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Jim Fassel Out as Giants Coach
Jim Fassel will not return following this season.
Coach Jim Fassel will be fired by the New York Giants at the end of a disappointing season, two football sources told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Fassel would coach the team's remaining two games. A Super Bowl team three seasons ago and expected to contend again, the Giants (4-10) have lost six straight games to drop to last place in the NFC East.
Fassel's firing was first reported by SportsLine.com, which said its information came from Giants players.
The Giants scheduled a news conference for later Wednesday, but the team wouldn't say why.
General manager Ernie Accorsi did not immediately return a phone message.
In seven seasons as the Giants' coach, Fassel is 60-54-1, including the postseason. He took the team to the playoffs three times, including a loss to the Baltimore Ravens in the 2001 Super Bowl. Last season, the Giants made the playoffs at 10-6, then blew a 24-point third-quarter lead against the San Francisco 49ers and lost their wild-card game 39-38. The game ended on a botched snap and what the league later acknowledged was bad officiating.
In retrospect, that defeat might have caused some indecision at key moments this season for Fassel, who had a year left on his contract at a salary of about $2.5 million.
Before becoming the Giants' head coach, Fassel was the offensive coordinator with the Arizona Cardinals. He has been thought to be a candidate for Arizona's head coaching job if it should become vacant.
He also was head coach at the University of Utah from 1985-89.
This season began with promise for the Giants, who opened with a 23-13 victory over the St. Louis Rams, a team now tied for the best record in the NFC at 11-3.
But New York lost a stunner to Dallas in its second game, kicking what appeared to be a winning field goal with 11 seconds left, only to have the ensuing kickoff go out of bounds. That helped Dallas tie the game, then win in overtime.
The Giants were 2-3 going into their first meeting with Philadelphia. New York dominated but lost on an 84-yard punt return by Brian Westbrook with just over a minute left.
The season went downhill from there, although New York did hand Minnesota its first loss after the Vikings started 6-0.
But the Giants had plenty of injury problems, including to tight end Jeremy Shockey, three starting defensive backs, and three starters on an offensive line that wasn't very good to start with.
The offensive line problems led to problems in the passing game and finally to an injury that knocked out quarterback Kerry Collins, who had started 67 straight games.
The low point came Sunday night with a 45-7 loss inNew Orleans, the Giants' worst regular-season defeat since 1973. They are minus-13 in turnover margin, second-worst in the league, and star running Tiki Barber has lost several fumbles.
Among the possible successors to Fassel are LSU coach Nick Saban, former Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin, and the Patriots' two coordinators: Romeo Crennel and Charlie Weis. Coughlin, Crennel and Weis were Giants assistants under Bill Parcells.
Source: AP
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