Lou Staying For 2021

[CJD]

I think keeping Zac meant we were keeping both coordinators. The fact is, you aren't going to get a good coordinator to sign on with a head coach who is very likely coaching his final year on the team before being fired. Then, in 2022, when we bring on a new head coach, he'll want his own DC and OC. So the new DC we hired will be fired after one season.

No coach worth a damn would put themselves in that position so, if we fired Lou, we probably would have replaced him with someone just as bad, if not worse (if that's possible).

There are three scenarios that I think are likely for the 2022 off season:

1. ZT fails again. We fire the entire coaching staff, get a brand new head coach who then brings in his own staff.

2. We do well and make the playoffs. We decide to keep the entire staff, signing them to extensions even.

3. We do okay, maybe even make the playoffs (with Joe, it's definitely possible) but the defense was still bad. We sign ZT to an extension as we are now confident we can win with him, but fire Lou and search for a new DC. This would be different from this current offseason, because ZT will theoretically be off the hot seat and have a future in Cincinnati beyond one season, meaning the new DC won't have to worry about being fired after one season and therefore we're more likely to get a good DC to replace Lou.


Obviously, I'm hoping for option 2, as we all want the team to succeed. But option 3 is probably the most realistic scenario. Option 1 would be an abject disaster because it just means we completely wasted a year and should have made the change right now rather than in 2022.