Factoid
I don't have the time to research it, but I think that the Buccaneers, after firing Jon Gruden, are probably the first team in league history to fire back-to-back coaches with winning records.
Tony Dungy went 9-7 in 2001, losing in the first round of the playoffs, before the Bucs fired him to make room for Gruden.
And the Bucs fired Gruden last week after he went 9-7.
Both Dungy and Gruden also had winning overall records with the Bucs -- 56-46 for Dungy, and 60-57 for Gruden.
Has any other team fired winning coaches back to back? Not that I can think of. Closest I could come up with would be San Francisco, where they fired Steve Mariucci, who a few years earlier had replaced George Seifert. Both Seifert and Mariucci had winning records and closed with winning seasons, but Seifert wasn't fired but resigned -- he walked away when the team wouldn't give him a contract extension.
—Ian Allan
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