Already under fire from fans, history is against Dennis Allen as he enters his third year as Saints
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
Bob Rose | 11 Hours Ago
New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen
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.