Dennis Allen Under The Microscope Entering His Third Season As New Orleans Saints Head Coach

Already under fire from fans, history is against Dennis Allen as he enters his third year as Saints coach

New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen / Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports

Dennis Allen is entering his third year as the head coach of the New Orleans Saints. An outstanding defensive coach, Allen is only 16-18 in his two years in charge of New Orleans. In his prior stint as a head coach, Allen had an 8-28 record with the Oakland Raiders from 2012 to 2014. He was fired four games into the 2014 campaign after an 0-4 start with the team.

The Saints have not had a great track record with head coaches in their history. With just nine wins this season, the same total New Orleans achieved in 2023, Allen would actually tie Bum Phillips for fourth place in victories (27) for a New Orleans coach.

For those who wanted Allen fired after last season, that was never likely to happen. Of the 10 hired head coaches that preceded Allen, only Hank Stram was not retained into a third season.

However, it may be noteworthy to point out that John North (1975) and Dick Nolan (1980) were fired during the season into their third year. That was only one of three times in their history (Tom Fears, 1970) that the Saints fired a head coach during the season.

History is also not on Dennis Allen's side. He is one of only four head coaches in team history to have a winning season, joining Jim Mora, Jim Haslett, and Sean Payton. However, each of those coaches took New Orleans to the playoffs in their first or second years with the team.

New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen on the sideline against the Atlanta Falcons / Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Here is how each New Orleans coach fared in their third season with the franchise.

Tom Fears, 1969
• 5-9
J.D. Roberts, 1972
• 2-11-1 (fired at the end of the year)
John North, 1975
• 1-5 (fired)
Dick Nolan, 1980
• 0-12 (fired)
Bum Phillips, 1983
• 8-8
Jim Mora, 1988
• 10-6
Mike Ditka, 1999
• 3-13 (fired at the end of the year)
Jim Haslett, 2002
• 9-7
Sean Payton, 2008
• 8-8

Though obviously anchored down by Fears, Roberts, North, Nolan, and Ditka, New Orleans head coaches are a collective 46-79-1 in their third seasons, a laughable winning percentage of. 369. While Mora and Haslett had winning records and Phillips and Payton were .500, none took the Saints into the postseason in Year 3.

New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen reacts on the sideline against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium. / Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports

Allen will also have to overcome his own history to buck this trend and be successful in 2024. Including his failed tenure with the dysfunctional Raiders, last year was the first time in his four complete seasons as head coach that his team did not finish with double-digit losses.

In two years with the Saints, Dennis Allen's teams have a 3-11 record against teams with a .500 or better record when they face them. The Saints are only 11-13 against other NFC teams, costing them key tiebreakers late in the season. That includes a mediocre 6-6 record against their equally mediocre NFC South division foes.

New Orleans, once a dominant team at home, is only 9-7 at the Superdome in two years with Allen. They are 7-11 in games decided by one score over those two seasons. The defense, still a strength of the team, has struggled against the run the last two years and had a non-existent pass rush last season.

Dennis Allen has history working against him as he enters 2024, both his own and the franchise's coaching past. His Saints must play more intense and disciplined, make plays in key moments more consistently, and prove that they can beat the league's better teams. These may be the deciding factors whether Allen returns for a fourth season on the New Orleans sideline.