Paul Kuharsky:
So Mike Munchak’s choice boiled down to this: lose his job as head coach of the Tennessee Titans or fire a large contingent of assistant coaches in exchange for an extension and raise.
He chose Option A, and it’s understandable.
Indeed it is. Read on.
The biggest thing is, if president and CEO Tommy Smith and Webster were telling Munchak which coaches he had to fire, they would have certainly expected to approve those he went on to hire.
That would have effectively neutered Munchak going forward no matter his salary or length of his deal.
As Bill Parcells once aptly said, “They want you to cook the dinner; at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries, ok?”
There was no decision. Munchak had to decline.
Don’t get me wrong — I’m not saying that keeping Munchak would have been best for the Titans. But I am saying that the organization really gave him no choice — they only gave him the appearance of a choice.