PRO FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : One Year of Carroll Is Enough for Jets, Who Switch to Kotite

It turns out that owner Leon Hess was just as disgusted with the New York Jets as the rest of their fans. The only difference was he had the clout to do something about it.

On Thursday, Hess fired Coach Pete Carroll after one year and hired deposed Philadelphia Eagle Coach Rich Kotite to replace him.

The owner, in a rare appearance at Jet camp, made it clear this was his move from the start.

“I’m one of the fans, disappointed just like the rest of them,” he said. “I just felt I owed it to the fans, to the Jets and to myself to do something. I decided to change the coach.”

Carroll was fired two days shy of a year after he was hired to replace Bruce Coslet. That change, last Jan. 7, was made by General Manager Dick Steinberg. This one was not.

“I don’t think hiring Carroll was a mistake,” Hess said. “Management decided it needed a change. I supported it. This time, I took it upon myself. This is my decision. The buck stops with me. I’m one of the fans who has been disappointed for 25 years. Let’s make a change. If it’s wrong, it’s my fault.”

Carroll said he was surprised by the move. In a conference call, he said, “We had adversity and we needed time to decipher who was worth keeping. We were making those decisions.”

Hess said he thought the team should have done better last season and he was not interested in any long-range reconstruction.

“I’m 80 years old,” he said. “I want results now, not five years from now.”

Hess said he had decided to change coaches during December, when the Jets were in the midst of a five-game losing streak that left them 6-10.

Like Carroll, Kotite’s team ended its season on a long losing streak. Philadelphia dropped its last seven games to finish at 7-9. There was speculation, especially after the sale of the team to Jeff Lurie, that Kotite would be out at season’s end.

“That started in the spring and kept building,” Kotite said. “I should have overcome it and so should the team.” He was fired the day after the regular season ended.

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The Houston Oilers will be keeping Coach Jeff Fisher, even though he went 1-5 after he replaced Jack Pardee midway through the season.

The Oilers, who finished with a league-worst 2-14 record, liked what they saw in Fisher and signed him for the next three years.

“Jeff showed us a lot of talent,” Oiler owner Bud Adams said at a news conference.

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Sam Wyche will return as coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next season if the club continues to operate under current ownership, the team said.

Wyche--16-32 in three seasons with the Buccaneers--has two years remaining on his contract, but his job remains in jeopardy because of the impending sale of the franchise.

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Detroit Lion Coach Wayne Fontes, who had one year remaining on his contract, has been given a two-year extension by club owner William Clay Ford. That will bind Fontes to the Lions through the 1997 season. Fontes has compiled a 52-53 record, including playoffs.

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Denver Bronco owner Pat Bowlen will fly to San Francisco next week to interview University of Miami Coach Dennis Erickson, according to a published report. The Rocky Mountain News said Bowlen plans to interview Erickson, who will be in San Francisco today to prepare for the East-West Shrine Game in Palo Alto on Jan. 14.

Erickson, who has filed a suit against Miami to have the school pay his legal fees in a case brought against the university by a former player, also is a top candidate to replace former Seattle Seahawk coach Tom Flores. The fees stem from a $10-million lawsuit against the university, alleging the school reneged on an oral contract that Brian Fortay would be the starting quarterback.

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Buffalo Bill quarterback Jim Kelly will undergo surgery on his injured knee after all. Kelly will have arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Wednesday to repair his lateral collateral ligament injured in a game against Minnesota last month, Coach Marv Levy said.