Bowlen, Shanahan bid tearful farewell
January 1
Denver Post
"In successive "he said/he said" news conferences at Dove Valley, Broncos owner Pat Bowlen and his newly fired head coach of 14 years, Mike Shanahan, were on the same page. Breaking up is hard to do. Both men visibly choked up when discussing the relationship with the other. "It was tougher on him than it was for me," said Shanahan. "We'll always be best friends. I appreciate people making tough decisions." The decision to terminate Shanahan was described by the club owner as "tough as it gets." While Bowlen never clearly spelled out the "why" for his decision, Shanahan placed the cause on his own shoulders. "I didn't get it done," said the former coach. Bowlen was less direct. "We obviously didn't have a good season,
but this is not because of one loss or one season but because I think it was time to make a change." he said, "I decided to make this change for a number of reasons. I think it was time for the organization to move on and for Mike to move on." He paraphrased that answer several times, emphasizing he will give Shanahan the highest recommendation to a prospective employer. "I'll be happy for him as long as he's not beating us. "I'm sure he'll end up in another organization and be as great for that organization as he's been for this organization," Bowlen said. "Obviously he has Hall of Fame credentials." The search for Shanahan's replacement began today. Bowlen wouldn't disclose a timetable for naming a new coach, only "as soon as I can." He wouldn't narrow the target pool to the current NFL ranks. "We're going to try to get a great coach to come in here. This job in Denver is a very attractive one." Maybe the only difference in the news conferences came when Bowlen said he had been thinking about making the change for a while. "Obviously this season didn't go as well as we had hoped." Shanahan joked that when Bowlen called him in for a meeting, he was thinking they'd have lunch."
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