As I looked at the Pistons sitting at 2 games below .500, I started longing for the days of Flip Saunders.  Yep, Flip.  All he did was win over 50 games each season while coaching the Pistons, including a franchise record 64 wins in the 2005-2006 season.  All he did was take them to 3 straight Eastern Conference Finals. This was following a very good career as a head coach with the Minnesota Timberwolves, who he once took to the Western Conference Finals.  Yeah, I know he couldn’t get out of the first round for several  years, but the guy is not Don Chaney.

This got me thinking, what other coaches are being shut out of having another shot at coaching a team?  Let’s take a look.

MLB

Art Howe – 1129 wins, 1137 losses, .498 Winning Pct.  2 Division Titles,  2 100-win seasons.  The New York Mets killed Art Howe.  Don’t blame Howe for the pathetic play of the Mets in the 2003 and 2004 seasons.  You can blame Steve Phillips for a lot of that.   Remember when Kazuo Matsui was supposed to be the next Ichiro?  When he was supposed to supplant Jeter has the best shortstop in NY?  He was terrible.  Oh, and real smart holding on to Mike Piazza two years too long; he worked out great at 1b.

When Howe took the job in New York, he was a hot commodity. He helped lead the frugal, money ball Oakland A’s to 2 division titles and back-to-back 100-win seasons with a low budget.  It was thought that he could do much better with an organization that was more liberal with their spending.   Too bad the Mets have always spent their money poorly.  It has been 5 years since the Mets fired Howe.

NFL

Jim Fassel – 58 wins, 53 losses, 1 tie. 2 NFC East titles, 3 playoff appearances,  1 Super Bowl appearance.   I admit it, I had enough of Fassel in his last season with the Giants. His time was done in the Meadowlands.  The Giants first had one of the worst meltdowns in NFL history in the 2002 playoffs, and then completely fell apart the following season, even though many believed they would be a huge threat in the NFC.  He had been the man in charge of one of the more difficult jobs in the league for 7 years.  He ran his course with the Giants.

Fassel wasn’t a bad coach with the Giants, they needed a new voice.  Something had to change, and Mara knew it.  But with the success that he had, how is it that nobody has hired him again for a head coaching gig?  Come on!  He won a division title with Danny Kanell!  He led the Giants to the first undefeated divisional record ever for the NFC East.  Players rallied behind him when he said that the team would go to the playoffs.  He coached one of the biggest blowouts in NFC Championship game history.  Forget what happened in his short stint as Ravens offensive coordinator in 2007.  Even the offensive genius Brian Billick couldn’t get that team to move the ball and score points during his entire decade as their coach.  Even Rich Kotite and Bruce Coslett got more than one gig in the NFL.

NBA

Tim Floyd – Just kidding.  We already covered Flip Saunders.  But, Floyd’s last season wasn’t that bad.

NHL

Jacques Demers- 409 Wins, 468 Losses, 130 Ties. 55-43 playoff record, 1 Stanley Cup Championship (record includes WHA).  Remember the Dead Wings?  The old guys here do. The Wings were terrible.  Demers sat behind the bench and helped groom Steve Yzerman into the player he became.  He oversaw the re-birth of the one of the proudest franchises ever.  He helped to build Hockeytown.  Then, what did he do after he was fired from the Wings?  Simply win the Stanley Cup with the Canadiens…the last Stanley Cup that the Canadiens won. After being let go by the Habs, he tried to lead the Lightning out of the doldrums.  He failed.  But, a ton of coaches failed at that.  They were horrendous in the 90s.

Demers has been out of the NHL since 1999.  A story came out a couple years ago that he was successful in his coaching career, even though he couldn’t read. Not exactly sure if that has caused teams to look in a different direction, because of trust issues.  However, the NHL changes coaches more frequently than any other sport. This is the only sport that fires coaches on playoff teams 2 weeks before the playoffs begin.  Somebody give the guy a call.

These were a few that we could think of off the top of our head. Maybe there is somebody on your mind that you think deserves another shot at leading a team. Let’s hear it.

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