NFL teams rarely fire first-year head coaches during their initial season. Plenty have been fired immediately after their first year, but it’s rare for a coach to be fired before completing his first season on the job.
That’s exactly what happened to former Denver Broncos coach Nathaniel Hackett, who was fired Monday with a 4-11 record and two games remaining this season.
There is a recent example of a coach not finishing his first season: Urban Meyer was fired by the Jacksonville Jaguars just last year, but his offenses included more than just a poor 2-11 record: Meyer was accused of kicking a player during preseason.
Besides Meyer, the only other first-year coaches since 1970 to not finish their first season were Bobby Petrino (2007 in Atlanta), Pete McCulley (1978 in San Francisco) and Lou Holtz (1976 with the New York Jets). Petrino left the Falcons to return to the college ranks, while the other two were fired.
Before joining the Broncos, Hackett served as an offensive coordinator with the Green Bay Packers and Jacksonville Jaguars. Hackett will likely get another opportunity to coach again as an assistant in the NFL, but his short time as a head coach puts him in rare company.
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