Tis the season..for firing coaches

 When football season winds down, the season of firing coaches begins.
Let's start with college coaches:
It guess the talk of replaces head coaches began half way through the season at Florida State with long time coach Bobby Bowden.  After a rough start this season, rumors began to surface that FSU should get rid of Bobby after 33 years with the team.  At the beginning of December, Bowden announced that he had "decided" to retire after being given an ultimatum by FSU.  He could return to FSU in 2010 as an ambassador or retire after their bowl game.  So as I said, he "decided" to retire.

Anyway, right around the same time, Mark Mangino, the now former head coach of Kansas,  "resigned" after allegations from former players came out that the fat man verbally and physically abused his players.  So what really happened was that Mangino and Kansas came to an agreement where Mangino attempts to save face (though he does come off as guilty by just "resigning") and Kansas gets to save money and the hassle of a potential lawsuit.

Next was Mike Leach, who was all of a sudden suspended indefinitely on December 28th pending investigation of a complaint made by player, Adam James andhis ESPN analyst dad, Craig James, that Leach had mistreated Adam when he suffered from a concussion earlier that month.  Apparently the suspension came as a result of Leach not giving James a written apology, which Texas Tech ordered him to do.  Leach, having a law degree and all, sought an immediate injunction that would allow him to coach the team in their bowl game.  So what did Texas Tech do?  Fire him directing before the hearing citing that his refusal to apologize to Adam James "a defiant act of insubordination."  As of January 8th, Leach has filed suit against Texas Tech for wrongful termination.

Also on the 8th, South Florida fired their coach Jim Leavitt after a school investigation concluded that he had grabbed a player by his throat, hit him, and then proceeded to lie about the whole thing and interfere with the school's investigation (the school cited the last part as one of the major reasons they fired him).  Leavitt had been with the team since it's first season in 1997.  The whole situation seems pretty hinky to me but what's done is done.

Onto the NFL..
The first to go: Jim Zorn.  Surprise Surprise.  I mean really, who saw that coming?   Oh yea, everyone.  Let's not forget that back in October, after a loss to Kansas City, Zorn was "strongly suggested" to yield his offensive play calling duties to Sherman Lewis (who had been spending his time calling Bingo games).  And then there was the fail-tastic "trick" play Zorn called (TWICE) when they were playing Giants on Monday Night Football.

Zorn was with the Redskins for 2 years and had a record of 12-20, going 4-12 this year.  He was replaced by Mike Shanahan.

Seahawk's head coach Jim Mora Jr. also got canned after going 5-11 his first season as head coach.  And who do they bring in?  Pete Carroll...a post to come on this.

Besides just head coaches, there were other parts of coaching staffs let go:
Steelers offensive line coach Larry Zierlein was fired after his O-line allowed Roethlisberger to be sacked 50 times.
Paul Pasqualoni, defensive coordinator of Miami, was let go after the Dolphins finished 25th in points allowed this season
The Giants fired defensive line coach, Mike Waufle and rooking defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan after the defense gave up 427 points and essentially didn't show up for the last two games.
Da Bears fired offensive coordinator Ron Turner, offensive line coach Harry Hiestand, QB coach Pep Hamilton, tight end coach Rob Boras, offensive assistant/assistant offensive line coach Luke Butkus, and offensive assistant/assistant wide receivers coach Charles London.
The Chiefs fired longtime defensive line coach Tim Krumrie.  
Oh yes, and the ENTIRE coaching staff of the Buffalo Bills, including interim head coach Perry Fewell. 

I may have missed some people, if so, let me know.