T*W*I*S: Coaches are Fired for Winning?

It’s time for that time-honored  ritual.  You know which one I’m talking about, right?  It’s the one which  immediately follows a sport’s season when coaches get canned for not producing enough W’s.  Happens all the time.  We’re used to it.  We’re even numb to it.  The coaching carousel turns round and round and we’re just along for the ride.  But wait, we have a new twist to the trend.  Now athletic directors and professional team owners are firing coaches who do produce W’s.  Hmmm.  That’s a new one.  In December, the University of Maryland unceremoniously discarded Ralph Fridgen, their 10-year coach and UM alum.  You might remember Ralph.  A week prior to being handed the funky-flag pink slip, he was named ACC Football Coach of the Year.  His 2010 Terp team went 9-4, finished second in the Atlantic Division, and won the Military Bowl against East Carolina.  Up the turnpike a piece, although he produced a 7-6 team in 2010 and the team was invited to a bowl, Dave Wannstedt is out at Pitt.  His teams went 42-31 in six seasons.  Oh, and he’s a Pitt alum, too.  At his going-out speech, Coach Dave said this:  “I am a Pitt guy. I’m a Pittsburgh guy. I always have been and always will be.  There have been a lot of coaches before me and there will be a lot after me, but I can assure you of one thing — none of them has loved or will love this university more than Dave Wannstedt.”  On the professional side, Oakland Raider head coach Tom Cable will not be returning even though he led the Black and Silver to an 8-8 resurgent record after nearly a decade of futility for the Raiders in the Bay Area.  In fact, Cable led the team to its first non-losing record since 2002.  There will be more head-scratching moves to come, I suspect, but one has to wonder why loyalty and winning aren’t enough?