Report: Benson led decision to fire Allen

By Ross Jackson

The New Orleans Saints made some major changes this past week, headlined by firing their former head coach Dennis Allen. The decision was the right one to make considering the team’s downward spiral. While many point to the team’s seven-game losing streak as a driving factor, some reports suggest Sunday’s result was only further confirmation for what may have been on the way one way or another. 

As Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football previously reported, team owner Gayle Benson has been checking in with players about the direction of the team and, presumably, why they believed things weren’t going to plan. 

On top of that, fans have made it very well known that they believed that Allen was the source of many issues. The combination of player and fan concern clearly had an impact. 

Per Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, the owner had “reached a breaking point over the past few weeks.” And the fan voice only strengthened ownership’s decision. 

“Benson and her group were hearing from the fan base in a way they hadn’t before,” Breer wrote. “And their resolve was strengthened through that, to the point where perception inside the building holds that Allen might’ve been fired Monday even if he’d beaten the Carolina Panthers.”

That’s a stark contrast from the patience the organization has consistently shown. It goes to show just how bad things had gotten that, even after a win, Benson may have looked to make the change anyway. 

Many had been critical of ownership up to this point calling for Benson to enforce changes. She did exactly that. And did it in a big way. Per Breer, the decision was heavily directed by Benson herself. 

“One nugget I picked up the past couple of days,” he said. “Is that this decision was very much driven by ownership, with Gayle Benson reaching a breaking point with the team’s struggles over the past few weeks. (General Manager) Mickey Loomis, I’m told, didn’t want to pull the plug on Allen yet.”

Allen and the Saints had a long-running history. He joined the team as the assistant defensive line coach in 2006, eventually converting to New Orleans’s secondary coach before taking a defensive coordinator position with the Denver Broncos in 2011. He would return to New Orleans in 2015 after being ousted as head coach of the then-Oakland Raiders and of course remained with the team at several capacities including head coach until this season. 

It’s easy, over that long period of time, to develop sentimentality, trust and friendship. However, the NFL is a business. Patience took a back seat.

One could glean from Loomis’s appearance on WWL Radio Tuesday night that he was not experiencing the same level of frustration. He again credited a lot of the team’s struggles to injuries, as he often has. But it’s clear now that Benson and others saw things differently and therefore pushed the Saints into their next era.

If the situation is as these reports suggest, Benson stepping in and making the call was the best thing for the business. Now the question becomes whether or not there is actual division above head coach like that which could be inferred from this information.