SI:AM | Manchester United Cans Manager Michael Carrick Amid Nightmare Season

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that yesterday was only the third time in MLB history that both Cy Young winners were unanimous choices.

In today’s SI:AM:
👋 Carrick out at Man U
✅ Week 10 NFL picks
🌍 American football in Europe

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EPL icons in hot water

The most iconic brand in English soccer is in crisis.

Manchester United fired manager Michael Carrick today, days after a 4–4 draw against Aston Villa dropped United to 18th in the Premier League.

Carrick, a former United midfielder, took over as interim manager in January after the dismissal of Ruben Amorim. The club was in seventh place when he was appointed, and Carrick guided the team to a 12–3–2 record the rest of the way to finish in third. That performance was good enough to earn Carrick the permanent job.

But this season has been a disaster. United is the only club in the Premier League not to have won more than one game. The lone victory came against newly promoted Ipswich Town on Aug. 30. Since then, the Red Devils have had five draws and three losses in league play. They are only one point above last place in the league.

Seeing United in the relegation zone is jarring, but with the season just over a quarter of the way complete, there’s still plenty of time to turn things around. And fans of the U.S. men’s national team should be paying close attention to who United picks to right the ship.

According to multiple reports, United has zeroed in on USMNT coach Mauricio Pochettino to fill the vacancy. Pochettino recently re-signed to coach the U.S. through the 2030 World Cup, but his contract includes a buyout clause that would allow him to take the United job.

This is as good a time as any for United to make a change. The Premier League is currently paused for an international break, and United won’t play again until Nov. 22. That will give Pochettino some time to settle in before trying to guide the club to safety. The bad news is that the first game after the break is on the road against Liverpool.

I don’t think this is going to work

Philip Rivers in a Colts uniform — Philip Rivers has never coached above the high school level. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Speaking of players returning to coach the team they once played for, North Carolina State is reportedly set to hire Philip Rivers as its next football coach.

The hiring had been rumored for a while now, but it’s finally nearing the finish line. Bruce Feldman of The Athletic reported that Rivers “has formally accepted” the job, while ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and Pete Thamel reported that the school’s board of trustees will meet on Friday to finalize Rivers’s contract.

Rivers, 44, was a four-year starter for the Wolfpack before playing 18 seasons in the NFL. He ended a four-year retirement last season to start three games for the Colts after Indianapolis lost two quarterbacks to injury.

Rivers is the greatest player in NC State history, finishing his career there with 13,484 passing yards and 95 touchdowns. But he has extremely limited coaching experience. He’s currently the head coach at St. Michael Catholic High School in Alabama, where he led the team to state semifinal appearances in 2024 and ’25. But that’s the extent of his coaching career.

The track record of former NFL players getting head coaching jobs with little to no prior high-level coaching experience isn’t great. Deion Sanders used his star power to attract top recruits to Jackson State and had success, but he’s only had one winning season at the FBS level. Trent Dilfer went from high school coach to head coach at UAB and went 9–21 in three seasons. Eddie George parlayed one FCS playoff appearance at Tennessee State into the Bowling Green job, where he’s 7–15.

The NC State job is a tough one. It’s the third-most-prestigious athletic program in its own state and the Wolfpack play in a conference that includes traditional powers like Clemson, Miami and Florida State (even if some of those schools are currently in a lull). Dave Doeren, who was fired seven games into this season, did fairly well in his time there, reaching 10 bowl games in 14 seasons. Can Rivers realistically be expected to do much better than that?

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The top five…

… things I saw last night:
5. A very eventful possession for the Rockets late in their win over the Warriors.
4. Madden Collins’s buzzer-beater for American University against Drexel. (He’s the son of former NBA player Mardy Collins.)
3. Omar Robbana’s goal to send South Carolina to the Sun Belt men’s soccer championship game. (This is how I learned that South Carolina is a member of the Sun Belt for men’s soccer.)
2. Back-to-back long touchdowns by Buffalo to seal a win over Ball State.
1. Nils Höglander’s between-the-legs goal.

📺 What we’re watching today …

NFL

Commanders at Giants, 8:15 p.m. ET, Prime Video
In these teams’ first meeting of the season, New York and Washington tied 27–27 in Week 5 at Northwest Stadium after a chaotic overtime finish.

College football

Memphis at South Florida, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN

NBA

Mavericks at Timberwolves, 8 p.m. ET, NBA TV

Women’s college basketball

No. 4 UConn at No. 17 Ohio State, 6:30 p.m. ET, FS1

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