Flores Isn’t Waiting to Jump in for Saunders
Al Saunders doesn’t sound like a man who expects to lose his job any time soon. Tom Flores doesn’t sound like a man who expects to replace Saunders any time soon.
To be sure, the fallout from Thursday’s report that Saunders will be relieved of his duties following Sunday’s season finale against the Kansas City Chiefs was relatively light Friday.
At his weekly stadium appearance in front of the Charger Backers, a group of season ticket holders, Saunders told of a conversation he had at breakfast with his 7-year-old daughter, Korrin.
Saunders said he was hoping to brief his children on what they might expect at school now that the Charger front office is no longer denying its intention to fire him after the season.
According to Saunders, his daughter asked him: “Is it true you’re an icky coach?”
Meanwhile, Flores, contacted by phone in the Bay Area, said he was “uncomfortable responding to the conjecture” about who Saunders’ replacement might be.
“I have had no contact with the Chargers,” said Flores, the former Raider coach. “And I’m not actively pursuing a head coaching job in the NFL. I retired because I was tired. Not because I was burned out. But because I was tired.”
Flores, 51, left the Raiders last January after 9 seasons as their coach. During that time, the Raiders made the playoffs five times and won two Super Bowls. Flores is known to be close with Steve Ortmayer, the Chargers’ director of football operations. Ortmayer was an assistant under Flores before he accepted his current position with the Chargers.
This fall, Flores worked as a commentator on cable television broadcasts of Pac-10 football. He has also been attending to business interests, doing speaking engagements and playing a lot of golf.
“I’ve been smelling the roses,” he said. “I haven’t done it for 28 years, and I’m enjoying it.”
Asked if he would consider returning to coaching, Flores said: “I’m not so foolish that I would close the door to the possibility of the right opportunity coming along.”
On Saunders’ behalf, the Charger Backers circulated a petition calling for the team to retain him as its coach.
“We the undersigned,” read the petition, “wish to convey our allegiance/support to Al Saunders as head coach of the San Diego Chargers football team. It is our belief that COACH AL SAUNDERS has done very well considering past setbacks (i.e. taking over the latter part of the 1986 season, for the 1987 ‘strike’ season, and then, in 1988, the overall problems of having to start from the beginning with many new personnel, especially some ‘key’ positions on the offense). As season ticket holders, we wish to express our confidence in Al Saunders as head coach of the San Diego Chargers.”
There were 80 signatures on the petition before Saunders finished addressing the group, which had greeted his entrance with a standing ovation.
The closest Saunders came to acknowledging that his departure was imminent came when he told the group: “I know this organization is on the right track. And in the future, just hang with them.”