The San Diego Chargers have their new head coach and it's the man everyone thought was going to be the head coach in Dallas.
FOXSports.com has learned that the Chargers have tabbed 49ers offensive coordinator Norv Turner as their new head coach. Turner went to San Diego late last night to work out a deal with the team. General Manager A.J. Smith held talks with Turner late last night and ironed out a deal. This morning Turner informed his current boss Mike Nolan that he did in fact have the job and was moving on.
FOXSports.com first reported the Chargers' direction at about midnight Sunday.
Sources also contend that Turner is leaning toward hiring Ted Cottrell, a long-time defensive coach, to run the Chargers defense. Cottrell worked in the league office this past season but is one of the best minds in the league when it comes to running a 3-4 scheme.
Oddly, on Sunday Rex Ryan appeared to be the leading candidate to get the job. What or if anything happened to change that remains to be seen.
Turner was long assumed to be the man Jerry Jones would hire to replace Bill Parcells as head coach but the Cowboys sent Turner back to the Bay without a new job or a new title. That title and job may now come three weeks later in the best city in America to "have to" work in — sunny San Diego.
Turner was the Chargers' offensive coordinator for LaDainian Tomlinson's rookie year and now will be in charge of an offense that needs to find even more ways for Tomlinson to work his magic.
In a bit of circular logic ... Turner was extremely close to getting the Cowboys gig that eventually went to Wade Phillips, the man Cottrell may replace in San Diego now.
FantasyMan13 wrote:Not that big of a suprise if you really think about it. Right move, IMO.
The right move was to hire a coach who has never been a very good head coach? I think they should have went elsewhere with hiring their coach personally....good coordinator, poor coach.
FantasyMan13 wrote:Not that big of a suprise if you really think about it. Right move, IMO.
The right move was to hire a coach who has never been a very good head coach? I think they should have went elsewhere with hiring their coach personally....good coordinator, poor coach.
Unless they brought in Bill Cowher or Tony Dungy, they were going to downgrade their head coaching position anyway. When you fire a coach that delivers a 14-2 season, you really dont stand a good chance at doing anything right in terms of hiring a new head coach.
The Chargers are really in a win now mentality. They figure its easier to stick in Turner and keep the offense going strong than it is to hire a more conservative defensive minded coach. They're familiar with Turner and I can understand why they AJ Smith wants to bring him back.
You're right in that hes never been a great coach but he had some decent seasons with the Redskins (9-7, 8-7-1, 10-6, 8-8 in 7 years) and I think the Charger's team is so good they're hoping they can coast to a playoff bearth and work from there.
FantasyMan13 wrote:Not that big of a suprise if you really think about it. Right move, IMO.
The right move was to hire a coach who has never been a very good head coach? I think they should have went elsewhere with hiring their coach personally....good coordinator, poor coach.
Unless they brought in Bill Cowher or Tony Dungy, they were going to downgrade their head coaching position anyway. When you fire a coach that delivers a 14-2 season, you really dont stand a good chance at doing anything right in terms of hiring a new head coach.
But at least give a guy a chance who has NOT proven to be a losing head coach in the NFL....he has consistently had teams that were disappointments and if the best seasons you can point at in all those years of coaching are 10-6, 9-7, and 8-7-1, that's saying a lot.
It will be the ultimate failure if he's unable to keep this team at the top of the league....absoultely no reason they shouldn't be.
FantasyMan13 wrote:Not that big of a suprise if you really think about it. Right move, IMO.
The right move was to hire a coach who has never been a very good head coach? I think they should have went elsewhere with hiring their coach personally....good coordinator, poor coach.
I agree, Turner seems like a retread to me. He is a perfect fit for a coordinator and out of place as a head coach. I would have looked elsewhere, but I guess it would be hard to have a poor season as taking over a talent-laden team like the Chargers.
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by jake_twothousandfive » Mon Feb 19, 2007 12:25 pm 
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