Norv Turner Not Fired: Chargers Decide To Keep Head Coach, GM A.J. Smith for 2012

SAN DIEGO (AP) — San Diego Chargers President Dean Spanos has decided to keep coach Norv Turner and general manager A.J. Smith despite the team missing the playoffs for the second straight season amid increasing fan discontent.

Spanos made his decision Tuesday, two days after the Chargers finished 8-8 by beating Oakland to keep the Raiders out of the playoffs.

Turner is 49-31 in five years in San Diego but only 3-3 in the playoffs. He is 107-113-1 in three stints as a head coach, including with Washington and Oakland. Both of those teams fired him.

San Diego went 4-1 at the beginning and end of the season but was undone by a six-game losing streak in the middle. One more win would have earned the Chargers the AFC West title.

Smith has come under fire for the erosion of talent from a roster that at one time was considered among the NFL's best.

Comments

[bsmooth512]

02:37 PM on 02/10/2012

Just my thought Just my take Im a hurting charger fan from the 94 super bowl pounding to 2004 when they finished the campaign 1st in their division and made the playoffs for the first time in nine years. In the playoffs they lost in overtime to the New York Jets. At the end of the season Marty Schottenheimer was named NFL Coach of the Year. to 2005 where they finished the campaign 3rd in their division and as a result missed out on the playoffs. Outside linebacker Shawne Merriman was named rookie of the Year at the end of the season. to 2006 as the No. 1 seed in the AFC ending the season at 14–2, best record in the NFL. The team would experience a home field playoff loss for the second time in the past three seasons losing in the final minutes to the New England Patriots 24–21.The 2007 San Diego Chargers season began with the team trying to equal their 2006 regular season success (14–2) and avoid another early departure in the playoffs. After a disappointing start under new head coach Norv Turner (1–3), they finished the regular season strong, with six straight wins, an overall record of 11–5, and the AFC West title. More important, they went further in the playoffs than the previous year, but fell again to the New England Patriots, this time in the AFC Championship game. Can anyone say charlie Brown AGH AGH!!!

[bsmooth512]

02:37 PM on 02/10/2012

I love the chargers Dan Fouts, Chuck Muncie, John Jefferson, Charlie Joiner, Wes Chandler, Kellen Winslow, were the ones who got me interested and started !!! and we still didn’t win a super bowl. then there was Junior Seau, Natrone Means, LaDainian Tomlinson, Antonio Gates, Quentin Jammer,Shawn merriman, Darren Sproles, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, Vincent Jackson, Antonio Cromartie im not even going to name any more 

you kidding me OMG those were the days!! but I have to agree with the Mannings we are a loser franchise but Ill be a charger fan till I die 

[bsmooth512]

02:36 PM on 02/10/2012

What you need to understand was that San Diego was a pretty poor team at the time. They were pretty much the laughing stock of the league, and the draft selections they made in 2001 (LT, Brees etc.) had yet to realise their full potential.

The way the Mannings saw it at the time was that SD were going nowhere, and they didn't want Eli to play for what they considered to be a 'loser' franchise.

[bsmooth512]

02:35 PM on 02/10/2012

Our golfing partner said that Leaf was basically left to figure it out for himself. If that's true, you combine it with the legendary stories about what an immature jerk Leaf is and begin understand why he crashed so quickly. Again, this is coming from a family friend. Who knows what the Chargers did or did not do for their rookie QB, or whether their management team was equipped to deal with such a high-maintenance player. Regardless of who was at fault for the failed Leaf-Chargers marriage, the allegedly shabby treatment of Leaf stuck with the Manning clan. And, our new golf buddy explained, that's why Archie Manning, the patriarch, threw such a fit on draft day when Eli was picked by San Diego.

That combined with the fact that they didn't think that the Chargers was a team that drove to be successful.

[bsmooth512]

02:35 PM on 02/10/2012

I randomly thought about this the other day when watching some preseason football. To this day I'm still not certain why. Perhaps it was explained at some point, but from what I know it's not entirely clear. If anyone has some insight, I'd love to hear it. I did find this on the web though from some poster on Yahoo. Quite interesting:
Quote:
Ryan Leaf and Peyton Manning came out of college together and, as the two hot QB prospects that year, compared notes from time to time about their experiences. After they were drafted, Manning told Leaf about how well the Colts organization treated him. They basically bent over backward to make his transition to the NFL as smooth as possible, taking care of all the non-football stuff so Peyton could concentrate on immersing himself into the Colts offense. Manning was stunned to hear that Leaf's experience was completely different

[bsmooth512]

02:34 PM on 02/10/2012

One only needs to Look at our pathetic results during that time period management and coaching and ownership!!!!!!! Gesh!!! Am I the only one here or did anyone else come to the conclusion Manning made the right move and it paid off for him. Who’s to blame first owner, management, coach and players all in that order? And we still bring them back (GM & Coach) SMH SMH SMH!!!!!

OMG. OMG please prove my feelings wrong spanos please I beg you because something is wrong totally wrong with the charger organization!!!! I found this online don’t know how true it is but it does shed some light as to why manning refused to be a charger.

[bsmooth512]

02:33 PM on 02/10/2012

But now I had to finally understand and respect His stance and decision. The reality hit me, after all it worked out he now has two super bowls and the chargers none.

The fact and the reality is that in 7 years in the league he has 2 super bowls in this same 7 years the chargers supposedly had the best team in football on paper. So what happened??? What did Archie manning know that we didn’t know about the charger organization that made him vehemently take a stance that his son would not play for the chargers!!

[bsmooth512]

02:32 PM on 02/10/2012

Only to watch him win his first super bowl and that pained me  and to think we let go of Drew Brees because of suspected injuries only to see him win one down in NO!!!!! But oh this year’s super bowl sickens me as I realized that the giants won again and again with Eli.

However it was at that moment as much as I despised him and his diss of my chargers it felt like someone shot me I was and I remember the distained feeling I had like I was gonna faint.

[bsmooth512]

02:31 PM on 02/10/2012

OOH My God I see why Eli’s family didn’t want him to come to the chargers! They were so strong about it that they swore to sit him out so we traded him. I hated Eli (well not hate after all I am a Christian but you know what I mean as a sports fan :-)) I dispised him for dissing my team like that.

[cameron d]

05:58 PM on 01/03/2012

The most overrated offensive mind in the history of the NFL. He shouldn't be a head coach anywhere.

[ladyvader]

06:40 PM on 01/03/2012

That can be said about many head coaches in the NFL today. They are good being the coordinator of either side of the ball, but blow as head coach.

Norv is one of those guys and why teams keep hiring him to be head coach is beyond me. I wish the NFL would stop with the retreads.

Example. Jacksonville is looking to interview Falcon's offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey for their head coaching opening. He used to be the Bills head coach with a 14-18 record.

[Brian Zanyor]

04:27 PM on 01/03/2012

...Sorry -- the Cowboys won three titles in four years.

[Brian Zanyor]

04:27 PM on 01/03/2012

Let's see...he gets credit for being some kind of architect of the Cowboys teams that won three straight Super Bowls. I think history has proven it was more Jimmy Johnson's Herschel Walker trade and general drafting acumen that's responsible for much of their success. Norv as a head coach is sub-par. And that's by the exact definition of the term: 106-113 and 4-4 in the playoffs in 14 years.

Three of his four division titles have come in San Diego: One picking up on Schottenheimer's success the year before (although the team went from 14-2 to 11-5), one at 8-8 (eesh...), and one at 13-3. That year, the Bolts lost to a rookie head coach and a rookie QB (and a very bad one, at that), when the Jets beat the Chargers IN SAN DIEGO in the playoffs.

How could a guy with about as much success as former Detroit coach Wayne Fontes -- albeit in almost twice as many seasons -- be the man to lead your team to a championship?