The Scorecard: College Football bids farewell to Nick Saban. Pete Carroll, Bill Belichick fired.
Hello and welcome to The Scorecard: Your National Sports Newsletter. This is where you can read some of the biggest stories, headlines and features in sports. From the NFL to the NBA and Major League Baseball, this is your weekly update to stay in-the-know.
Nick Saban calls it a career
And what a career it has been. The 72-year-old head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide is reportedly retiring from what is undoubtedly a legendary career.
Saban’s list of accomplishments is far too long for this newsletter, but here’s a quick overview:
292 career wins (5 more were vacated by the NCAA from the 2007 season)
123 NFL draft picks from Alabama since 2009
49 First-round NFL draft picks, 44 from Alabama
11 SEC titles, 9 as Alabama’s head coach
7 national championships
2 undefeated seasons (2009, 2020)
Nick Saban will go down as one of the best college football coaches ever, if not the best ever. This will be the one and only time I ever say this…but, ROLL TIDE!
Now, we wait for the coaching carousel to spin and find out who lands at the helm of the Crimson Tide.
Speaking of coaching carousels, “Black Monday” hits NFL hard
Black Monday is the term for the day after the regular season concludes in the NFL, when teams typically fire pieces of their coaching staff. Somehow this year just seems to be worse than others, and Black Monday has turned into a Black Week.
Probably most shocking, it was announced on Wednesday that Seattle Seahawks’ head coach Pete Carroll was removed from his role after 14 years.
Less shocking, but equally monumental, the New England Patriots announced early this morning that the organization is parting ways with longtime head coach Bill Belichick.
But Seattle and New England are not even close to alone in the candidate search. The Tennessee Titans fired Mike Vrabel, while the Atlanta Falcons fired Arthur Smith, and the Washington Commanders fired Ron Rivera. The Carolina Panthers also fired general manager Scott Fitterer, while the Jacksonville Jaguars fired defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell and running backs coach Bernie Parmalee.
Now, doesn’t the CFP National Championship feel like it was a lifetime ago?
It was three days ago. In short, Michigan won, beating the Washington Huskies. And Jim Harbaugh made a great joke about joining the “big person’s table” in his family of championship and Super Bowl-winning coaches.
Don’t worry, there’s plenty of playoff football to go around.
The NFL’s regular season has concluded, and the playoffs are set. Wildcard weekend kicks off on Saturday, and really, we couldn’t have scripted it better if we wanted to. The Miami Dolphins are traveling to a snowy Arrowhead Stadium to face the Kansas City Chiefs, in what I’m told will be very cold weather.
Will Dolphins’ QB Tua Tagovailoa win this do-or-die game in his first ever playoff game? Or, will the Chiefs and defending Super Bowl champs slow down Tyreek Hill in his return to Arrowhead?
Then, Mike McCarthy and his dominant-at-home Dallas Cowboys will host his former team, the Green Bay Packers. But, McCarthy wants none of the hype and wants to focus on the players.
And in another playoff reunion, Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams will visit the quarterback’s former team, the Detroit Lions. Stafford was traded to the Lions in a blockbuster trade that included Rams’ starter Jared Goff. It’s the first time the two teams will meet since that trade three years ago.
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The Memphis Grizzlies have had their hopes crushed. After a miserable start to the season without their star Ja Morant, the point guard returned from a 25-game suspension with all the hype and highlights to back it up. Unfortunately for Memphis and the team’s fans, Morant has suffered a season-ending shoulder injury.
A blockbuster trade spurred in drama lit up the NHL this week. The Philadelphia Flyers traded Cutter Gauthier, the No. 5 pick in the 2022 draft, to the Anaheim Ducks for Jamie Drysdale and a second-round pick. The reason is key here. Gauthier told the team over the summer that he would not play in Philadelphia and would not sign a contract with the franchise. And then, he ghosted them.
March Madness is around the corner but the madness is already upon us. No. 1 seed Purdue, No. 2 seed Houston, No. 3 seed Kansas were all upset in their respective games. Purdue was toppled by Nebraska, followed by Iowa State toppling the formerly undefeated Houston Cougars, and on Wednesday, UCF upset the Jayhawks leading to a hilariously wild court-storming.
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