Measuring The Impact Of New Orleans Saints Interim Coaches

History is working against Darren Rizzi and the Saints as they take on their most bitter rival in the Atlanta Falcons

New Orleans Saints special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi looks on against the Atlanta Falcons / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

The firing of Dennis Allen by the New Orleans Saints on Monday was a rare occurrence. It was only the third time in the 58-year history of the Saints that they had fired a coach before the end of the season. First time ever by the Benson family since Tom Benson bought the team in 1985.

Not counting the ludicrous witch hunt by Roger Goodell in 2012, the Saints have operated under the direction of an Interim coach only five times in their history. Three of those by the aforementioned mid-season firings, and two others by a coach resigning before the end of the year. Both coaching resignations did occur during the Benson ownership regime.

Previous special teams coach Darren Rizzi now takes over head coaching duties for the year's final eight contests. While Dennis Allen was a huge problem, he wasn't the only issue with this team.

Rizzi will undoubtedly need a good showing by the team over the last eight weeks to be considered for the full-time position. History is working against him.

Here are how the other five interim coaches in Saints history have fared.

J.D. Roberts - 1970

Former New Orleans Saints coach J.D. Roberts (right) / Crescent City Sports

Tom Fears, the original coach of the expansion Saints in 1967, was fired after a 1-5-1 start to the 1970 campaign. Fears had a 13-34-2 record as New Orleans coach in his four seasons, a winning percentage of .277. He was replaced by J.D. Roberts, who had been the New Orleans linebacker coach in 1967 and 1968.

Roberts had been coaching the Saints Atlantic Coast Football League affiliate, the Richmond Roadrunners, in 1970 before being brought back to replace Fears. His first game would be against the Detroit Lions, a perennial contender in the NFC Central.

The Lions entered Tulane Stadium to face the Saints with a 5-2 record and would go on to a 10-4 mark and a playoff berth in 1970. New Orleans battled with them all afternoon, trailing just 7-6 at the half and 14-9 after three quarters.

The Saints got a strong effort defensively, forcing six turnovers and holding Detroit to 278 total yards. New Orleans managed just 272 yards themselves. However, a combined 131 rushing yards from Tom Barrington and Jim Otis along with 77 receiving from Danny Abramowicz allowed the team to move the ball at times.

Three Tom Dempsey field goals and a Barrington touchdown run gave the Saints a 16-14 lead in the fourth quarter. When a late Detroit field goal regained their lead, it looked like the Saints were headed towards another inevitable loss.

New Orleans Saints kicker Tom Dempsey (19) kicks a 63-yard field goal against the Detroit Lions / New York Times

Dempsey shocked the world by giving New Orleans an improbable win when he kicked an incredible 63-yard field goal on the final play of the game. It was an NFL record that wasn't even tied until the Broncos Jason Elam did it in 1998 and remained unbroken until Denver's Matt Prater did it in 2013.

That unlikely victory was the high point of Roberts' career with the Saints. New Orleans didn't win another game with Roberts at the helm, going 1-6 to end the year at 2-11-1.

Despite that, the Saints retained Roberts as head coach into the following season.
Interestingly, J.D. Roberts was the only one of five New Orleans interim coaches to be retained into the next year.

Roberts remained coach of the Saints until being fired during the preseason of 1972. His overall record was 7-25-3, with a winning percentage of .227 that holds the distinction of being the worst in Saints history.

Ernie Hefferle - 1975

Former New Orleans Saints coach Ernie Hefferle / neworleanssaints.com

John North had the unusual task of replacing Roberts during the 1975 preseason. North lasted until the sixth game of the 1975 campaign. He was let go after a 1-5 start to that season and an overall record of 11-23. Replacing North would be Ernie Hefferle, who had just been hired that year as the Saints Director of Player Personnel.

Hefferle's first game as coach would be against an equally bad Atlanta Falcons squad in the first year of the Superdome. Ironically, this is the same franchise and same venue for Rizzi's first game as head coach.

Hefferle's Saints turned the ball over three times, all Archie Manning interceptions, but also rolled up 175 yards rushing against the Falcons. The New Orleans defense also forced six turnovers while getting 109 yards rushing and 159 receiving from Larry Burton in a dominant 23-7 win.

That would be the only win of the Ernie Hefferle tenure with the Saints. New Orleans lost their next seven to end the year under Hefferle, tying the second longest single-season losing streak in franchise history. The current Saints are also mired in a seven-game losing streak.

Hefferle was not retained into the 1976 season. Instead, the Saints hired Hank Stram, who went on to a forgettable two-year stint with the team.

Dick Stanfel - 1980

Former New Orleans Saints coach Dick Stanfel / historicimages.com

When Stram was fired after the 1977 season, the Saints hired the respected Dick Nolan to take his place. The Saints had promising records of 7-9 in 1978 and 8-8 in 1979, their first non-losing season. However, the bottom dropped out on New Orleans with an abysmal 1-15 finish in 1980.

After an 0-12 start to that year, the Saints mercifully fired Nolan. He was replaced by Dick Stanfel, an offensive line coach who had been hired by Stram but retained by Nolan. Stanfel's first game would be at home against the Minnesota Vikings, who went on to win the NFC Central that season.

Predictably, the Vikings raced out to a 23-0 lead against the bumbling Saints. New Orleans showed some fight throughout the game and mounted a comeback, but ultimately fell short in losing 23-20.

One week later, New Orleans jumped out to a dominant 35-7 halftime lead against the San Francisco 49ers. In typical Saints fashion and in a microcosm of years to come, Joe Montana mounted an incredible comeback in a 38-35 San Francisco win.

Stanfel would get the team's only win of the year the following week against the New York Jets. His 1-3 record was not enough to be retained after the season, with New Orleans instead hiring Bum Phillips to lead their rebuilding project in 1981.

Wade Phillips - 1985

Coaches Bum Phillips (left) and Wade Phillips (right) with the New Orleans Saints / Crescent City Sports

Bum Phillips dragged the Saints back to respectable play, with high-water points being an 8-8 finish in 1983 and 7-9 mark in 1984. However, an ownership change to Tom Benson and 4-8 start in 1985 led to Bum's retirement before the end of the year.

Bum advocated for his son Wade, the team's defensive coordinator, to take over to get some head coaching experience. Wade's first game at the helm would come against the Los Angeles Rams, who would win the NFC West that year with an 11-5 record.

The Saints played arguably their best game of the year, especially on defense. They held the Rams to only 164 total yards, forced four turnovers, and scored one touchdown of their own. Twenty unanswered points in the fourth quarter led New Orleans to a resounding 29-3 victory against their division rivals.

Wade Phillips would go on to a long NFL career as head coach and very successful defensive coordinator in multiple places. However, it wouldn't be with the Saints after going 1-3 to end the year. New owner Tom Benson hired a highly successful USFL coach named Jim Mora in 1986.

Rick Venturi - 1996

Former New Orleans Saints coach Rick Venturi / NOLA.com

Mora ushered in the first ''Golden Era'' of Saints football. By 1996, a once dominant defense had declined and the team struggled to a 2-6 start, causing Mora to abruptly resign. Rick Venturi, one of Mora's defensive assistants who'd just been hired that year, took over coaching duties.

Venturi's first task was to take on the dominant San Francisco 49ers. The Saints defense actually kept the explosive 49ers under wraps. New Orleans QB Jim Everett outplayed future Hall of Famer Steve Young, but the Saints were just overmatched and fell by a 24-17 score.

New Orleans lost their first six games with Venturi as coach. He'd get his first, and only win as interim coach in Week 16 against the New York Giants. After a 1-7 record under Venturi and 3-13 overall, the Saints would make the fateful decision to hire Mike Ditka the following year.

Venturi hung around as a defensive assistant under Ditka, then Jim Haslett, until 2005. He held the designation of being the team's last interim coach until Rizzi takes the field today.
The previous five interim coaches for the Saints had some moderate success in their first game on the sidelines, going 3-2.

Their success ended there, as each of the five only won one game in charge.
J.D. Roberts, Ernie Hefferle, Dick Stanfel, Wade Phillips, and Rick Venturi were a combined 5-26 as interim coaches. That's an abysmal winning percentage of .161. Obviously, each took over bad teams, which is largely why they had those roles in the first place.

Such is the case with Darren Rizzi today. History is certainly against Rizzi turning things around. A victory against the Falcons this afternoon also doesn't guarantee success. However, it also wouldn't hurt his chances for possibly retaining the head coaching job to get a win against the Saints biggest rival.