Coaching salaries should apply to salary cap

The NFL off-season has arrived for 23 teams (24 if you want to count the Texans) and in typical fashion we start to see the game of musical coaches begin. I like to think there are three classifications of coach firings: A) you have lost control and/or respect of the team and the fans are screaming for your head; B) you have done all you can with the team you have and it is time to see if someone else can do better; and C) just because.

Prime examples of the type "A" situation is Jim Mora in Indianapolis where a public feud had exploded between he and superstar quarterback Peyton Manning. As well there is George Siefert who led the Carolina Panthers to a record 15 consecutive losses in the same season. If either of these coaches were to return to their respective teams, there would be very little they could do to motivate the players and fans would be looking at another long season.

Type "B" firings are more palatable. In these scenarios a team has had some success under the out going coach but, no matter what he has been tried, the Super Bowl ring remained unattainable. Here we are looking at Tony Dungy of Tampa and Dennis Green of Minnesota. Both coaches virtually ensured their respective team would be in the playoffs every year but neither coach could get their respective teams past the NFC championship game and into the Super Bowl. In Dennis Green's case I think the dismissal came one year too late.

The options for Tampa and Minnesota were simple. Let the coach go and bring in a new coach to try to win with the existing talent or keep the coach and start re-building the team. For their successors (Mike Tice in Minnesota and more than likely Bill Parcells in Tampa) they have one shot with the existing team and if that fails, time to start overhauling the players.

Coach firing type "C" is the one that bothers me. It is where an owner who has no NFL experience as a player, coach, or general manager decides that if the coach does not win this year, it is time to bring in a new coach and if he does not win well, let's go get another.

Case in point: The Washington Redskins, where owner Daniel Snyder has brought in Steve Spurrier to be the third coach in as many years. Spurrier will be following Marty Schottenheimer who only held the job for one full season and was under contract for four more.

Before we get into the Schottenheimer affair let us go back to Norv Turner. When Norv Turner was let go he was a type "A" firing. He had spent seven years as Redskins head coach, was 49-59 and only made the playoffs once. There was nothing that was going to save him his job.

So, Snyder goes and gets one of the most respected and sought after coaches in the NFL, namely, Schottenheimer. Snyder lures him out of coaching retirement with a five-year contract that would pay him in the neighborhood of $10 million over its life.

Year one did not start out as Marty, Daniel Snyder or Redskin fans would have wanted. The Skins were 0-5 and looked awful.

The coach did not panic. He made some changes, namely at quarterback where he released Jeff George and gave Tony Banks the job.

The Redskins rallied. In their last 11 games, they were 8-3. They were definitely one of the best teams in the NFL over that stretch. The Redskins became the first team ever to start the season 0-5 and finish .500. It was too-little-too-late to make the playoffs and in Schottenheimer's case too-little-too-late to save his job.

Snyder decided he was going to buy Schottenheimer out to the tune of $7.5 million. Then he awarded a $5 million per year contract to a coach who has never coached an NFL game in his life: Steve Spurrier.

First I would like to make myself clear. I do believe Spurrier was an excellent college football coach and he did an excellent job at the University of Florida. However, how that can translate into being the highest paid coach in the history of the NFL to "see if my offense will work at the next level" is beyond me.

In 1966, Spurrier won a Heisman Trophy as a quarterback at the University of Florida. He entered the NFL where he was a total bust. He returned to college football in the coaching ranks where he was very successful at Duke and the University of Florida. He even won a National Championship with the Gators.

To me giving Spurrier this kind of contract at the NFL level is pure stupidity, as was letting go one of the best coaches in the NFL who was under contract for another four years.

In 2002, the Washington Redskins will be paying coaches $12.5 million dollars. With $7.5 million going to one coach to stay away and $5 million to another coach to see if he has any luck.

It is this kind of insanity that leads me to believe that the NFL should apply coaches salaries against the salary cap. There would have to be an adjustment to the cap total to allow for this. Owners would not be able to low-ball coaches by paying them a minimum in order to spend more on players. If a coach felt he was not being looked after properly financially, he would just coach on Saturday's instead of Sunday's. Also as a preventative, it could be built into the cap rules that certain percentage of the salary cap must be paid to coaches on an annual basis.

Under this scenario, coaches would be given a chance to succeed. They would be allowed to try to implement their system and develop the team. It would avoid the "Coach of the Year" scenario that we now have in Washington. It would avoid one team spending $12.5 million a year on head coaches.

With the amount of money Daniel Snyder has invested into coaching, he had better hope Spurrier is a better NFL coach than he was an NFL quarterback.