Braman Rids Eagles of the Buddy System : Pro football: Ryan fired after benching Cunningham in third playoff loss in a row.

After watching his team lose in the first round of the playoffs the past three years, after sensing his star quarterback was humiliated and after seeing promises go unfulfilled, owner Norman Braman of the Philadelphia Eagles fired Buddy Ryan as the team’s coach Tuesday, as almost everyone expected he would.

Braman then named offensive coordinator Rich Kotite the team’s new coach.

Ryan went out defending himself, his record and his controversial benching of Randall Cunningham in the 20-6 playoff loss to the Washington Redskins Saturday, the game that broke Ryan’s back.

Asked if he was surprised, Ryan said: “I was because I’ve been fired before but usually it’s for losing. I’ve never been fired for winning.”

But Ryan was a loser when it mattered most--in the playoffs, where his teams were 0-3. His Eagles lost to the Chicago Bears in the first round in 1988, at home to the Rams in 1989 and at home to the Redskins last week.

“It is time to stop being a bridesmaid and become a bride,” Braman said.

The most disappointing of the three losses was Saturday’s, in which Ryan suddenly benched Cunningham. Cunningham, one of the most explosive offensive players in the league, said he was insulted to be pulled in favor of Jim McMahon, who had thrown only nine passes all year and hadn’t warmed up before going in. Braman said he thought Ryan embarrassed Cunningham.

“Everybody made a big deal of me putting McMahon in there,” Ryan said. “It’s all bull. I was just trying to win the game. They said it was an emotional decision. That’s bull. I was just trying to win.”

Ryan did a lot of winning in the regular season the last three years. Leaving the Super Bowl-champion Bears, whose 46 defense he designed, Ryan inherited a 7-9 Eagle team that hadn’t made the playoffs since 1981. In his first season in Philadelphia, 1986, Ryan made Cunningham the starter and revamped the defense. The Eagles went on to win the NFC East in 1988. They earned wild-card spots the next two years.

The Eagles won 31 games in Ryan’s last three years and had a 43-35-1 record in his five years.

“Just look at the one we took over,” Ryan said. “When we went to Tampa (for a mini-camp), that was the worst team I ever saw. I think we did a great job turning it around.

“If you know somebody who needs a coach that can win, let me know. I believe that I can take a team to the Super Bowl. I’ve been to three of them (as an assistant) with three different teams.”

Say Braman: “This obviously is not an easy decision to make. Buddy Ryan has done a good job with this football team. I feel, however, that in order for the Philadelphia Eagles to ascend to the next plateau, a change in coaching is necessary.”

Braman said that the hiring of Kotite “should alleviate the concern of the players.”

However, tight end Keith Jackson called the firing stupid and charged that Braman doesn’t understand football. He said he and most of his teammates would prefer going with Ryan to staying with the Eagles.

Defensive tackle Jerome Brown said: “It’s going to be hard. We’re going to have problems. I’m not saying anything against any future head coach, but we’d do things for Buddy that we wouldn’t do for another coach. I’d sell my body for Buddy.”