Henning States Case for His System : Chargers: Coach says his way will work, given enough time.

Dan Henning and this team deserved a better fate, but it didn’t work out that way.

--Columnist Jesse Outlar Atlanta Constitution, Dec. 2, 1985

Amen.

Once again what might have been may no longer matter for Dan Henning.

The Chargers have responded to the hierarchy’s mandate of success for Henning’s continued employment with an 0-5 start. There are explanations, as there were in Atlanta, but too much frustration.

The fans grow weary of defeat, and while management has announced it will stand by its man for the remainder of the season, the prevailing opinion appears to be: “Henning Must Go Now.”

Dan Henning, however, disagrees.

“If this situation that we’re dealing with right now is completely my responsibility, then I ought to go,” Henning said. “If that’s the feeling of the people who make the decisions, then I ought to go. But I don’t think it is.”

Hired by Steve Ortmayer, and now working for Bobby Beathard, Henning has compiled a 12-25 record. He said Tuesday if the perception of people is that he has failed to improve the team, “it must have been magnificent when I got here. And I (messed) it up, I guess. But that’s not the case.

“There’s been a great deal of turnover here. There’s been turnover in the front office. There’s been drastic turnover in personnel. There’s no coach in the league for the last three years that’s coached as many active players as I have. Certainly not even close on offense.

“There’s no coach in the league that’s played two of the three years with basically rookie quarterbacks. I’m not using that as an excuse. I’m just doing my job, and I evaluate my job the way I do it, and hope that the people who have the power to make those decisions evaluate it the same way. If they stick to it, I think we’ll be fine.”

The Falcons, like the Chargers, considered releasing Henning after his third season in Atlanta. After compiling an 11-21 mark in his first two seasons with the Falcons, his team finished 4-12 his third season. Henning met with the team’s owners and was given a chance to return.

The Falcons opened the following season 4-0, but starting quarterback David Archer went down with an injury. The losses began to pile up once again, and in Week 14, Ron Meyer earned his first victory as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts at the expense of Henning’s Falcons.

The following week Henning instructed his players to stop talking to the media. “We’ll make our statement on the field,” Henning said, and the Falcons went out and lost to the Saints, 14-9. A season-ending victory against Detroit to finish 7-8-1 for the year wasn’t enough to save his job.

“In Atlanta we went through this for a period of time,” Henning said. “At the end of the third year there we started to win. There came a period of time between the end of the third year and the start of the fourth year where we won seven straight ballgames.

“We thought we had turned the type of corner we’re trying to turn at this point in time. Then we got the quarterback (Archer) hurt. We ended up that year with a 7-8-1 record; we had two unusual losses just before that or we would have finished 4-0 at the end of the season.

“They didn’t stay the course down there. And since that time in no two years put together have they won as many games as we won the last year that I was there. That’s the type of thing that happens in this league. If you are capable of going through hard times without giving into frustration, you have a chance. If you don’t, you repeat the cycle. You become repetitive in perpetuating what has already taken place here over the last number of years.”

Henning’s arguments, while maybe sound, might not be enough to strike a reasonable chord with an impatient Alex Spanos.

“I don’t consider that one minute of my day,” he said. “I have too many things to concern myself with . . . to worry about what’s going to transpire next week, or two weeks from now, or during the bye week or in December or Febuary.

“I know the atmosphere here. It’s out of my control.”

If fate has treated Henning rudely, he’s not complaining. “I’m still here,” he said. “I plan to continue to be here. The expectations at this point in time with what we have done in turning this over . . . if they are a great deal higher than where we are right now, they’re out of whack.”

Spanos and General Manager Bobby Beathard, however, indicated before this season began that Henning’s future rested on the team’s won-loss record.

“I have never had any criteria laid on the table, and that’s not my concern at this point in time. I’m not going to make it my concern. My concern is to make sure the team gets better and I think we’re doing that.”

As players report to San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium each day, they ask if any changes have been made. The radio talk shows are dominated by people who want Henning relocated, and the fans in the stands have taken to holding up signs demanding Henning’s departure.

Indianapolis has fired Ron Meyer, and despite Beathard’s vote of confidence, people continually ask if Henning is next.

“I had a call from my brother John in Boston today and he’s exposed to it (criticism of Henning),” Henning said. “I’m sure my son in college--they know that his dad is coach of the Chargers--gets exposed to it, My daughters live around the country and get exposed to it. But all of those people know I’m a good football coach.”

“No matter what happens, the approach I have taken in the end is the way to go. Whether or not management will maintain that opportunity to continue to do it, is something nobody knows at this time.”

--Dan Henning, Atlanta September 1986