Bad Day for Coaches: Mora and Shula Out

Jim Mora, with the longest coaching tenure in the NFL, and Dave Shula, son of the winningest coach in league history, are unemployed.

Mora, the only coach to lead the New Orleans Saints to a winning record, a division crown and playoff berths, resigned Monday, hours after Shula was fired by the Cincinnati Bengals.

For Mora, the end came one day after a profanity-laced tirade following the Saints’ 19-7 loss at Carolina dropped them to 2-6. No replacement has been named. The team has a bye this week.

“I would encourage everyone to continue to support this team and this organization,” Mora, his eyes red and his hands shaking, said at a news conference in New Orleans. “They work very hard and this team is very, very close to being a very, very good football team.”

Perhaps. But he certainly didn’t feel that way on Sunday. The final loss apparently was more than Mora could take, as he criticized every facet of the Saints, from coaching to offensive units, defensive squads and special teams.

Mora was 93-78 for New Orleans, which never had a winning record from 1967 until Mora took over in 1986.

By 1987, they were 11-3 and then went 10-6, 9-7, 8-8, 11-5 and 12-4 before sinking back to 8-8. They were 7-9 the last two seasons before floundering through the first half of this season.

In the last two years, the Saints started 0-5.

“I hope everyone will remember that this team never had a winning season until he became our coach,” Saint owner Tom Benson said.

Shula’s status became shakiest last week, when team owner Mike Brown said he was going to re-evaluate the coaching after steadfastly backing Shula. At 37 the youngest coach in the NFL, he also was one of the least successful: He was 19-52 in four-plus seasons and lost 50 games faster than any coach in league history.

When the Bengals blew a 21-0 lead at San Francisco on Sunday, Brown made his decision to replace Shula with Bruce Coslet, who coached the New York Jets for four seasons before returning to Cincinnati as offensive coordinator in 1994.

Shula’s father, Don, holds the NFL coaching mark for victories with 347.

Now, Mike Shula, the offensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is the last member of the family still coaching in the NFL.

“I wish Bruce Coslet and the Bengals all the luck in the world,” said Shula. “I thank Mike for the patience he’s shown through the years as we’ve struggled to put a winner on the field.

“The record is what I’m judged by. That obviously was not adequate.”

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They’re Out

The career NFL coaching records of Jim Mora, who resigned Monday as the coach of the New Orleans Saints, and David Shula, who was fired as coach of the Cincinnati Bengals:

JIM MORA

Regular Season

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Year Team W L T Pct. 1986 New Orleans 7 9 0 .438 1987 New Orleans 12 3 0 .800 1988 New Orleans 10 6 0 .625 1989 New Orleans 9 7 0 .563 1990 New Orleans 8 8 0 .500 1991 New Orleans 11 5 0 .688 1992 New Orleans 12 4 0 .750 1993 New Orleans 8 8 0 .500 1994 New Orleans 7 9 0 .438 1995 New Orleans 7 9 0 .438 1996 New Orleans 2 6 0 .250 Totals 11 Years 93 74 0 .557

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Playoffs

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Year Team W L T Pct. 1987 New Orleans 0 1 0 .000 1990 New Orleans 0 1 0 .000 1991 New Orleans 0 1 0 .000 1992 New Orleans 0 1 0 .000 Totals 0 4 0 .000

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DAVID SHULA

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Year Team W L T Pct. 1992 Cincinnati 5 11 0 .313 1993 Cincinnati 3 13 0 .188 1994 Cincinnati 3 13 0 .188 1995 Cincinnati 7 9 0 .438 1996 Cincinnati 1 6 0 .143 Totals 19 52 0 .268

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