Schwartz in, Gruden out

So the Lions got their man:

A New Era
Mayhew Introduces Jim Schwartz as Lions' Head Coach
Schwartz hasn’t had an opportunity to conduct any official business as the team’s head coach, but he did say his first priority would be to hire his coaching support staff and call each and every player on the Lions’ roster. “It’s important for me to make personal contact with every player on the team,” he said.
Schwartz wouldn’t elaborate on who he was interested in regarding assistant coaches, but he will interview the remaining coaches on the Lions’ staff. He also talked about multiple coaches who have reached out to him in recent days to express an interest working with him in Detroit. “Over the past few days it’s been very humbling to get phone calls from people that are interested in joining (my staff), said Schwartz, “people that I – quite honestly – would be honored to join their staffs.”

That reminds me a little bit of Harbaugh building his Ravens staff. Harbaugh never gave a quote like that (that I saw); but he had worked as an asst on Cam Cameron's staff at Indiana 11 yrs before becoming the Ravens HC.

I think Jim Schwartz is a great hire. I guess Lions fans hear that every few years, "What a great young coach!" and are all like yeah yeah whatever. But I think the Lions have some professionalism in the front office, FINALLY, and one of the most intriguing young coaching candidates in the game. Imagine if they add Phil Savage or James Harris in the next week or so. I think Detroit has gotten it right. I think they're on their way up.
(Of course it may take a while to get there.)

I'm eager to hear what Patrick has to say.

This one shocked me. Shouldn't have, but it did:

Gruden, Allen Dismissed
Buccaneers dismissed head coach Jon Gruden and General Manager Bruce Allen.

I guess one reason it surprises me is because it's been a few weeks since the end of the season: I thought the dust had settled. None of the playoff teams seem likely to pull an AJ/Marty, so I thought we had the field set.

The main reason it surprises me is that I thought Gruden was untouchable. I hadn't really followed the Bucs, wasn't on top of how disappointing they'd been. It's sad, I guess. I thought he was on his way to one of the really great careers.

Team             New Coach           Formerly
Seattle          Jim Mora Jr         Seahawks DC; Falcons HC; Niners DC
San Francisco    Mike Singletary     Niners DC; Ravens LB coach
Cleveland        Eric Mangini        Jets HC; Pats DC, DB coach
Denver           Josh McDaniels      Patriots OC, QB coach
Detroit          Jim Schwartz        Titans DC; Ravens asst; Browns scout (Belichick)
St Louis         -                   -
Oakland          -                   -
NY Jets          -                   -
Indianapolis     -                   -
Tampa            -                   -

(Note that I had inexplicably left Seattle off prior versions of this list. Oops!)

Dude. LOOK at that list! One third of all head coaches in the league will be different, next season.

Persistent rumors linking Rex Ryan to the Jets job. I hope the Jets have to wait another couple weeks! ;) Some other names on teams' radars are Leslie Frazie (Vikes DC), Raheem Morris (Bucs DC / DB coach), and Jim Fassel. And of course Shanahan is out there.

Interesting times!