There have been many instances where head coaches and managers of sports teams have been fired before their season has ended. This past NFL season we saw Josh McDaniels, head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, get fired 13 weeks into the season. More recently, Adrian Griffin, who was the former head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, got fired 43 games into the NBA season. 

This leads fans to question if these coaches should be let go before the seasons end. If the head coach or manager of a team leads their team to a winning record, they should not be fired just because the general manager of a team believes that there is a better coach or manager available. This is exactly what happened to Griffin. The first-time head coach had a rough start to the season with the Bucks but was able to get to a record of 30-13 before getting released by the front office. This was not the smartest move by the Bucks’ front office, mainly because the team was trending upwards and Griffin was still learning how to be a head coach.

There are cases where teams have certain expectations and they do not reach those expectations midway through the season and the first thing fans say is “fire the head coach,” or “fire the manager.” If front offices do not adhere to those demands they are automatically put in the hot seat. In these situations they end up firing head coaches or managers prematurely due to outside pressure.

Coaches and managers should be held accountable if their team is bad and they are not doing a good job of setting the players up for success. However, if a coach or manager is doing everything they can to get the best out of their players and the team is not seeing success, they should not be fired and scapegoated for circumstances they cannot control before a season has ended.