One and Done NFL Coaches

Author:
SI Staff
Publish date:
Jan 10, 2013

One and Done NFL Coaches

Jim Tomsula

Jim Tomsula¹s first career head coaching gig was littered with unexpected player retirements, free-agent departures and injuries. The 49ers fired him after their last place, 5-11 season. Here's a look at some other one-and-done NFL coaches. Some were fired and some left of their own volition.

Mike Mularkey

After Jacksonville finished 29th in offense and 30th in points scored in 2012, the Jaguars gave Mike Mularkey his walking papers. The team finished 2-14 under his watch.

Hue Jackson

Hue Jackson's first year as a head coach at any level ended with the Raiders missing the playoffs at 8-8 and having mortgaged their future in the process by giving up a king's ransom in a trade for quarterback Carson Palmer.

Jim Mora

Jim Mora's failure to make much progress in turning around a 4-12 Seattle team resulted in his firing on Jan. 8, 2009.

Cam Cameron

If not for an errant 44-yard Baltimore field goal attempt in overtime, Cam Cameron might have gone 0-16 in his first season with Miami. Still, 1-15 was bad enough that the Dolphins added him to the fraternity of NFL head coaches who didn't return for a second season.

Bobby Petrino

With the team's franchise quarterback in prison and the Falcons in a 3-10 freefall, Petrino resigned and took the head coaching job at Arkansas. His tenure was the shortest for a non-interim NFL coach since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger.

Art Shell

The Raiders canned Shell after a 2-14 season that was their worst since 1962.

Marty Schottenheimer

It wasn't that Marty did a horrible job (the Skins went 8-8), but owner Dan Snyder finally persuaded Steve Spurrier to leave the college game and didn't waste any time in letting Schottenheimer go.

Al Groh

The season was preceded by a burned-out Bill Parcells handing the coaching reins to defensive coordinator Bill Belichick, who quit the next day. That left it to Groh, who led the Jets to a 9-7, non-playoff season, before resigning to take the head coaching job at Virginia. Parcells surrendered his director of football operations position 10 days later.

Ray Rhodes

The Packers weren't disciplined and tough enough under Rhodes' watch for the front office, so he was canned after Green Bay went 8-8 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 1992.

Joe Bugel

The Raiders lost three of their first four games by a combined five points (24-21, 28-27 and 23-22), but it was the eight losses in the final nine that ultimately sent Bugel packing.

Pete Carroll

The Jets were 6-5 and leading division-rival Miami 24-6 in the third quarter at the Meadowlands when Dan Marino led a comeback highlighted by his fake spike and touchdown pass to Mark Ingram. New York lost its final five games, and Carroll was history.

Richie Petitbon

He faced a tall task to begin with by trying to follow in the footsteps of Joe Gibbs. It didn't help that Washington went 4-12, finishing with the worst record in the NFC.

Lou Holtz

Months after signing a five-year contract, an unhappy Holtz resigned with three games still to go in the season and took a job at Arkansas. The Jets finished 3-13.