The Detroit Lions have announced that they have fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi after one plus season in Detroit. The club is also firing offensive line coach Jeremiah Washburn and assistant offensive line coach Terry Heffernan.
The Lions are firing offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi and offensive line coaches Jeremiah Washburn and Terry Heffernan.
— Josh Katzenstein (@jkatzenstein) October 26, 2015
Jeremiah Washburn had been with the Detroit Lions since 2009 as the assistant offensive line coach before being promoted to the head role in 2013. Before his time in Detroit, he was a scout for the Baltimore Ravens organization.
Terry Heffernan joined the Detroit Lions in 2013 as the assistant offensive line coach before being re-assigned to offensive quality control for 2014. He was again re-assigned to assistant offensive line coach for this season. Before Heffernan joined the Detroit Lions he was the offensive line coach of Wayne State University in Detroit.
Re-Assignments:
The Detroit Lions have also announced the re-alignment of the coaching staff to fill the roles vacated by Lombardi, Washburn, and Heffernan.
The Lions announce that Jim Bob Cooter will be the new offensive coordinator, replacing Joe Lombardi. Ron Prince will be the OL coach.
— Josh Katzenstein (@jkatzenstein) October 26, 2015
Jim Bob Cooter is only 31-years old and believe it or not will not be the youngest offensive coordinator in the NFL. Washington’s Sean McVay is younger at 29-years old. Cooter was hired away from the Denver Broncos in 2014 to coach the quarterbacks. This will be his first time serving as an offensive coordinator at any level. Ron Prince is actually already the assistant head coach and will be moving from coaching the tight ends over to the offensive line. Prince has spent time as an offensive line coach at the college level for 12 seasons. He also has spent four seasons as a collegiate offensive coordinator and also spent three seasons as the head coach at Kansas State. Prince, 46, has been in the NFL since 2010 as either an assistant offensive line coach or tight ends coach with the Colts and Jaguars.
Reaction:
Jim Caldwell said the firings were his decision “because we were not productive.” #Lions — Josh Katzenstein (@jkatzenstein) October 26, 2015
Well, no shit Sherlock. What took you so long! We as fans/non-mainstream media have been clamoring for this move to be made all season. It was apparent that something wasn’t right and that the offense’s production had gone way down since the Scott Linehan days under Jim Schwartz and that it wasn’t because of a lack of talent, it was because of mismanagement.
Caldwell on why he made the decision today: We don’t have a lot of time. #Lions
— Josh Katzenstein (@jkatzenstein) October 26, 2015
That’s a good message. That means that Coach Caldwell and the whole staff’s seats are getting warm and changes will be made if there isn’t significant improvement made by seasons end.
The Detroit Lions take on the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday Morning in London and will only have two practice days to adapt to the changes from the re-assigned coaches.
