Chargers will fire Norv Turner and A.J. Smith at the end of the season.

[ChiefsandO'sfan]

Pro Football Weekly ‏@ProFootballWkly

Per @UTKevinAcee, the #Chargers will fire Norv Turner and A.J. Smith at the end of the season.



It will be finished.

Not only will head coach Norv Turner be gone at the end of the season, but general manager A.J. Smith will be fired as well, as the Chargers make a monumental break from an era that was arguably the most successful and most disappointing in team history.

Sources said this week that Chargers President Dean Spanos essentially decided at least a month ago that Turner’s time was drawing to a rapid close. Spanos, sources said, has more recently resigned himself to the fact that Smith can’t be kept in the current environment of plummeting performance and fan unrest.

And unlike last year, when Spanos found enough reason for clemency in a strong finish and past accomplishments, those with knowledge of plans that are already in motion said it seems certain there will be no last-minute change of heart this time.

Spanos is waiting until after the season, more because that is his preferred time to make such moves than due to any faith in the Chargers’ microscopic playoff chances.

It is not known who will take over for Turner, but current Director of Player Personnel Jimmy Raye is the apparent replacement for Smith. Raye, who has been with the Chargers for 17 seasons, will ascend to a job much like Smith’s but with his new right-hand man being the owner’s son, John Spanos.

The younger Spanos, currently the team’s Director of College Scouting, has long been in line to take over the Chargers’ football operations, but the plan was for that to not happen until the expiration of Smith’s contract after the 2014 season.

People familiar with the discussions say Raye has occasionally dissented in personnel matters over the years. Perhaps most notably, Raye fought to draft inside linebacker David Harris over Buster Davis in 2007. Davis, drafted 30th by the Chargers, was limited by injury to two starts and is now out of the league. Harris was taken by the New York Jets with the 47th overall selection, and has started 80 games. He was an All-Pro in 2009.

That is merely one instance, but there are myriad examples of Smith’s golden touch in the draft having all but vanished, as his top picks in 2009 and ’10 have been largely disappointing.

The Chargers will owe Smith $4 million for his remaining two years and Turner $3 million for the final year of his contract.

Smith joined the Chargers as Assistant General Manager in 2002, joining longtime friend and mentor John Butler. Spanos tabbed Smith as Butler’s successor following Butler’s death in April 2003.

The Chargers went 4-12 in 2003, but Smith dramatically remade the roster prior to the 2004 season, and the Chargers won the AFC West with a 12-4 record that year.

They would go to the postseason four straight years, from 2006 to 2009, winning 14 games in 2006 and 13 in 2009. Their 67 regular season victories from 2004 to 2009 were fifth-most in the NFL.

However, the Chargers made it to the AFC Championship just once, in 2007, and this will mark the third straight season they have not been to the playoffs.

[Sorter]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindduc...the_almos.html


This is an article about a man who clearly knows offenses are gravitating to the spread and really studied up on it. Again, I think people are wrong if people think he will traditional west coast or that he will run a hurry up wco. He sounds like he is very intrigued by the spread and I'm really intrigued by what kind of offense that will lead to.

GB runs a WCO SPREAD!!!! You can run a spread, WCO. While the WCO has some staples typically in a power run game and a short, horizontal passing philosophy, a WCO is called differentiated primarily now due to the terminology.

[Bob Dole]

Bob Dole got as far as "Jimmy Raye", burst in to a fit of debilitating laughter, then recovered and drank an entire magnum of champagne.

[Sorter]

Here's Holmgren's old PB. You'll notice the extensive use of color designations, an aspect that isn't a part of EP offenses, AirRaid, and Coryell philosophies (pretty sure about Coryell, not too familiar with that terminology). http://www.scribd.com/doc/2945133/19...fense-Holmgren

[Brock]

My guess is he'd implement whatever offense fits the team he's going to coach. I'm sure a lot of coaches would love to run Washington's offense, but that's not going to work with Phillip Rivers or Carson Palmer.

[Guru]

who cares

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Bob Dole

Bob Dole got as far as "Jimmy Raye", burst in to a fit of debilitating laughter, then recovered and drank an entire magnum of champagne.

Ohmigod ohmigod ohmigod. That would be [valley girl accent] AWE-SOME! [/valley girl accent]

Seriously, do owners and execs ever watch the games? Jimmy Raye? Who is sitting in the room discussing replacements and settles on Jimmy Raye? It's staggering that in a billion-dollar business, no one pays any attention to one of the most visible jobs in the whole organization.

[GoChargers]

Uh, guys.... it's Jimmy Raye's kid, and he's going to be the GM, not the coach.

JR3 has a solid track record in the draft. Our drafts started going downhill when AJ started getting cocky and stopped listening to him.

[Buck]

Pretty sure that all these moves are just the Chargers gearing up for a move to the B1G.

It's inevitable.

[Munson]

I was hoping Norv would last another 10 or 20 years in San Diego.

Maybe Oakland will give him a call after he gets canned.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Sorter

GB runs a WCO SPREAD!!!! You can run a spread, WCO. While the WCO has some staples typically in a power run game and a short, horizontal passing philosophy, a WCO is called differentiated primarily now due to the terminology.

Did you read the article? Gruden has been studying high school and college offenses, primarily the Oregon offense which is a spread option. He spent a week with Kelly doing a deep dive on the scheme and almost agreed to even coordinate the Oregon offense, an offense that I can guarantee you would not use Gruden's WCO terminology. He spoke about how the game is changing and seems to understand that this is becoming an increasingly QB driven league.

Unlike a lot of NFL coaches, Gruden had time to study up on a different offensive approach and many speculate that he was really trying to learn a more college-oriented offense in an effort to coach at the NCAA level. Maybe he still plans to.

Again, I don't think anybody can guarantee what offense he's going to run. He sounds very intrigued by a more college style spread option offense and wouldn't be surprised if he borrowed not just lightly but heavily from a college-oriented scheme.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by GoChargers

Uh, guys.... it's Jimmy Raye's kid, and he's going to be the GM, not the coach.

JR3 has a solid track record in the draft. Our drafts started going downhill when AJ started getting cocky and stopped listening to him.

Don't destroy our fun.

Any chance at all that they would hire the incompetent Jimmy Raye as coach? I would think that the kid would have to do it if his dad told him to.

[DenverDanChiefsFan]

Pro Football Weekly ‏@ProFootballWkly
Updated story on report of Norv Turner, A.J. Smith set to be fired, with statement from #Chargers - http://bit.ly/TNhZ7L
Retweeted by SaveOurChiefs
Collapse Reply Retweet Favorite

[Branden Albert's Huge Balls]

We absolutely must replace our dipshits this offseason.

We cannot let the Chargers get the upper hand.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by Reerun_KC

I wish I was a fan of an organization that had balls...

**** its time to grow up Reerun and move on....

Bye. Good luck to the next message board that can handle your menstruating.

[GoChargers]

Originally Posted by Reerun_KC

I wish I was a fan of an organization that had balls...

The Chargers are not one of those organizations.