Fisher Out As Titans’ Head Coach

Added on Jan 28, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

NFL

We’re not sure if Jeff Fisher is planning to attend Super Bowl XLV in Dallas, but if he does we’ll bet on football networking being at the top of his agenda. The Tennessee Titans announced on Thursday that Fisher wouldn’t be returning for this 17th full season with the NFL club. The move was somewhat of a surprise due to the length of Fisher’s tenure as head coach. After Sports Illustrated reported that the team was negotiating a buy out, the team made it official within a couple of hours.

Fisher appeared to survive a battle with petulent quarterback Vince Young, and initially owner Bud Adams opted to retain his services. That changed on Thursday and the team explained the reversal of course with the following statement:

“After the season was complete, we had numerous discussions on the direction of the team and were pleased that we were moving forward with Jeff at the helm. Since that time, it became evident that consensus was increasingly hard to find and reality wasn’t matching the vision we discussed. It is unfortunate that this decision is coming at this juncture, but we believe that we have reached the point where change is in the best interest of both parties.”

Fisher’s ouster shouldn’t be contrued as a vote of confidence for Vince Young–the team reiterated that they plan to trade or release Young despite the coaching change. For his part, the coach was taking the high road and issued this statement upon news of his dismissal:

“I want to thank Mr. Adams and the organization for a special 17 years. I can’t thank the fans enough for the support they showed us through the years; it has been a tremendous experience. We all did our very best and I think I can look back with fond memories and be very proud of what we accomplished. I want to wish the organization, the current players and the fans nothing but the best in the future.”

Fisher can afford to be gracious, since reports suggest that he’ll be getting an $8 million check for the team since he had a year left on his contract. Fisher had maintained that he wanted to finish his career in Tennessee, but no one goes into coaching sports betting that will actually happen.