Lions Fire Stan Kwan; Coaches Will Lead North Team in Senior Bowl

John Niyo of the Detroit News is reporting that the Lions have (finally) fired special teams coordinator Stan Kwan.

The team didn't confirm the move, but Kwan told The Detroit News late Friday afternoon he'd received the news earlier in the day from head coach Jim Schwartz.

"We spoke today and he informed me he was going to make a change at the position," Kwan said. "And the first thing he told me was that it has nothing to do with my work ethic. And to me, that's important. Because if you're not a hard worker, you can't be successful in this profession.

"We all know what (the reason for the firing) was: It was based on the results and the performance. And it's hard for me to argue with the guy."

Kwan seemed to take the news well and was very classy about it, so I will give him that.  Regardless of the product on the field, you never like to see someone lose their job, so hopefully he will land on his feet somewhere.

That being said, I am ecstatic that a move was finally made.  The special teams, especially the last couple of seasons, have been extremely inconsistent and an area where improvement is needed.  Hopefully the Lions will hire someone that can bring improvement to the entire unit make the special teams a weapon rather than a liability. 

As for when the Lions will make a move to replace Kwan, I'm not really sure.  Conventional thinking would suggest that unless the Lions have a specific person in mind, they will wait until the Senior Bowl to network with coaches and make a decision then.  The reason that might be unlikely, however, is because the Lions' coaching staff will be a bit busy down in Mobile, as they will be the coaches of the North team in the Senior Bowl.  On top of that, I don't know if the Lions need to have a complete staff in place before they get ready to coach North team or if they can just bring in someone else to deal with special teams.  Either way, coaching a team in the Senior Bowl will be a wonderful opportunity for the Lions' coaching staff to get an up-close look at potential draft picks, so that should be an interesting week in Mobile (the game will be played on January 30 at 4 p.m. on NFL Network).

By the way, as far as candidates to replace Kwan go, has anybody brought up the name Bobby April yet?