Broncos fire Fangio after three losing seasons
DENVER » The Denver Broncos are looking for a new head coach to lead them out of a six-year playoff drought and a half decade of losing seasons that marks the most protracted plunge by a Super Bowl champion in NFL history.
The Broncos fired Vic Fangio after he went 19-30 over three years, including 7-10 this season despite having one of the easiest schedules and the highest-paid defense in the league.
Had Fangio’s dogged determination, unpretentious personality and first-rate professionalism led to better results on the field, he wouldn’t have been let go Sunday morning by team president/ceo Joe Ellis and first-year general manager George Paton.
Paton sounded more like a man hiring Fangio than firing him when he declared, “He’s the best coach I’ve ever been around. And I don’t take that lightly. His attention to detail, his toughness, his work ethic and his football mind is unparalleled.”
“He put his heart and soul into this job,” Ellis concurred. “I’ve never seen a coach work harder. At the end of the day, we’re judged on one thing, and that’s winning.”
Fangio .387 winning percentage includes a 6-11 mark at home over the past two seasons, the worst twoyear stretch in Denver since the team went 4-10 in 196768. His teams were just 5-13 against the AFC West.
The Broncos are the first team in league history to follow a Super Bowl championship with six straight non-playoff seasons, half of which came under Fangio’s watch.
Fangio, 63, burnished his reputation as a defensive master during his first head coaching gig in Denver, yet his teams struggled mightily on offense under obdurate coordinator Pat Shurmur and on special teams under Tom Mcmahon.
Fangio isn’t expected to be out of work long. He will be a strong candidate for a defensive coordinator job in the new round of coaching changes this month.
The Broncos’ head coach opening is the third in the NFL.
The Jaguars (Urban Meyer) and Raiders (Jon Gruden) fired their head coaches amid scandal during the season.
Ellis, who will step down later this year, said Paton will have “full authority to select the next head coach.”
Paton said, however, he would consult both Ellis and John Elway, the outgoing president of football operations whose contract expires in 2022.
Paton said he would put out feelers to potential candidates on Monday and that he had no prerequisites regarding offensive or defensive roots or whether they have head coaching experience.
“Obviously, we want the best football coach,” he said. “Not worried about what side of the ball, not worried about a play caller. We want leadership. That’s our No. 1 priority.
“We need someone to take over the whole operation,” Paton said. “We’re not just focused on one side of the ball even though we need to upgrade” an offense that averaged just 19.49 points per game in the six seasons since averaging 30 points a game during the Peyton Manning era.
The new head coach will be the Broncos’ fifth in nine years, something Ellis said pointed to organizational failings rather than any coaching deficiencies.
“A lot of us here are responsible and we share in that accountability over what has happened here over the last several years,” Ellis said.
“It’s not just the coaching. There are a lot of fingerprints on this throughout our entire operation. And they include my fingerprints.”