Broncos fire McDaniels; Studesville replaces him

[December 07, 2010]  ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) -- Nine days after having to fire his buddy for videotaping an opponent's practice, Josh McDaniels received his own pink slip.

The Denver Broncos wanted McDaniels to bring the New England Patriots' winning ways with him when they hired Bill Belichick's brash, young disciple 22 months ago. What they got instead was the ash-gray hoodie and their very own videotaping scandal to go with a pile of losses and personnel blunders that tarnished the organization.

McDaniels was summoned to owner Pat Bowlen's office Monday and fired in the midst of the franchise's worst skid in four decades, a slide exacerbated by embarrassing off-the-field troubles.

Running backs coach Eric Studesville will serve as interim coach for the final month. He and chief operating officer Joe Ellis will meet with the media Tuesday.

"I will always be appreciative of his passion, enthusiasm and hard work, and I thank him for his efforts," Bowlen said in a statement after firing McDaniels with two years, four games and more than $7 million left on his contract. "In the end, I was not satisfied with the results and the direction this team was headed."

The rest of his staff, including McDaniels' brother, Ben, who tutors the quarterbacks, will stay on for the final four games.

At his weekly news conference four hours before he was let go, McDaniels reiterated that he wasn't focused on his job being in jeopardy and said he was reticent to turn to raw rookie quarterback Tim Tebow over starter Kyle Orton even though the Broncos, who had thousands of empty seats at their last home game, had been eliminated from contention with a 10-6 loss at Kansas City on Sunday.

McDaniels raised eyebrows on draft night when he traded several picks to grab Tebow with the 25th pick of the first round.

"Thank you for everything you did for me Coach McDaniels, including drafting me into this great organization," Tebow tweeted Monday night. "I wish you nothing but the best."

McDaniels becomes the third coach fired during the season, all in the past month. The Dallas Cowboys fired Wade Phillips on Nov. 8 and promoted Jason Garrett to interim coach, and two weeks later, the Minnesota Vikings fired Brad Childress and promoted Leslie Frazier to replace him.

The two new coaches have a combined 5-1 record since taking over, and the Broncos (3-9) are hoping Studesville can inject some life into the team to close out this lost season.

"I am very appreciative of the trust that Mr. Bowlen and the entire Denver Broncos organization have shown in me," Studesville said in a statement. "Although the circumstances that this opportunity resulted from are unfortunate, I am excited to lead this football team."

The 43-year-old Studesville was in his first season in Denver after coaching the running backs in Buffalo from 2004-09 following a three-year stint (2001-03) in that same capacity with the New York Giants.

The players learned of McDaniels' firing via Twitter, where the Broncos announced it, and text messages.

"It's the NFL. Nothing really surprises you," Orton said. "Everybody's accountable. I'm accountable and everybody in that organization's accountable. ... I'm sure it's going to affect the team. A lot of guys have been brought in by Josh and like playing for him. I like Josh personally. He was my play-caller and head coach. So, I spent a lot of time with him and enjoyed working with him."

Running back Lance Ball tweeted: "this the closest thing to Obama being elected president!!!"

Others were melancholy.

"It's tough. He's not out there playing," wide receiver Eddie Royal said. "The guys in the locker room have got to feel somewhat responsible."

Even though the Broncos are mired in their worst stretch since 1971-72, the timing of McDaniels' firing caught everyone off guard.

"At this point in the season, I did not see it coming," wide receiver Brandon Lloyd said on his weekly radio show on Sports Radio 104.3 The Fan in Denver.

McDaniels traded away much of the offense he inherited from Mike Shanahan last year, including Jay Cutler, Brandon Marshall, Tony Scheffler and Peyton Hillis.

After winning his first six games his rookie season, McDaniels lost 17 of his last 22 with the Broncos in his first NFL head coaching job.

McDaniels made a series of personnel decisions that backfired, notably trading away Hillis, who has become a power running back in Cleveland. He also let go of Casey Wiegmann, who's anchoring the league's top rushing attack in Kansas City and traded a fourth-round pick to the Patriots for tailback Laurence Maroney, who hasn't carried the ball in six weeks.

His biggest blunder might have been the hiring of videographer Steve Scarnecchia, who violated league rules by videotaping a San Francisco 49ers practice in London on Oct. 30. McDaniels was fined $50,000 by the NFL for failing to report the transgression.

Scarnecchia was fired Nov. 27.

Although the league's investigation determined that McDaniels wasn't aware of the video violation before it was brought to him, he was fined for not saying anything about it.

Scarnecchia's ties to the Patriots, who were fined a combined $750,000 and forfeited a first-round draft pick for the original Spygate scandal, along with McDaniels' failure to report the violation led to widespread accusations across the league that the Broncos were cheaters.

McDaniels left the Broncos facilities just before 8 p.m., about five hours after his firing. He didn't stop his silver Range Rover that was packed with boxes to talk to reporters but smiled and honked his horn several times as he drove away into the cold night with snowflakes starting to flutter.

He later released a statement through the team thanking Bowlen "for giving me the opportunity to be the head coach of such a proud franchise."

[Associated Press; By ARNIE STAPLETON]

AP Sports Writer Pat Graham contributed to this report.

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