In Dirk Koetter’s remarks regarding the firing of DC Mike Smith, he said it was the “second-most difficult” thing he’s dealt with during his coaching career. The top situation being the death of a player, Paul Reyna, whil he was coaching at Boise State. Nothing can come tougher than a death of one of your players, but the firing of Smith hits close to home for sure.
It is no surprise that Koetter and Smith were good friends. Some even insinuated that Smith still had a job because of his friendship with Koetter. When push came to shove though Koetter was left with no choice. Saying,
“Mike and I worked together in Jacksonville as coordinators and I worked for Mike in Atlanta. So I never did see this day coming, but it’s here so we have to make the best decisions for our football team moving forward. That’s all you can do.” -via Jenna Laine, ESPN
Without a doubt Koetter did not want to have to let Smith go, but having the team succeed is priority #1. He insinuated that he even had the thought of making a change during the bye, but wanted to let injuries heal and see if any adjustments could be made by Mike Smith. Ultimately the answer was no, and barring a complete turn around there was nothing that would of saved Smith’s job in the end. So Koetter used the only card he had and made a change at DC.
Let’s see what happens next.
View the full report HERE.
