Former Detroit Lions coach Jim Schwartz says he’s enjoying his year off and intends to come back, perhaps even next season.
When you work 100 hours a week to play a game on Sunday, you don’t have much time for anything else, so to be honest, I get to enjoy the game a lot more, Schwartz told Don Banks of si.com. “Even though I’ve always loved the NFL, you can now watch a game with popcorn and no preparation or labor required.
“And this is the first baseball season I’ve had that goes past July. I’m a huge baseball fan, but I never really understood what happened after training camp because it was basically the end of the season.
After the 2013 season, Schwartz was fired by the Lions. During the previous season, he was the defensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills; however, after taking over as head coach, Rex Ryan elected not to retain him.
After watching Buffalo, Schwartz said, “I felt better.” “While it’s never great to get fired, I was able to bounce back quickly and find some success after moving out of Detroit.” Despite missing the playoffs, Buffalo had a winning season (9-7) for the first time in 10 years. For me, it was helpful to go back to the coordinator position, where you were just concerned with that side of the ball.
“Oh my god. I never won an NFC North until last year, when we swept the division in Buffalo (from Detroit).
After the Bills won at Ford Field, Schwartz was helped off the field by his teammates.
Banks reports that Schwartz is still being paid by the Lions this season and serves as a consultant for NFL officials about coaching, but that he is ready to return to coaching the following season, preferably as head coach.
There will be several choices for a landing spot, maybe including Ken Whisenhunt’s 1–5 Tennessee Titans and Schwartz’s prior employers before the Lions. And he moved his family back to Nashville from Detroit.
“I have much too much respect for other coaches and people with whom I’ve been in their shoes to cheer against anybody,” Schwartz said. “I know the difficulties each of them faces. I have personal experience with it.
