Just one day after the Detroit Lions went down in NFL history as the first in NFL history to finish with an 0-16 record, the team fired coach Rod Marinelli today (Mon. Dec. 29).
The Lions issued a news release announcing the firing, with team owner William Clay Ford promoting Tom Lewand to team president and Martin Mayhew to general manager.
The Lions completed their winless season with a loss to Green Bay on Sunday, pushing aside Tampa Bay’s 1976 season of 0-14 as the league’s worst.
Ford also did not retain defensive coordinator Joe Barry, who is Marinelli’s son-in-law, assistant offensive line coach Mike Barry, his son-in-law’s dad, and secondary coach Jimmy Lake.
Defensive line coach Joe Cullen’s contract was not renewed and offensive coordinator Jim Colletto was demoted to offensive line coach.
Marinelli won only one of his last 24 games and was 10-38 in three years after former team president Matt Millen gave the former Buccaneers assistant his first head-coaching job.
Millen was fired as team president three months ago.
Information from the Associated Press contributed to this report.