Getty ImagesThe Chargers have their new home in Los Angeles, and now they are closing in on their new coach.
Anthony Lynn has been identified as the team’s choice and is now working on a contract, according to multiple reports.
Lynn spent the last two seasons as a running backs coach and offensive coordinator in Buffalo, and he ended last season as the interim head coach after Rex Ryan was fired. He has previously served on the staff of the Jets, Browns, Cowboys, Jaguars and Broncos, and he played running back for the Broncos and 49ers in the 1990s.
In Los Angeles, Lynn takes over a team in transition, both in the sense that the franchise is relocating, and in the sense that the Chargers are coming off three straight seasons out of the playoffs, and the firing of coach Mike McCoy.
Assuming the Lynn deal gets done, there will be only one head-coaching vacancy in the NFL, with the 49ers job still open.
this is the rooney rule going to the next level! Patricia is a much better candidate – so lets hire the guy from buffalo that sucks!
Great job spanos!
Good luck to A Lynn. He’s going to need all of it.
What a joke. Shouldn’t expect anything else.
good tickets still available to ALL game . come see your favorite team play the chargers.
Will they introduce him with a LA Dodger cap at his press conference? lol
I’ve been begging for a defensive-minded coach forever now. Man, this team is consistent on the disappointment.
I’m not even a Chargers fan and I dislike Spanos EXTREMELY. Wasted Philip Rivers career, the hiring of AJ smith, the Marty firing, and moved the team away from a loyal fan base.
I know how it feels to have a bad owner Bolts fans, I deal with Woody Johnson, there should be qualifications to buying an NFL team.
You move to a city that doesn’t want you and immediately hire a coach not in demand?
That is so Chargers. So cheap.
Just sell the team. 30 years have proven you’re not good at this.
Glad to know Chargers are still cheap even in LA
I was on board with Buffalo going the direction of a Jim Johnson disciple since that form of defense gave Brady problems in his first Super Bowl loss. Then, the reports emerged of McDermott bringing Leslie Frazier with him, and now Lynn and Gus Bradley, who is supposedly his DC choice, look a whole lot more appealing.
Gotta hand it to Lynn..RB coach to offense coordinator to full fledged head coach. Thats a pretty sweet rise to the top.
Good for him! He was one of the few bright spots on the Bills coaching staff last year. Happy to see him getting a shot at HC. Good luck!
So bittersweet. This the exact type of coach I was hoping the Chargers would hire, a no nonsense guy that wants to pound the ball on offense. But now that the team is moving to LA, what does it matter? If they win non of the mojo or happiness will be directed back down south. It will be like the SAN Diego Chargers never existed. Look at the Oilers, before Houston got a new team no one gave two bits that the Titans use to be the Houston Oilers. Unfortunately for SD the NFL isn’t expanding any time soon with over half the teams in the league playing losing football. Pretty much every other team has their new or renovated stadium so no ones going to move here either. San Diego and St. Louis…it’s over.
Yikes! Just when you thought a bad day couldn’t get any worse. I wouldn’t blame a single Charger fan for leaving this earth.
What is it about Lyn or the Bills that screamed “I got to get me some of that.”
May be a good move for Lynn, like a “starter spouse”, similar to what Belichick and Carroll had. Perhaps it makes sense on his career track to take this on. SF wasn’t going to hire him, so his other options were lateral, including staying in Buffalo, which goodness, no.
I am pleasantly surprised that Lynn did get hired. After the Bills picking McDermott despite having an early lead, there was rumblings that something went wrong with Lynn at the last moment. I also thought they’d wait for Kyle or Matt to lose before hiring one of them.
So if I can cool the Woody criticism at this time because he hired Bowles, Spanos should get that same level of owner rope from me.
Good news for Melvin Gordon!
Good luck filling that 30,000 seat stadium. Lol.
Boy, The Jaguars all of a sudden look like a model franchise. Seriously.
This reeks of, “..he’s the only guy that will take the job.” I’d also bet he’s only keeping the seat warm for whatever big name they pursue to coach the team in 2019, when they open the new stadium. Thoroughly unimpressed, but that’s what I’ve come to expect.
Welcome to L.A. Now go home.
Let’s be honest. Taub and Patricia were still in the running. Does anyone think that current employees of the Hunt or Kraft families would come work for the Spanos s#!tshow?
Since the Chargers still have DC Pagano and OC Whisenhunt still under contract, those guys are stuck with the move to LA. Cleaning house and “going big” would require lots of cash. Hiring a new staff of even low budget names would require much less. Hiring only a head coach with very little coordinator experience? Pennies.
Spanos is that guy who will invest all his millions in order to make more millions, while still clipping coupons when grocery shopping.
Spanos’ being the Spanos’, status quo, hire the the guy that will work for minimum wage for coaches. He will get fired in 3 years like all the rest of the Charger coaches. LAME!
Hired the only candidate that was willing to keep most of the assistants. Spanos continues to be a cheap loser, even in LA.
The man has almost as much experience as an NFL coach, 17, as the Rams’ new coach has in life, 30. Just because you hadn’t heard of him, doesn’t mean he can’t coach. Ask the players who played for him, not a bunch of guessers sitting behind a keyboard who’ve never coached the game.
If Jeff Fisher can be an NFL coach for 22 years, with only 6 winning seasons, anybody can do it! Talk about a tire fire on the 405!
I’m giving the man a chance. Perhaps his discipline will be the key.
Chargers looking for that #1 draftpick in the 2018 draft.
Congrats to Stacey Bell. No more east coast winters.
Super Bowl!!
Memo to the file. The minute the Broncos hired their new HC, all the others quickly followed. Midnight was approaching and the prettiest girl was gone.
Umm….Wow! He MAY turn out to be great, but it seems like a long shot. It makes me wonder if it was a matter of being cost-effective. He will enjoy not having a QB controversy – at least for a few years!
The Chargers are getting a long time Rex Ryan disciple who was recommended to be the Bills interim coach by Ryan himself. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.
The Bills players were vocal in making it clear they wanted Lynn to remain as coach. They were such a dedicated and supportive group that when given the opportunity to beat the Jets and show ownership Lynn was the right guy for the job, they proceeded to lose 30-10 and played their worst game of the year.
Yeah…I’ll take Sean McDermott instead.
To those without a functioning brain who have no understanding of the Rooney Rule. All the Rooney Rule says is include a minority candidate in the pool of candidates to be interviewed. That’s it. It does not require anyone to hire any minority. Got it?
Its always surprising that owners get so trigger happy they hire coordinators from sub-par teams.
Have any of the coordinators that are in the final eight and actually helped their team to the playoffs been hired?
SouthStander says:
Jan 12, 2017 8:57 PM
Good luck filling that 30,000 seat stadium. Lol.
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Excuse me, sir, you mean 27,000? Let’s not make it tougher than it already is to sell the stadium out for a game.
yourunclerico said:”
this is the rooney rule going to the next level! Patricia is a much better candidate – so lets hire the guy from buffalo that sucks!
Great job spanos!”
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Yeah, because all of the members of Belichick’s coaching staff that have moved on in the past, have moved on to successful NFL head coaching careers.
NOT.
Belichick’s coaching tree is a joke.
maxkingpin said:”
Chargers looking for that #1 draftpick in the 2018 draft.”
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They would still find a way to screw up the pick.
I expect the Chargers in LA to be an epic fail with no fan base. I do have to wonder why there of all places are they moving.
Is the team too poor to build their own stadium or move to another state? I think the relocation fee is paid over many years. If it had to be paid in one lump sum, I wonder if the team would still be in San Diego? My gut feeling is no, the would still be in San Diego.
nic3roc0123 said:”
I’m not even a Chargers fan and I dislike Spanos EXTREMELY. Wasted Philip Rivers career, the hiring of AJ smith, the Marty firing, and moved the team away from a loyal fan base.
I know how it feels to have a bad owner Bolts fans, I deal with Woody Johnson, there should be qualifications to buying an NFL team.”
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If you saw that Charger/Patriot playoff game in 2006/2007 season. You would know exactly why Marty was fired. The team choked. Marty’s team’s over the years in the playoffs seemed to choke, no matter what team he coached.
I was a Charger fan until they announced the move. I have been watching the team for a very long time. I knew the Chargers were going to choke that game away to the Patriots. That was the Chargers best chance to win the SB.
Greenberg of Mike and Mike keeps bringing up the firing of Marty subject as if it was some sort of horrible move by the Chargers, as if Marty had some great playoff record. His playoff record was garbage. As a side note, I can’t wait until I have the ability to dump ESPN from my cable system. Greenberg is one of the many reasons why.
Back on topic, the problem is that the Chargers chose the wrong coach to replace Schottenheimer.
The Chargers didn’t waste Rivers’ career. Rivers has done a good job of choking games away too. I think the reason he gets a pass, no pun intended, is because he is a far better QB than Ryan Leaf was.
skinnylegspeytonmanning says:
Jan 12, 2017 11:04 PM
Memo to the file. The minute the Broncos hired their new HC, all the others quickly followed. Midnight was approaching and the prettiest girl was gone.
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no, elway just got drunk early and took the fat ugly one that the good looking ones were hiding behind. Hee Haw!