Panthers hire Warren Belin, Falcons extend Smith’s contract
A spokesman for the University of Georgia, Claude Felton confirmed on Thursday that the Carolina Panthers have hired Warren Belin as linebackers Coach. The news came in after his first successful year at the same post with the Bulldogs. The 43-year-old has
been rendering his services as an assistant coach at six different colleges for the past 20 years.
A native of Marshville, North Carolina, Belin played at Wake Forest University as a linebacker and went to Georgia after working as a linebackers Coach at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. After Stacy Searels left to coach the offensive line
at the University of Texas, Bulldogs Coach Mark Richt now has to find two new coaches.
On the other hand, the Atlanta Falcons have extended their Head Coaches’ contract by three years. Coach Mike Smith signed to a three-year extension after the team won the division title two times during his three years tenure.
Although monetary terms are not disclosed yet, but Smith deserves the position. He came from being an unknown defensive coordinator with Jacksonville Jaguars to take over a 4-12 team. His newly acquired team had some major problems to get over, especially
since Head Coach Bobby Petrino left after taking the team to a 3-10 start in the previous and also quarterback Michael Vick going to prison for dog fighting charges.
However, Smith turned the entire team around. Now with a 33-15 score with the Falcons, the best record for a three-year Coach in the franchise’s history, Smith took the team to an 11-5 record in his first season. In his second season, the team slipped a
little to 9-7 but it was the first time that the franchise had two successive winning seasons. In his third year during the 2010 season, Smith improved the team to 13-3, the top seeded NFC team in the playoffs. The only team in the entire National Football
League that had a better record than the Falcons were the New England Patriots with a 14-2 record.
Unfortunately, it would have been a great chapter in Smith’s story if the team had won the Super Bowl, but they lost in the divisional round of the playoffs to the Green Bay Packers by 48 to 21. Despite their humiliating defeat to the Packers, owner Arthur
Blank expressed his full confidence in Smith by extending his contract until at least 2014.
"When we hired Mike Smith in 2008, we believed we had found the total package: a head coach with strong leadership skills and experience and the track record to back it up, and a man of high character and integrity," Blank said in a statement released by
the Falcons. "In his three seasons with us, Coach Smith has demonstrated all of these characteristics, and then some."
The only problem with Smith’s record is 0-2 score in the playoffs.
"I am looking forward to continuing to build upon the solid foundation we have in place within our organization and on our football team," Smith said in the team statement. "We are going to continue to work as hard as we can to bring a championship to Falcons
fans and to the city of Atlanta."
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