Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 5, 1994 TAG: 9401050117
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ATLANTA LENGTH: Medium
Glanville, who always wears black, races cars on the NASCAR Grand National circuit and loves to say he "lives on the edge," was fired Tuesday as coach of the Atlanta Falcons.
The end came two days after the NFL team completed its second consecutive 6-10 season. His fate was sealed when the Falcons lost their final three games.
Glanville, 52, had one year remaining on a five-year contract. He was 28-38 with the Falcons, making the playoffs in his second season, 1991.
The usually talkative coach was not immediately available for comment. After Sunday's 27-10 loss to Phoenix, however, Glanville was blunt about the season.
"I think you judge yourself by whether you're in the playoffs or not," he said. "If you're not in the playoffs, you've had a bad year."
The Falcons' hierarchy apparently agreed.
"We felt it necessary to make this change now so we can start early in making the right decisions for '94," said Taylor Smith, the team's president.
Smith, who made the announcement after meeting with his father and team owner, Rankin Smith, and Glanville at the club's practice facility in Suwanee, said the search for a new coach would begin immediately. June Jones, the assistant head coach for offense who was hired by Glanville in 1991, is considered the leading candidate if Atlanta stays within the organization.
"Many of the reasons we did not make the playoffs this season are not the fault of Jerry Glanville, but the head coach is ultimately judged on the won-lost record of the team," Taylor Smith said.
Keywords:
FOOTBALL
by CNB