General Manager Tom Telesco began his annual end of the year press conference by announcing the Chargers reached a contract extension with Head Coach Mike McCoy. He is now under contract through the 2017 season.
"Earlier this week, we agreed to an extension with Mike McCoy," Telesco said. "His current contract was due to go through 2016. With the extension, now it will go through 2017."
While the team struggled through a 4-12 campaign this year, the GM explained it was important to look at McCoy's entire tenure as a whole. The head coach led the Bolts to consecutive winning seasons with a 9-7 record each of his first two years, including a postseason berth and road playoff victory.
"We have a belief in Mike and a confidence in him," Telesco continued. "Part of that is the extension. If you want to be a stable winning organization, you have to weather a couple storms. Obviously this year was a big storm, but I think we had to look at it in terms of big picture rather than just this year. We had to look at it over three years, and Mike took us to a winning record two years in a row. Eighteen wins over two years, he took us to the playoffs and won a road playoff game which is difficult in this league. We know we're disappointed in this year, but Mike is someone we want to build around, so we thought that was important to get that done."
Telesco explained the one-year extension was appropriate, stressing the importance of stability. He indicated how valuable that is when trying to assemble a staff for 2016 as the team parted ways with six assistant coaches on Monday.
"For staff reasons, I think that's always good. We've been in that process since Monday of talking with coaches, whether that's over the phone or bringing them in to visit. I think that's good to show we've got stability here, and we want to have stability here. I think that's part of it…We want to build around Mike. We're very confident in him. We have a belief in him."
Another reason why the Bolts extended McCoy is how he held the locker room together through a trying season. Telesco lauded the way the team handled adversity and never lost its fight, and was the same message echoed by Philip Rivers earlier this week.
"Mike really did a heck of a job under the circumstances," the quarterback said. "(With) all he dealt with, his steadiness and continued belief in the approach and tweaking things the best way he could (gave) us a chance each Sunday….Week to week it was tough, but we couldn't mope around and feel sorry for ourselves. (We needed to) have that energy and have that excitement each week even though it was tough losing a lot in a row. I do think there is something to be said to be in the position we were in and fight the way we fought. I do think that says a lot about the head coach. I'm sure there are some other teams in our boat this year that may have turned it in, but we fought to the end. It doesn't count in the win column, but there's something to be said for it."
