Stop the ride, NFL coaches want off

The coaching carousel continues in Oakland.

ESPN is reporting that first-year head coach Hue Jackson was fired after the Raiders struggled down the stretch to an 8-8 finish, losing four of their last five, including a final week home loss that cost the silver and black a division title.

What that stumbling finish doesn't tell you is that, after a 7-4 start, Jackson's team began struggling because it was without star players Jason Campbell, Darren McFadden and Jacoby Ford.

It's a continuing trend that GMs are failing to show any patience with first- and second-year coaches that are still putting together the pieces that fit their system's goals. Oakland will now look to hire their seventh coach in the past 10 seasons. The next coach will follow in the line of Bill Callahan, Norv Turner, Art Shell, Lane Kiffin, Tom Cable and Jackson. 

Since owner Al Davis' death, Jackson took over the team management duties, acquiring Carson Palmer in a trade to salvage a season that began slipping away following the loss of Jason Campbell at quarterback.

The Raiders hired their first GM in team history Tuesday when they brought in Reggie McKenzie to take over the duties formerly handled by Davis. McKenzie was brought in from Green Bay, where he was considered largely responsible for building last year's Super Bowl champions.

It's not that McKenzie is wrong for wanting to build a franchise of his own, as he will likely look to the Packers staff to fill the newly opened position, but it is wrong that NFL coaches aren't given a chance to settle in before the string is cut.

A first-year head coach, going 8-8, one win from the playoffs, and he loses his job? That's nearly unheard of, and outside of the NFL, would not likely happen. 

It's important to demand excellence, but the coaches must be able to, in return, demand patience.

As Adam Shefter pointed out last Friday in his column on ESPN.com, 11 men were hired in 2009 to replace a slew of fired coaches. Today, three of those remain, and the Colts' Jim Caldwell's return next year reportedly is no certainty.

Cable was one of those 2009 hires. He was replaced by Jackson after two seasons, and Jackson will now be replaced by another. 

The coaching carousel is not a fun ride, and constant change in systems is a prime reason why a quarterback like the 49ers' Alex Smith never had the chance to develop. Smith's offensive coordinator bonanza from 2005-11 is such a joke there is a Sporcle.com game devoted to guessing the names of his coordinators in that span. Only 16.3 percent of competitors get all seven correct.

The reality is that success takes time. Pittsburgh fans can acknowledge that Chuck Noll didn't make the playoffs until his fourth season, following a 12-30 record in his first three seasons. Tom Landry, the great Dallas Cowboys coach, took seven seasons to make the playoffs and finally won a playoff game in his eighth. He led teams to five Super Bowls and won two of them, and sits in third on the all-time win list. The winningest coach of all time, Don Shula, didn't win a playoff game until his sixth season.

A current coach who was given a longer leash and has rewarded his team greatly is Bill Belichick. Belichick floundered during his time with the Browns from 1991-95, compiling a 36-44 record, and went 5-11 in his first season with the New England Patriots.

What did he do the following year? Won the Super Bowl with a sixth-round draft pick at the helm, a fellow named Tom Brady.

The point is, being patient can pay off in a big, big way, and you don't need a No. 1 overall draft pick to do so. 

Jackson won't get a second season with the Raiders to attempt what Belichick did, but maybe Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, who wants to hire a "young Don Shula," will see something special in Jackson that McKenzie unfortunately did not.