DENVER — Black Monday swept across the NFL in the manner it does every year: Hard and fast.
On the dreadful day—known for coaches being canned right after the regular season ends—five head coaches lost their jobs across the league.
While the wreckage barely missed Denver Broncos’ head coach Vance Joseph, it did hit six of his assistants: running back/assistant head coach Eric Studesville, wide receiver coach Tyke Tolbert, offensive line coach Jeff Davidson, outside linebacker coach Fred Pagac, assistant defensive backs coach Johnnie Lynn and finally special teams coordinator Brock Olivo.
The moves didn’t come until after the players had called it a season and left the UCHealth Training Center for the last time of the season.
However, BSN Denver caught up with linebacker Brandon Marshall at his first annual ‘A Night of Love and Laughter’ charity event benefitting his foundation, the Williams-Marshall Cares Leadership Program, and got his reaction on the moves that took place with his now-former coaches.
“I was upset,” he said with clear passion in his voice. “I was sad for Tyke and E [Eric Studesville]. I loved those guys, man. Those guys are hard workers, and they’re passionate, man. And they matched the culture that we need around here, man.”
In an odd way, it was the culture that Marshall identified as a positive that eventually led to the coaches being fired. Just a few hours before we spoke with Marshall, Joseph said, “It was time to change the culture so we could get back to pushing our players to be the best that they can be and getting our best players to play at their best all the time,” when explaining his decision to move on from six coaches, specifically Tolbert and Studesville that have been with the organization since 2011 and 2010, respectively.
Marshall’s initial frustration with the moves matched the feeling with other players on the team that expressed their opinion on social media, specifically C.J. Anderson who tweeted “THATS BULL****.” Both, however, understood that these tough moves are just part of the game.
“Unfortunately it’s a business, and we have to move on from some guys,” Marshall said.
Although he understands that moves like this will happen occasionally, that didn’t stop Marshall from showing the most emotion when asked about one of the two defensive coaches that was let go.
“Oh man, yeah. I love ‘Coach Pug,’ man,” the veteran linebacker said when asked about inside linebacker coach Pagac. “He’s the funnest coach I was ever around. Always had a joke, man. But he was really passionate, too, about his players, man. Coaching Von [Miller] and Shaq [Barrett] and Shane [Ray], he demands a lot out of those guys, but unfortunately, it’s a business. I’m going to miss Pug.”
Marshall wasn’t hit directly with the coaching moves as the Broncos kept inside linebacker coach Reggie Herring, which he was pleased with. He was also happy that the organization, mainly John Elway, kept Joseph for a second season.
“I think it was important because you can’t just change head coaches every year,” he explained. “You can’t just change all of the time. I really believe that it’s partially not Vance’s fault. I’m sure a lot of people feel like it’s his fault, but I don’t really think it is. We just got to do better. I’m glad to be able to have him back again. Familiar face and not a complete overhaul because if there was a new head coach, everybody would probably be gone as far as coaches. I’m glad that he’s here.”
For more from our exclusive interview with Brandon Marshall, you can read here or listen here.
