NFL Coaches in Danger of Termination as End of Regular Season Comes Near

By Kinnon Rockness

It’s that time of year again. As NFL teams reach the end of the regular season during December and January, a wave of coaches with unfulfilled expectations are released from their positions. This term has been nicknamed “Black Monday” by the NFL community and comes with great anticipation.

To start off the trend, the Carolina Panthers fired their head coach, Ron Rivera, on Dec. 3. Owner David Tepper released Rivera of his duties after a 12-16 record over the past two seasons. Following the firing of Rivera, Tepper stated, “We are committed to building and maintaining a championship culture for our team and our fans.”

This leaves NFL fans with one question: Who will be next? It is quite evident which teams are struggling, but making changes in the coaching staff is not always the anecdote. At this point, predictions are being made about the fate of certain coaches. Here are some coaches that are walking the tightrope:

Doug Marrone

Marrone has led the Jacksonville Jaguars to a record of 4-8 so far in the 2018-2019 season. During his first year with Jacksonville in 2017, the Jaguars went 10-6 and made it to the AFC Championship game. Since then, they have gone 9-19 with a considerably talented amount of players on their roster. NFL Network reporter Mike Garafolo states, “I think everyone is looking at this situation saying it’s a likely coaching change in Jacksonville.”

Dan Quinn

Quinn brought the Atlanta Falcons to Super Bowl LI in 2017, a historical game in which the Falcons blew a 28-3 lead in the third quarter and went home empty-handed. Following this, the Falcons have not had a winning season and are currently 3-9. Falcons owner Arthur Blank met with the media and said, “I’m extraordinarily disappointed in the season… So, we’ll continue to look at everything we can and make the right decisions that we’re going to have to make. I’m not bashful about making those decisions.”

Pat Shurmur

The New York Giants head coach has a career record of 7-21 and is currently 2-10 in the 2019-2020 season. The Giants’ future seemed bright heading into this season, as rookie quarterback Daniel Jones showed promising signs. Instead, Jones now has 11 interceptions and 15 fumbles over his past 11 games. Shurmur is now one game away from tying the franchise record for longest losing streak.

At this point, only the team managers are aware of what the future holds for these coaches, along with several others from different teams. Some may decide to hold off until the end of the season, while others will decide to put an end to their struggles right away. So for now, NFL fans should just sit back and enjoy the show that is to come.

Homeschooler in the Real World

Emma Folts, a sophomore at Wheaton College, shares her experience about her transition into college and how homeschool has both helped and hindered her.
How has your homeschool experience benefitted you, especially in your transition into college?
I think the one thing that homeschooling did that was really helpful as I entered college was that it taught me time management. As a homeschooler I had the same freedom as a college student has to put things off during the day and go see a friend instead. Since I had that experience, I knew the cost of that.
Also, personal responsibility and accountability with assignments. I feel like a lot of the other students had more expectations for gentler grading and that the professor would give them retakes or extensions, but that wasn’t something that ever happened to me in school. That learning curve wasn’t added because I never had it the other way. I think another thing was that because I was homeschooled, I was familiar with the format of teaching and then studying on my own.
Did you see any issues with your transition socially?
I think that homeschooling had two ramifications for me socially. One was helpful, one was hurtful.
It was really helpful because as a homeschooler, I had spent a lot of time realizing and developing who I was as a person and learning to recognize people who were being themselves, and those were the people I sought out as friends. Friendship as a homeschooler takes a lot more investment. I knew I was choosier with my friends which made me a lot less anxious and a lot more content.
The only real negative impact of the social bit was that I was really used to getting to choose the time I got to spend with people. As a homeschooler I spent a lot of time with people, but that time was controlled by me. As a college student, I found that you can’t really control the time you spend with people and alone time is not really available. Learning to deal with that was a lot harder than anticipated.
Any last comments on homeschool and how it has affected your college experience?
I think homeschooling is really helpful, however it does take a slightly increased amount of advocacy with your peers when you’re entering into college. I think a lot of people come in with certain assumptions about homeschool, especially students. You’re going to get a lot of, ‘oh my gosh, you don’t seem like a homeschooled person!’ [You can’t] take that too personally and explain your experience so that friends can understand it’s an important piece of you, though it might not look like the homeschooling that they’ve seen.
My encouragement to anyone who is a homeschooler transitioning into college is to realize the benefit that you have having been homeschooled, and to realize that the bit of advocacy and explaining that you need to do with your peers is totally normal and that it’s not a big deal. Once they understand your experience, it’s not something I’ve experienced being looked down on for.