Fairbanks was likely the second best coach behind Belichick. His mistake was working for a penny pinching owner. He was treated much more unfairly than Parcells, undercut and unsupported by the owner. You have been a respected poster for a long time on here. I assume you were present when he was coaching. I was in the stands for all of his games. We can disagree but he has my support and appreciation. The Sullivans tried hard but they just never had the capitol and always made things worse.
Definitely the second best.
There are lots of "Goodbye, Chuckie" types who, while enthusiastic in support of the team, do not understand what is going on [
see flying elvis]
Fairbanks is amazing. We were in fact terrible when he arrived, and we had maybe the smallest budget in the league then. That era was vastly different from today, yet he built the best team in the NFL in
three and one half years.
Fairbanks not only made chicken salad out of leftovers, he made it his business to shoot for the top from the very first minute. He was used to winning championships, a tradition in Oklahoma. After winning 47 straight games (still the record), Bud Wilkinson famously said after finally losing one, "I will not be the coach of a losing football team."
From drafting exactly the right and best players, to getting top talent from the CFL, to hiring Ernie Adams right out of college (yup), to creating the 3-4 defense that remains predominantly used to this day, Fairbanks was a genius.
The only criticism I've heard is that he encouraged Plunkett to run, which got Jim killed...but not before we got a king's ransom from the 49ers for him.
The Colorado thing is what coaches do all the time.
Chuck Fairbanks - Wikipedia
Paul Zimmerman,
Sports Illustrated's dean of professional football writers, speculated that the animus surrounding Fairbanks' departure from New England stemmed from the fact that, unlike the late-season departure of
New York Jets coach
Lou Holtz for
Arkansas in
1976, "no one" felt Fairbanks "was a really nice guy."
[8]...sounds vaguely familiar...BB, anyone?
A locker room full of crying Patriots in the visitors' locker room in the Orange Bowl when they were notified of Fairbanks' departure minutes before playing a game would indicate that "no one" does not include his players.