Chargers Owner Dean Spanos Won't Fire Coach Norv Turner, GM A.J. Smith

What Dean Spanos can do that many of his football team’s fans can’t do, is remember. It doesn’t take much for the Chargers president to recall the not-so-long-ago, when he was boss of the worst team in the NFL, when even he admits his organization lacked organization. So, when Spanos, who has been in charge of the franchise since father Alex handed him the wheel in 1994, says head coach Norv Turner and General Manager A.J. Smith will return in 2011, he almost seems incredulous, amazed that he has to be asked. "I’ve learned the hard way,†Spanos said. “Your GM and coach have to be two individuals who work together. It’s very difficult for some teams; I’ve been through it. I like the working relationship at this level. "We’re as disappointed as anyone. But I look to 1996 to 2003, when we couldn’t even get (beyond) 8-8. We’ve turned it around, to where we’re a good team and a good organization. There’s a lot of continuity, but we’re still short. "The easiest thing in the world is to start over. Who the hell do I go hire? Blow the whole thing up? We’re a pretty good team but we have to make the right moves. We’ve fallen. It could have been our draft picks or our free-agent moves. But we have a good core, and I don’t care what anybody says. I’m not afraid to make changes. If I thought it was warranted, I would do it. We have a good foundation here." If the Chargers get off to another bad start in 2011 — or whenever the next season begins — that it isn’t going to get fixed under Norv, enough will be enough. It’s asking too much to continually rise from the dead and this year, for many reasons, it didn’t happen, but the early season bungling has to stop. "I like A.J., even though he’s a bit goofy," Spanos says. "I trust him. He’ll tell you he’s made mistakes. Who hasn’t? But he takes chances. Sometimes you lose the bet, but if you’re going to win a world championship, you’ve got to take chances. I learned that from my father in our business. A.J.’s committed 100 percent to this organization. "Norv took over a good team and I think he’s done a good job under some trying circumstances. I hate to make excuses, but I don’t (care). It’s hard to win without players. Last year we lost six players in our opener at Oakland and Norv won 13 games. This year, I’ve never seen anything like it. I know injuries are a (bleep) excuse, but we started 2-5 and could have caved and we didn’t. "These players respect Norv Turner. I think they have great admiration for him. If the players don’t have confidence in their coach, you’re not going to be successful."

Source: San Diego Union-Tribune

 

And Josh McDaniels is still coaching the Broncos.

 

Dean please pass what your smoking. Owners need to realize Turners a nice guy and a great Offensive coordinator. But he seems to destroy any team he is head coach of. Oh and Dean remember some guy named Marty? Maybe you fired the wrong person.

 

Excuse me Mr. Spanos....you are simply nuts. Sucks for all Chargers fans that you are in charge.

 

I think when all is said and done the Chargers will want some sort of order to survive and I see A.J. Smith clawing out in that battle. That's if it goes down. Mr. Out Of Touch Dean is over there is sniffing the freaking flowers.

 

Oh yeah no doubt.....but A.J. also was there to draft Vincent Jackson and bring in all of the talent that got Mr. Spanos four straight playoff appearances. He will sell his ability to find the diamonds in the rough again to make the Chargers a contender again. He'll sell that as the system that brings success. Not the coach.

 

Yep, A.J. Smith wants his sheep. But he also wants him so when it's time for a sacrifice he will then have a carcass to throw into the flame. Norv Turner is sunbathing with this right now:

 

How much time does Spanos have on this earth? I think Spanos is sold in with Smith. Smith tackles his fancy which is his fat pockets. He makes him competitive and it doesn't cost him much yet. Get someone complaining? We'll replace him in the draft. That's Smith's take.

 

Norv has to go, it was a joke when he was hired and stil is today.. get over the money dean, time to pay up and kick this chump to the curb, i have never seen so many mental mistakes in a season, its the easy going coachs fault, try that crap with bill cower..

 

The reality is the Chargers got beat at their own game. While they were squabbling with "stars" over making a stand the Chiefs had a dream draft that aided in getting them from a pretender to a contender. That's Scott Pioli vs A.J. Smith there.

 

Dean likes AJ Smith, because AJ does his dirty work and has no problem doing it.

But lets not kid ourselves the reason the Chargers are any good is because of the players AJ brought in. Yes there were contract disputes but that's not AJ's fault it was Dean who didn't want to give extensions out because of the potential lockout, plus you add Jackson's off field troubles to go along with his demand and that's too much risk to take on a guy. McNeil has a spinal issue but they were able to work a deal around that.

The only time Dean went over AJ is when it came to LT.

I'm not sure how to feel about Norv, I love what he's done with the offense and he's done a good job of putting a staff together (Charlie Joiner has been huge for our WR improvement, and Ron Rivera has been a great DC), but his teams have started poorly every season.

This year was more of a purging of the egos and problem players more than anything, LT, Cromartie, Merriman etc.

 

The teams under Marty had plenty of mistakes as well. The problem this year is we had so many new/young players getting plugged in so that resulted in dumb mistakes (Goodman).

Norv is safe with AJ because Norv knows his role. Marty like a lot of big time coaches end up getting an ego and think they know what players to pick (Parcells, Belichick, Shanahan, Holmgren etc).

Although if Norv has another poor start he could end up being on the hotseat.

 

Yes except they won the SB before they had full power, none of them have won a SB while having full control.

Belichick came close but that team wasn't solely put together by him, Shanahan's teams were awful, Holmgren came close as well but it took him a while, Parcells has been better as solely GM instead of handling both.

It's just too much work for most guys (McDaniels).

 

i love that the volts had all those problems lol i got sick of seeing them fall on there face in the post season...the 1 team they can beat is the Colts and had a primetime 2 go 2 the SB last year but the Jets stop them in their tracks. Norv has never had this team firing on all pistons all year long...with how much talent has been thru this team the past 6-8 year...they should have a couple SB's...now there window is shuting with Scott Pioli getting his hand in the mix.

 

QUEEFFS SUCK, they wont make it past the 1st round... lol