Jimmy Lake Gets Fired again, This Time in Atlanta

Jimmy Lake, the embattled former University of Washington football coach, is looking for work once more after the Atlanta Falcons on Saturday fired him as their defensive coordinator.

Lake lasted just a season with the NFL franchise in his big rebound job after previously failing to make it through two seasons as the Husky head coach in 2021.

This time the end for him came fairly abruptly after the Falcons finished 8-9 and failed to make the playoffs, losing their last two games in overtime with the postseason on the line.

The #Falcons have fired defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake, sources tell me and @MikeGarafolo. A significant change for Atlanta.

Raheem Morris became more heavily involved in the defense as the season went on, a sign that improvement was needed. They'll have a new DC in 2025. pic.twitter.com/hOvynTcqXF
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 11, 2025

While Atlanta turned the offense over to former Husky quarterback Michael Penix Jr. with positive results, Lake's defense simply didn't get the job done.

Lake came to the Falcons with coach Raheem Morris, hand-picked to be the man's defensive leader after they worked together with the Los Angeles Rams in 2023.

With the Huskies, he was fired at midseason in 2021 by the UW after angrily shoving linebacker Ruperake Fuvai on the sideline during the Oregon game and getting caught doing it by TV cameras.

Lake became the Husky football coach after Chris Petersen retired at the end of the 2019 season, getting promoted from defensive coordinator. He coached the UW through the four games of the COVID-shortened season that followed before getting suspended and then terminated during the 2021 season.

A once promising coaching candidate, Lake has seen his career bottom out twice now, with there no telling if he can survive all of these personal setbacks.

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