Tag: job security

Tom Telesco on his position as general manager: ‘I’m entitled to nothing’

Tom Telesco knows that results are everything in the NFL, and he isn’t taking his job security for granted heading into the 2023 season.

Los Angeles Chargers general manager Tom Telesco spoke to reporters at the team’s end-of-season press conference last week about various subjects and laid out the team’s strategy for the future.

After a disappointing end to the Chargers’ season following a playoff loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, it seemed that the organization’s leadership might be on the chopping block as ownership and the fanbase pushes for postseason success without regard for who sits at the helm of the franchise.

For his part, Telesco knows that results are everything in the football business, and he made it clear in his comments that he knows that his role isn’t to be taken for granted.

“I’m entitled to nothing, and I don’t take my job for granted, at all,” Telesco explained. “There are some positives here. Understand that I’m not sitting up here saying that I deserve anything, that’s just the way that it is. I like where our roster is headed. I love the coaching staff, and we’re going to add to that coaching staff coming up, certainly on the offensive side of the ball.

“Seeing the passion right now, and even meeting some of the fans in Jacksonville that traveled to the game, it’s an exciting time here. But, like I said, I’m not entitled to anything. I work really hard at what I do. I put all of my time, effort and energy into this job, because if you don’t, you can’t compete at this level. I’ve had great support from the Spanos Family, and it has been like that since the day that I arrived.”

With changes to the roster set to start at a breakneck pace over the next month or so, Telesco is sure to be hard at work plotting his course to the Super Bowl and ensuring his job is secure for the foreseeable future.

Safe Returns: Jones says McCarthy job as Cowboys HC not in jeopardy as playoffs begin

The owner says there is no outcome Monday versus the 8-9 Buccaneers that would put McCarthy’s status as Cowboys head coach at risk. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Mike McCarthy wasn’t hired to rack up 12-win seasons.

He was brought in as head coach to turn the Cowboys into a team that is, to borrow the phrase owner Jerry Jones used back in July, “viable in the playoffs.”

Now, with a second straight postseason berth, questions have once again surfaced about McCarthy’s future with the organization if the Cowboys don’t make- at the very least- a deep run through the NFC bracket.

Jones, though, isn’t ready to make Monday night’s wild-card showdown with Tampa Bay any sort of make-or-break moment for his third-year head coach.

“No. I don’t even want to- no. That’s it,” Jones told Shan & RJ on 105.3 The Fan during a Tuesday morning call-in when he was asked if McCarthy’s job could be at risk with a playoff loss to the 8-9 Buccaneers. “I don’t need to go into all the pluses or minuses, but I’ve got a lot more to evaluate Mike McCarthy on than this playoff game.”

Despite a 12-5 regular-season campaign, the confidence of Cowboys Nation has wavered in recent weeks. There was the blowout of a poor Indianapolis squad that actually wasn’t a blowout at all over the first three quarters. That was followed by a four-point squeaker over a one-win Houston crew. A mistake-filled overtime loss to Jacksonville. Two consecutive slugfest wins over teams starting backup quarterbacks. And, of course, the top-to-bottom terrible showing in Sunday’s finale against a depleted Washington roster that had zero left to play for.

Dallas’s recent body of work is concerning enough that the Cowboys opened as favorites by only three points to a sub-.500 team.

But Jones expressed belief that the team will rally around each other as well as their coaching staff.

“I have real confidence, all the confidence in the world in Mike and our offensive line coaches and our offensive personnel, our coordinator. I have all the faith in the world that we can make the kind of adjustments we need to make this week,” Jones explained. “I can see us playing better. Got to play better at Tampa, but I have a lot of confidence in our coaches to get that straightened out.”

The constant hot-seat whispers seem to always surround this team, even after an overall successful season. But until the Cowboys can get over this 27-year speed bump and finally make it back to the NFC title game, the questions will linger.

And despite this latest dismissal of the topic from Jerry Jones, nothing will definitively answer those questions- at least for another week- quite like actually being viable in the playoffs and notching a win in Tampa.

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Cowboys’ Jerry Jones says ‘it’s ridiculous’ to question McCarthy’s job security

Cowboys COO Stephen Jones said on Monday that Mike McCarthy would be back in 2021. Jerry Jones reiterated those comments on Tuesday.

The Dallas Cowboys haven’t met expectations in 2020 with a putrid 4-9 record. As expected, the rumblings of whether or not head coach Mike McCarthy is the man for the job of fixing the issues have started to surface.

Those sentiments aren’t shared by owner Jerry Jones. In a Tuesday morning appearance on 105.3 The Fan, Jones stated that it was ridiculous to speculate that McCarthy wouldn’t be back in 2021.

“Not one time have I been in any discussion, had any dream, or given a thought to anything but Mike McCarthy being our head coach next year, and being our coach of the future,” Jones said. “How in the hell something like that could get going in a conversation with Stephen (Jones) or anybody else about whether McCarthy is going to be the coach or not is ridiculous.”

These comments echoed what Cowboys COO Stephen Jones said on Monday about McCarthy’s future with the organization.

“There will be absolutely no change with coach McCarthy,” Jones said on the K&C Masterpiece. “I am surprised someone would question these unprecedented situations that everybody’s been in. On top of that, no one’s making excuses, but we’ve had some challenges in the injury category. If you look at his track record, and his pedigree, he’s consistently won year-in-and-year out. We have the utmost confidence this ship is going to be righted quickly. Mike’s going to be the leader of this group. He’s, certainly, a great head coach. I think we’re going to see that going forward. He’s accomplished a lot, and he’s going to accomplish a lot more before it’s all said and done.”

The Jones’ feelings about McCarthy aren’t far-fetched when considering everything he’s had to deal with in his first season in Dallas. The coronavirus pandemic wiped out much of the normal protocol that comes with preparing for an NFL season and put McCarthy and the Cowboys revamped coaching staff at a big disadvantage entering 2020.

The biggest detriment to McCarthy’s inaugural season in Dallas has been injuries. On the offensive side of the ball, he’s lost quarterback Dak Prescott and tight end Blake Jarwin for the season. Tyron Smith and La’el Collins were also lost for the year with neck and hip ailments. Fourth-round rookie center Tyler Biadasz and veteran Joe Looney have spent time on the shelf, leading to the Cowboys putting a plethora of offensive line combinations on the field which has included undrafted free agents Terence Steele and Brandon Knight getting significant snaps.

It’s been just as frustrating on the defensive side of the ball, on all three levels. Defensive tackle Gerald McCoy was signed during free agency to help bolster the Cowboy’s interior defensive line but suffered a ruptured quadriceps in August and was eventually waived. Linebackers Sean Lee and Leighton Vander Esch have missed significant time although both have been on the field for the Cowboys since their Week 8 matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles.

The secondary had been the area most affected in 2020 on the injury front defensively. Cornerbacks Trevon Diggs, Chidobe Awuzie, and Anthony Brown have spent time on the sidelines with injuries. Also, second-year safety Donovan Wilson is currently dealing with a groin issue.

Even though McCarthy is an accomplished NFL head coach, having this amount of injuries is a lot to endure in one season. It appears McCarthy will get a Mulligan for 2020, to use a golf reference, and will hopefully lead the Cowboys back to the playoffs in 2021, considering their chances of doing so this season are all but over.

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How strong is Florida football head coach Dan Mullen’s job security?

Mullen has started strong in his UF head coach tenure but he may need to win the SEC this season in order to jump to “untouchable” status.

Job security is a fickle thing. Coaches can go from comfortable to the hot seat and back within the course of a single season (see Auburn’s Gus Malzahn). Coaches can go from winning back-to-back division titles to getting fired midseason (isn’t that neat?).

So, after two successful seasons in Gainesville which resulted in New Year’s Six Bowl titles, how safe is coach Dan Mullen’s job?

According to CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd, he’s among the safest in the country. Dodd rated every coach’s security on a five-point scale ranging from “0” or “untouchable” to “5” or “win or be fired.”

Mullen was labeled a “1” meaning his job is safe and secure, one of 43 FBS coaches in that category. He hasn’t proven enough to Dodd to be considered “untouchable” by Dodd like conference contemporaries Nick Saban and Kirby Smart. Nearly all of the 24 “untouchable” coaches are coaches that either just got hired this past offseason or are long-tenured coaches who have won conference titles.

Though Mullen has had a strong start to his UF head coaching career, he may need to win the SEC (or at least the SEC East) this season in order to make the jump from “safe and secure” to “untouchable.”

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