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Detroit Lions Owner and Chairman William Clay Ford announced today:

• The promotion of Tom Lewand to Team President
• The promotion of Martin Mayhew to General Manager
• Rod Marinelli has been relieved of his duties as Head Coach

The following assistant coaches will not be retained: Joe Barry (Defensive Coordinator), Mike Barry (Assistant Offensive Line) and Jimmy Lake (Secondary). The contract of Joe Cullen (Defensive Line) will not be renewed. The team also announced that Jim Colletto has been re-assigned to offensive line coach. Additionally, Dave Boller (Assistant Director of Pro Personnel) will not be retained.

Unlike most farewell firing pressers, coach Marinelli actually attended his and answered questions from the media. I think that’s a classy thing to do. I’m not saying those departing coaches who don’t do something similar are classless, but it was just a top-notch way to handle a difficult situation. And I would expect nothing less from coach Marinelli because he has remained very strong amidst the trying times that left him with a 10-38 record during three seasons in Detroit:

“There’s a lot of great coaches out here that have turned programs around – (no) doubt about that. All I can tell you is I did my very best. I loved every second of it and I gave it 1000-percent of my energy – but it was energy I freely gave and freely loved.”

I think coach Marinelli is a good man and a good teacher of the game, but when you go 0-16 in the National Football League, it’s pretty hard to stay employed. I think coach Marinelli will move on and have a role as an assistant coach somewhere next season. And that team will be fortunate and better to have him as part of their staff. As far as the Lions are concerned, there is still reason for pessimism. As expected, the team promoted (instead of fired) two gentlemen — the aforementioned Tom Lewand and Martin Mayhew — who have been very much a part of the team’s miserable past. So much for a much-needed total housecleaning in Detroit.

Sources: DetroitLions.com, DetroitLions.com, Photo: Newscom

Post from: Every Morning Quarterback

Lions Fire Head Coach Rod Marinelli

The Detroit Lions fired offensive coordinator Mike Martz on Wednesday. Today, I get a press release from the Lions saying O-line coach Jim Colletto had been promoted to the OC position replacing Coach Martz who “will not be returning to the team.” That’s a nice way of announcing someone was fired.

Coach Martz was supposed to bring his offensive genius to Detroit, the same one that pioneered the St. Louis Rams’ “Greatest Show on Turf” teams. And with all-world rookie receiver Calvin Johnson being added as the final piece of the puzzle, the Lions’ offense was supposed to run like a well-oiled machine.

And it pretty much did through the first half of the 2007 season in compiling a 6-2 record. But things fell apart during the playoff push and Detroit lost seven of their final eight games to finish a miserable 7-9. Someone is to blame and whether it’s fair or not, that someone was Coach Martz.

Apparently it’s going to take two minds to replace him, however. While Coach Colletto will be the offensive coordinator, receivers coach Kippy Brown will take on a role known as assistant head coach/passing game coordinator (additionally, Shawn Jefferson was promoted to wide receivers coach). Too many cooks in the kitchen? We’ll see, but one thing’s for sure. Detroit’s going to need to lose their negative identity. Will a new OC and passing game coordinator make that happen? Only if they can change the attitude of some of the players on the team. The Lions are still loaded with offensive talent. They just need someone to convince them they are the “new Detroit Lions.” It looks like the Cleveland Browns have managed just such an identity overhaul. The Detroit Lions need to follow suit.

Post from: Every Morning Quarterback

Detroit Lions Fire Mike Martz, Jim Colletto Takes Over as Offensive Coordinator