COSTA MESA, Calif. — Los Angeles Chargers team president John Spanos said the team would have «no limitations» on their next head coach and general manager pairing, from experience to salary, attempting to dismiss the narrative that the organization is unwilling to spend for coaches and executives. «I think sometimes it's maybe the misses that help you grow the most — that you can learn from the most,» Spanos said Monday, speaking for the first time since firing coach Brandon Staley and GM Tom Telesco last week. «And I think we always have to be pushing ourselves as an ownership to get better, to be better.» Spanos declined to discuss the specifics of why he and his father, team owner Dean Spanos, fired Staley and Telesco midseason, but the decision came one day after the Chargers lost to the Las Vegas Raiders 63-21 on «Thursday Night Football.» It was one of the most embarrassing losses in NFL history, not only because of the margin, but also because it came against a Raiders team without much to play for — a team that had already fired its own head coach and general manager.
Thursday's defeat encapsulated three seasons under Staley and eleven seasons of disappointment for Telesco. John Spanos — who began working for his father's team in 1995 as a seasonal assistant, was promoted to vice president of football operations in 2013 and then president in 2015 — has had a hand in all of the Chargers' shortcomings.
Spanos' first major hire in 2013 was Telesco, and then together they hired Mike McCoy as head coach six days later. Since then, the Chargers have fired McCoy, then hired and fired Anthony Lynn and Staley.