m not perfect.” 

Johnson was also involved in a heated locker room argument with free safety Minkah Fitzpatrick after the safety took issue with Johnson’s treatment of the coaches on the sideline. 

Johnson was traded this week to the Baltimore Ravens from the Carolina Panthers, and he has certainly circled his new team’s Week 11 and Week 16 matchups with Pittsburgh.

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Mickey Loomis’ stance on coaching changes hasn’t changed in 20 years

Mickey Loomis’ old quotes from 20 years ago about a head coaching change feel awfully similar to his sentiments about Dennis Allen today:

Mickey Loomis recently clarified to all New Orleans Saints fans that they have to look beyond the results when evaluating Dennis Allen. Well, let’s apply that same premise to Loomis himself.

Loomis said, “I think good organizations do is you look beyond the results. What’s the reason for the results, and how do you fix the reasons that keep you from winning? It’s not always about the head coach. Sometimes it is, but it’s not always about that.”

Hesitancy to look at the head coach is part of Loomis’ process. He did the same thing with Jim Haslett. ESPN’s Katherine Terrell dug up some old quotes from Loomis from an interview in Jan 2004 when asked about potential coaching changes.

At the time, the Saints were .500 in a three year span. Loomis felt firing the coach was the easy route but not the right route. “The right thing to do is to stay the course,” Loomis elaborated. “Often times that is the hardest thing to do. But I think that’s what we need to do.”

Haslett may have earned the benefit of the doubt at the time. He went 10-6 and won the NFC South before struggling the next three years. Allen, on the other hand, hasn’t earned the benefit of the doubt beyond simply being around for years.

Regardless, if we’re looking at the process, this type of statement from Loomis seems on brand. He believed in weathering the storm 20 years ago. Every comment about Allen suggests Loomis feels the same way in the present day.

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Notre Dame adds new diving coach

Notre Dame diving has a new head coach.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have hired Josh Arndt as head diving coach.

Head swimming coach Chris Lindauer made the announcement.

“We are thrilled to add Josh to our staff!” Lindauer said in a statement. “He brings a wealth of experience in diving at the highest level. His commitment to the student-athlete experience was evident throughout the hiring process, and we are excited for him to bring a new perspective to our staff and team!”

Arndt has been the head diving coach at the University of Virginia and he was there while the Cavaliers won two national championships. Before that, Arndt worked at the University of Connecticut for three years as the head diving coach there.

For two of those three seasons, Arndt was the Big East Women’s Diving Coach of the Year. He began his coaching career at UMass.

Mar 23, 2012; Federal Way, WA, USA; A general view of the pool before the 2012 NCAA division I swimming championship at Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

“I am incredibly excited to join the Notre Dame family,” Ardnt said in a statement. “Growing up in the area, I have always held the University in high regard. I am honored and look forward to the opportunity to build alongside these phenomenal student-athletes and this staff.”

Arndt is a native of LaPorte, Ind. and he attended college at Indiana, where was an All-American in 2016. He also qualified for the Olympic Trials that year.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (Formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Tim on X: @tehealey

 

Dennis Allen should be on the hot seat going into 2024

Dennis Allen should be on the hot seat going into 2024. The Saints have tolerated too much mediocrity under his watch, and he’s run out of excuses:

It shouldn’t be a hot take to say Dennis Allen should be on the hot seat going into 2024. The New Orleans Saints have tolerated too much mediocrity under his watch, having missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons while wilting in their biggest games. Allen has not delivered on the expectation general manager Mickey Loomis outlined when he was hired, envisioning a coach who could field a competitive team each week.

And it’s not just us saying it. That’s the word from Bleacher Report’s Alex Kay, who started with Allen when listing head coaches whose jobs could be in jeopardy this season:

The New Orleans Saints resemble little more than a shell of the powerhouse they were during the franchise’s golden era that featured Drew Brees under center and Sean Payton at the helm.

Dennis Allen, the head coach promoted to his position following Payton’s retirement after the 2021 campaign, and the three different starting quarterbacks he’s churned through since taking over simply haven’t done an acceptable job emulating their predecessors. While Allen’s regular season record isn’t atrocious—he’s gone 16-18 in his two years at the helm—he’s struggled to compete in a wide-open NFC South and hasn’t done much to inspire confidence that he can oversee a contender.

New Orleans attempted to take a shortcut to find a capable quarterback after it became clear that neither Jameis Winston nor Andy Dalton were adequate replacements for Brees. Derek Carr was brought on as a free-agent last season but couldn’t elevate this squad to its first playoff berth since 2020.

The team’s 9-7 record was too strong to allow it to acquire a blue-chip passer in the draft, however, and the Saints are now in grave danger of finding themselves stuck in the NFL’s version of purgatory—not bad enough to bottom out and get a top pick but not good enough to even reach the playoffs.

Kay also pointed to the season-ending debacle against the Atlanta Falcons in which Allen’s players undermined his authority to score one last touchdown in a blowout win over their oldest rivals; Allen earned a lot of enmity from Saints fans for apologizing to his Atlanta counterpart afterwards. If he’s lost the locker room, Kay writes, and as that incident suggests, it’s fair to ask how much longer Allen can stay in place.

Another year without the playoffs should be the end of it. Allen has been given every opportunity and every advantage but he hasn’t shown he can make use of it. He’s failed to stack up wins with the easiest schedule in the league or consistently win matchups against backup quarterbacks, or rise to the occasion when competing with a playoff team, or even an opponent who just has a backbone.

Now he has his $150 million quarterback, he has his handpicked offensive coaching staff, and he has the NFL’s weakest schedule again. If he can’t win in these circumstances, he’ll never be able to. The question is whether Loomis and the Saints’ leadership team agrees.

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Steelers announce hiring of Anthony Midget as assistant secondary coach

The Steelers continue to fill out their coaching staff.

On Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Steelers announced they had hired Anthony Midget as the team’s assistant secondary coach. Midget has been an NFL coach for nine seasons. Midget last worked in the league as the Tennessee Titans secondary coach from 2020-2022. Here’s a rundown of his time with the Titans from the team’s release.

Midget comes to the Steelers with nine years of NFL experience, after spending three seasons as the secondary coach with the Tennessee Titans (2020-22). 

The Titans third-down percentage defense was ranked third in the NFL in 2022 and their opponents converted only 34.2 percent of their attempts.

The Titans defense tied for 10th in the NFL with 16 interceptions in 2021 and fourth in the NFL with 83 passes defensed.   

In his first season with the Titans in 2020, the defense ranked seventh in the NFL with 15 interceptions.

Midget was fired by the Titans in January of 2023 and was not in the league at all during the 2023 NFL season.

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Florida add Cleveland Browns assistant to coaching staff

The Gators are plucking Cleveland Browns offensive assistant Jonathan DeCoster from the NFL and pairing him with Rob Sale to get Florida back to two O-line coaches.

Cleveland Browns offensive assistant Jonathan DeCoster will join Billy Napier’s coaching staff at the University of Florida, according to On3’s Corey Bender.

Reports over the weekend pointed to the move coming together, but Bender says the “move is official.” DeCoster will fill a void left by Darnell Stapleton, who is now with the Washington Commanders. Florida still has Rob Sale as the other half of its position-coaching tandem

DeCoster is coming off three seasons with the Browns — one as an offensive quality control coach, the other as an offensive assistant. He spent eight years coaching college ball before his time in Cleveland, including stops at LSU (grad assistant TE coach), Old Dominion (TE coach) and West Virginia State (grad assistant OL coach).

As a player, DeCoster was a four-year starter at right tackle for the Louisiana Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns. His high school days were spent in Miramar, Florida, which could lead to important recruiting connections in the South Florida region.

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Report: Sean Payton hiring another former Saints player to his coaching staff

ESPN reports that Sean Payton is adding another former Saints player to his coaching staff: longtime Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard

Here’s Sean Payton with a big here: ESPN’s Dan Graziano and Jeremy Fowler report that the Denver Broncos are hiring another one of Payton’s former New Orleans Saints players to his coaching staff. Jim Leonhard is in discussions with Denver to return to the NFL as the Broncos defensive backs coach.

Leonhard has been a big name in the college ranks — he rose to prominence as the defensive coordinator at his Wisconsin alma mater, developing many future NFL players, and he most recently worked at Illinois as a senior analyst. But before that he played in the NFL for a decade. He joined the Saints for training camp back in 2013.

He’s also interviewed for several NFL openings in recent years, but it looks like his first shot will come in Denver working with his old coach. Payton has given many of his former players opportunities to work on his coaching staff. Some of them are still with him on the Broncos like offensive line coach Zach Strief, assistant special teams coach Chris Banjo, and offensive quality control coach Logan Kilgore.

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Atlanta Falcons add 6 more assistants to coaching staff

The Atlanta Falcons have added six more assistants to their coaching staff, the team announced on Saturday

The Atlanta Falcons are set to introduce Raheem Morris as the 19th head coach in team history on Monday but don’t be surprised if the former Rams defensive coordinator has hired his entire coaching staff by then.

Morris has already filled all three coordinator positions along with several other assistants and position coaches. On Saturday afternoon, the team officially added six more assistant coaches (see below).