Chargers will `cast wide net' in search for new coach, GM

John Spanos, the Chargers’ president of football operations and the son of team owner Dean Spanos, promised Monday the team would “cast a wide net” in search of a new coach and general manager after Brandon Staley and Tom Telesco were fired Friday.

“We want to make sure we don’t limit ourselves,” Spanos said during a rare on-the-record session with Chargers beat reporters.

It could mean the Chargers end their streak of hiring firstyear NFL coaches at three in a row. It could mean they hire from within the organization to fill both positions. It could mean they hire from outside the organization to fill each position. Money should not be considered a roadblock for either job.

However, Spanos also said the Chargers are not in a hurry to fill either position and they might hire a coach before filling the general manager’s job, a process that might seem counterintuitive. Now is the moment to take a step back and do some significant re-evaluation of the hierarchy.

The Chargers could have waited to begin that process until season’s end, but

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Spanos said it “was in the best interest of the team” to move on from Staley and Telesco in the wake of a humiliating 63-21 loss Thursday night to the Raiders, and with a national TV audience bearing witness.

“We felt we needed to go in another direction,” Spanos said of making the moves during the season. “It was everything — observing and evaluating where we were for the whole season. It wasn’t just one game (losing to the Raiders by such a wide margin and with such a listless performance by some players).”

Spanos declined to provide specifics about what went wrong under Staley, who was 24-25 during his two-plus seasons as the Chargers’ coach, which included a 0-1 record in the playoffs. Telesco, who served as GM for nearly 11 full seasons, had only two playoff wins in three appearances.

“I don’t want to kick someone when they’re down,” Spanos said.

Expectations simply weren’t met over the past two seasons, with the Chargers going 10-7 during the 2022 season but losing their AFC wildcard playoff games to the Jacksonville Jaguars after building a 27-0 lead by the second quarter and then slumping to a 5-9 record going into the final three games this season.

Spanos simply would not criticize Staley, the third consecutive first-year coach the Chargers’ hired after Anthony Lynn (33-31 from 2017 to ’20) and Mike Mccoy (2737 from 2013 to ’16). Staley was in high demand after one season as the Rams’ defensive coordinator for the 2020 season.

“(But) we weren’t where we needed to be,” Spanos said.

Spanos did not absolve himself or his father for the Chargers’ failures, though.

“Everything starts with ownership,” he said.

Asked specifically about firing Telesco after such a lengthy tenure, Spanos again declined to delve into specifics. But he did say, “We felt a new direction was best.” Spanos declined to secondguess ownership’s decision to keep Staley and Telesco on the job after last January’s debacle in Jacksonville.

“Hindsight is always 2020,” he said.

Giff Smith, the Chargers’ outside linebackers coach, will replace Staley and director of player personnel Jojo Wooden will replace Telesco on an interim basis.