Spanoses ride cold streak on big moves
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Spanoses ride cold streak on big moves
By Tom Krasovic | 7 a.m. Nov. 23, 2015
The Spanoses have shown they can get it right.
Long ago, they twice hired a very capable man to run their football team.
Alex Spanos was the first to do it.
Hiring a general manager in 1989, the Chargers' owner hit a home run.
Bobby Beathard would build the Chargers into a Super Bowl team within five years.
Spanos courted Beathard, who was one of the NFL's top talent man. He paid him top-market dollars and funded the hiring of several former Beathard aides. Then he got out of Beathard's way.
Dean Spanos did his father proud with his first GM hire, the late John Butler, in 2001.
Complete coverage: Chiefs 33, Chargers 3
Butler brought in LaDainian Tomlinson, Marty Schottenheimer and Drew Brees. Though Butler would die of lung cancer two years and three months after he took over, his hand-picked aide and successor, A.J. Smith, kept the impact talent flowing into Charger Park for a few years.
Two GMs, two successes.
Of late, however, the Spanos have had little reason to circle the bases.
With the Chargers (2-8) reeling and John Spanos having joined his father Dean atop the football hierarchy in recent years, we revisit the more recent big football decisions of the Spanos Era that began in 1984. It's not a heartening journey for Bolts fans.
Fire Marty Schottenheimer, Grade D
In early 2007, Dean Spanos sided with Smith and fired Schottenheimer a month after the awful playoff loss to the New England Patriots on the heels of a 14-2 season.
If you fire a coach after a 14-2 season, the next coach has to get to the Super Bowl. Norv Turner never got there in six seasons. Hence the harsh grade despite Turner's many successes.
It wasn't the first time Spanos sided with his GM over a head coach. He allowed Beathard to fire coach Bobby Ross.
Keeping Norv Turner, C-
Turner started out with three playoff trips, receiving a three-year extension after the third.
In the postseason, he went from two playoff wins to one to zero.
It made sense to keep Turner beyond his third season, but his third team's playoff loss, to the New York Jets, was disturbing. The Jets, a nine-point underdog, befuddled the Turner-coached offense and the Chargers overall made numerous mistakes aside from Nate Kaeding's three missed kicks.
The extension backfired, with the Chargers never returning to the playoffs under Turner.
Not keeping Ron Rivera, Grade C
Former Chargers defensive coordinator Ron Rivera is hot stuff as head coach of the Carolina Panthers, who are 10-0 and headed to their third straight postseason under his guidance.
It looks like the top bosses underestimated him.
But it's a stretch to claim the Spanoses or Smith should've made Rivera the head coach.
When Spanos-Smith chose Turner over Rivera in early 2007, Rivera had never been a head coach anywhere. His Bears defense had just led Chicago to a Super Bowl, getting him the interview.
The season before he was extended, Turner led the Bolts to 11 straight wins. He deserved to stay on the job.
It would've taken firing Turner a year later, after a maddening 2010 season, and promoting Rivera, who took over the Panthers about then. Rivera would've been on Smith's short list, the GM having said Rivera was the runner-up to Turner in 2007.
The Chargers had missed the '10 playoffs largely because of inept special teams. They stuck with Turner.
It's not clear the Chargers would've fit Rivera. Struggling at game management, he went through growing pains with Carolina. He survived only after Panthers owner Jerry Richardson fired GM Marty Hurney and asked Rivera to think about taking more chances on fourth down.
Richardson said he connected with Rivera because they were both former NFL players.
The Spanoses have shown they support GMs over coaches.
Not interviewing Bruce Arians, Grade F
Arians went 9-3 as interim coach of the Indianapolis Colts in 2012.
When coach Chuck Pagano returned to the Colts, Arians sought a head coach job elsewhere. In media interviews, he lobbied for the Chargers' job.
The Spanoses never interviewed him, and Arians has gone on to lead the Cardinals to records of 10-6, 11-5 and 8-2.
Job searches for an NFL head coach are complicated. Even so, it looks likes a mistake that the Spanoses -- Dean and John -- interviewed five candidates other than Arians.
Carson Palmer is grateful that the Arizona Cardinals hired Arians, who targeted him in a trade and resurrected his career. Though Palmer is a better deep thrower than Philip Rivers, he's not a better overall quarterback.
Hiring Tom Telesco, Grade I
Before Mike McCoy took over as head coach, the Spanoses and consultant Ron Wolfe hired Tom Telesco as GM.
He replaced Smith, who was fired along with Turner and like the ex-coach still had a seven-figure salary coming to him from the Chargers.
Telesco, like former Bolts GMs Butler and Smith, had worked under Bill Polian, whose successes as a GM gained him induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year.
The Spanoses and Wolfe interviewed three other GM candidates: 49ers executive Tom Gamble, Giants scouting director Marc Ross and Chargers personnel man Jimmy Raye.
Gamble was and is part of a San Francisco front office that's now under fire for not retaining coach Jim Harbaugh and replacing him with 49ers line coach Jim Tomsula.
Ross remained with the Giants. Raye went to the Colts under GM Ryan Grigson, who succeeded Polian.
With Wolfe's input, Telesco and the Spanoses hired McCoy to replace Turner.
To evaluate a GM's drafts and many other personnel moves takes more than two-plus years, so give Telesco an I for incomplete.
The Bolts are trending the wrong way, though. They are 20-22 in the Telesco-McCoy era after losing 14 of 20 games. In the AFC West, they've dropped four straight games, none of them close.
Regardless of who the GM and coach are next year, the Spanoses are now on the clock.
Spanoses ride cold streak on big moves
By Tom Krasovic | 7 a.m. Nov. 23, 2015
The Spanoses have shown they can get it right.
Long ago, they twice hired a very capable man to run their football team.
Alex Spanos was the first to do it.
Hiring a general manager in 1989, the Chargers' owner hit a home run.
Bobby Beathard would build the Chargers into a Super Bowl team within five years.
Spanos courted Beathard, who was one of the NFL's top talent man. He paid him top-market dollars and funded the hiring of several former Beathard aides. Then he got out of Beathard's way.
Dean Spanos did his father proud with his first GM hire, the late John Butler, in 2001.
Complete coverage: Chiefs 33, Chargers 3
Butler brought in LaDainian Tomlinson, Marty Schottenheimer and Drew Brees. Though Butler would die of lung cancer two years and three months after he took over, his hand-picked aide and successor, A.J. Smith, kept the impact talent flowing into Charger Park for a few years.
Two GMs, two successes.
Of late, however, the Spanos have had little reason to circle the bases.
With the Chargers (2-8) reeling and John Spanos having joined his father Dean atop the football hierarchy in recent years, we revisit the more recent big football decisions of the Spanos Era that began in 1984. It's not a heartening journey for Bolts fans.
Fire Marty Schottenheimer, Grade D
In early 2007, Dean Spanos sided with Smith and fired Schottenheimer a month after the awful playoff loss to the New England Patriots on the heels of a 14-2 season.
If you fire a coach after a 14-2 season, the next coach has to get to the Super Bowl. Norv Turner never got there in six seasons. Hence the harsh grade despite Turner's many successes.
It wasn't the first time Spanos sided with his GM over a head coach. He allowed Beathard to fire coach Bobby Ross.
Keeping Norv Turner, C-
Turner started out with three playoff trips, receiving a three-year extension after the third.
In the postseason, he went from two playoff wins to one to zero.
It made sense to keep Turner beyond his third season, but his third team's playoff loss, to the New York Jets, was disturbing. The Jets, a nine-point underdog, befuddled the Turner-coached offense and the Chargers overall made numerous mistakes aside from Nate Kaeding's three missed kicks.
The extension backfired, with the Chargers never returning to the playoffs under Turner.
Not keeping Ron Rivera, Grade C
Former Chargers defensive coordinator Ron Rivera is hot stuff as head coach of the Carolina Panthers, who are 10-0 and headed to their third straight postseason under his guidance.
It looks like the top bosses underestimated him.
But it's a stretch to claim the Spanoses or Smith should've made Rivera the head coach.
When Spanos-Smith chose Turner over Rivera in early 2007, Rivera had never been a head coach anywhere. His Bears defense had just led Chicago to a Super Bowl, getting him the interview.
The season before he was extended, Turner led the Bolts to 11 straight wins. He deserved to stay on the job.
It would've taken firing Turner a year later, after a maddening 2010 season, and promoting Rivera, who took over the Panthers about then. Rivera would've been on Smith's short list, the GM having said Rivera was the runner-up to Turner in 2007.
The Chargers had missed the '10 playoffs largely because of inept special teams. They stuck with Turner.
It's not clear the Chargers would've fit Rivera. Struggling at game management, he went through growing pains with Carolina. He survived only after Panthers owner Jerry Richardson fired GM Marty Hurney and asked Rivera to think about taking more chances on fourth down.
Richardson said he connected with Rivera because they were both former NFL players.
The Spanoses have shown they support GMs over coaches.
Not interviewing Bruce Arians, Grade F
Arians went 9-3 as interim coach of the Indianapolis Colts in 2012.
When coach Chuck Pagano returned to the Colts, Arians sought a head coach job elsewhere. In media interviews, he lobbied for the Chargers' job.
The Spanoses never interviewed him, and Arians has gone on to lead the Cardinals to records of 10-6, 11-5 and 8-2.
Job searches for an NFL head coach are complicated. Even so, it looks likes a mistake that the Spanoses -- Dean and John -- interviewed five candidates other than Arians.
Carson Palmer is grateful that the Arizona Cardinals hired Arians, who targeted him in a trade and resurrected his career. Though Palmer is a better deep thrower than Philip Rivers, he's not a better overall quarterback.
Hiring Tom Telesco, Grade I
Before Mike McCoy took over as head coach, the Spanoses and consultant Ron Wolfe hired Tom Telesco as GM.
He replaced Smith, who was fired along with Turner and like the ex-coach still had a seven-figure salary coming to him from the Chargers.
Telesco, like former Bolts GMs Butler and Smith, had worked under Bill Polian, whose successes as a GM gained him induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year.
The Spanoses and Wolfe interviewed three other GM candidates: 49ers executive Tom Gamble, Giants scouting director Marc Ross and Chargers personnel man Jimmy Raye.
Gamble was and is part of a San Francisco front office that's now under fire for not retaining coach Jim Harbaugh and replacing him with 49ers line coach Jim Tomsula.
Ross remained with the Giants. Raye went to the Colts under GM Ryan Grigson, who succeeded Polian.
With Wolfe's input, Telesco and the Spanoses hired McCoy to replace Turner.
To evaluate a GM's drafts and many other personnel moves takes more than two-plus years, so give Telesco an I for incomplete.
The Bolts are trending the wrong way, though. They are 20-22 in the Telesco-McCoy era after losing 14 of 20 games. In the AFC West, they've dropped four straight games, none of them close.
Regardless of who the GM and coach are next year, the Spanoses are now on the clock.