Tthe biggest league-related questions arising from the termination of Jeff Fisher as head coach of the Titans arises from his status as co-chair of the Competition Committee, the body that proposes possibly rule changes to ownership.
Fisher can’t remain on the committee if he’s not employed by an NFL team. But the committee can retain him as a consultant, apparently.
“I wanted to have an opportunity to stay involved,’’ Fisher tells Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean. “I am very close with all the members on the committee and the support staff. You can imagine the time we’ve spent together over the years, it’s almost been like a second job. To be able to continue to participate, it is exciting to me.’’
He’ll serve as a non-voting member of the committee, an assignment that NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said that Fisher possibly will retain “for some time.”
With no timetable identified for replacing Fisher, there’s a chance that the league will decide not to replace him under the assumption that someone will hire him to be a head coach again in 2012. The possibility that hiring Fisher to be head coach will include buying a seat on the committee helps ensure that, indeed, Fisher will be coaching again in 2012.
It’s not the first time the league has massaged the rules when it comes to the Competition Committee. A belief remains in some league circles that Falcons president Rich McKay should not have retained his spot on the committee once he moved from the football operation to the business side.