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Tramel: Coaching change often works

 
By Berry Tramel | Published: January 18, 2009    Comment on this article Leave a comment
photo - In the 1977-78 NBA season, Lenny Wilkens engineered a quite a turnaround, taking the Sonics all the way to the NBA Finals. AP photo
In the 1977-78 NBA season, Lenny Wilkens engineered a quite a turnaround, taking the Sonics all the way to the NBA Finals. AP photo

In a 23-day span of November and December, six NBA head coaches were fired.

Nuggets coach George Karl was not pink-slipped but was PO’d.

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MID-SEASON COACHING CHANGES
In 2008, most teams improved after mid-season coaching changes. All major sports and both pro and college, the trend held, except in college basketball, where latter-season schedules usually are much tougher:

TeamOld coachNew coach

NFL
Raiders Lane Kiffin Tom Cable
1-3 4-8
49ers Mike Nolan Mike Singletary
2-5 5-4
Rams Scott Linehan Jim Haslett
0-4 2-10
Baseball
Brewers Ned Yost Dale Sveum
83-67 7-5 (wild-card)
Mets Willie Randolph Jerry Manuel
34-35 55-38
Mariners John McLaren Jim Riggleman
25-47 36-54
Blue Jays John Gibbons Cito Gaston
35-39 51-37
NBA
Kings Reggie Theus Kenny Natt
6-18 4-13
76ers Mo Cheeks Tony DiLeo
9-14 10-6
T-Wolves Randy Wittman Kevin McHale
4-15 8-11
Raptors Sam Mitchell Jay Triano
8-9 8-16
Wizards Eddie Jordan Ed Tapscott
1-10 7-21
Thunder P.J. Carlesimo Scott Brooks
1-12 7-21
College football
Clemson Tommy Bowden Dabo Swinney
3-3 4-3
College basketball
San Francisco Jessie Evans Eddie Sutton
4-8 6-13
Oregon State Jay John Kevin Mouton
6-12 0-13
Indiana Kelvin Sampson Dan Dakich
22-4 3-4
Pepperdine Vance Walberg Eric Bridgeland
6-12 5-9
LSU John Brady Butch Pierre
8-13 5-5

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"I just wish I could be in the meeting with the owner when that GM who is firing them is guaranteeing, ‘We’re going to be better by making this change,’” Karl told the AP, "because I don’t ever see it getting that much better.”

Then open your eyes, George. Changing jockeys in mid-stream is working famously throughout sports.

In the NBA, four of the six franchises — including the Thunder under Scott Brooks — have improved dramatically under new coaches.

All three NFL teams that switched coaches in mid-2008 improved. All four major league baseball teams that installed new managers during the season got better — some of them remarkably.

"It’s a fresh start,” said the Thunder’s Desmond Mason. "A new change. Different guys getting opportunities. Sometimes you need a little change to fire things up.”

Baseball long has known this. Two World Series title teams in the last 30 years have been won by managers not on the job on Opening Day.

Bob Lemon replaced the volatile Billy Martin 94 games into the 1978 season; the Yankees went 68-20 under Lemon, made up a 14-game deficit and won the Series.

Thirty-eight games into the 2003 season, Jack McKeon replaced Jeff Torborg as skipper of the Marlins dugout and guided Florida to an unlikely Series championship.

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Related Topics: Basketball, Sports, Baseball, Football, College Basketball, College Athletics, College Football, Hockey, College Baseball, NBA Finals, College Hockey, Men's Professional Basketball, Professional Football, Professional Baseball, Professional Hockey



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