thefaniw

After two years of banging my head against a wall, a fellow Saints fan and I have figured out why the Saints fired Randy Mueller.

January 2000: Benson Hires Randy Mueller.

February 2000: Mueller Hires Jim Haslett.

2000: Haslett and Mueller team up to lead the Saints to a 10-6 record and their first playoff victory.

2000: Saints fans are on cloud nine.

2001: Saints get off to a 7 and 5 start, and every thing is gravy.

2001: Saints finish with 4 straight losses to end the season 7 and 9.

2001: Mueller and Haslett only have one year left on their current contacts.

2001: After taking a long look at Haslett’s lack of coaching ability (i.e. onside kick vs. Rams on Monday night after we already had the momentum, not punting on 4th down inside the to play field position football, always selecting to go for it and putting the defense in a horrible position, Refusing to bench rich vs. San Fran after 4 3 fumbles on 12 carries. Letting Darryl Terrell single handedly invite Grant Winstrom to the Pro Bowl after Willie Roafs’ injury) just to name a few.

January 2001: Since Mueller cant make line up decisions, he immediately cuts Terrell since Haslett wouldn’t bench him, and puts Ricky Williams on the trading block since Haslett is content with letting him fumble games away.

Sometime between January and May of 2002: Mueller figuring that Benson has enough since to know that he (Randy) was the mastermind behind the teams success approaches Benson about making a coaching change immediately. Benson flips out because his team was a year removed from a playoff victory and believes that there’s no way that the head coach is responsible (keep in mind that our owner knows nothing about football).

May 9th 2002: Benson feels that Mueller is on a power trip and fires him.
Mueller’s’ recognition of Haslett’s lack of coaching ability (which led to his firing) is published as “a lack of communication� and “differences in management style�.

August 2002: Haslett sends a 4th round pick to the Bengal’s for Curtis Keaton (enough said).

September 2002: Saints give quarterback Aaron Brooks a six year 36 million dollar extension which Mueller wanted him to earn before paying him.

The Saints go on to finish season 9-7 and out of the playoffs. No use in detailing the four game COLLAPSE!!!

March 2003: The world knows that we need a LB. We make no attempt to sign Takeo Spikes (we later sign Derek Rodgers and Orlando Ruff).

April 2003: Haslett puts together the worst draft in Saints History (and there have been many) and also trades for a backup safety (no name required) and then proceeds to pay him 30 million dollars (no need to mention why no name is required).

December 2003: Benson dances after Saints finish season 8-8 (I guess he’s bought into Haslett’s repeated “little things� excuse.

January 2004: Saints fans finally realize what Mueller realized during the 2001 season. Jim Haslett has zero coaching ability.

We also realize that Mueller brought the once hated Jay Bellamy to New Orleans for a reason, but the coach had no idea how to use him

2004 Prediction: Everyone knows that we need a shut down corner: Woodson, Bailey, and McAllister are all free agents. We wont get any of them. Haslett also mentions that we need another DT (but he cut Jackson). How many dollars do you want to bet that he wont talk to Sapp.


Pass it along. The Mueller mystery has finally been solved.