A late-night host from one of Atlanta's most popular sports-radio stations stirred up controversy on New Year's Eve, by comparing the sweeping coaching changes with the Atlanta Falcons to events of the Holocaust.
For his overnight show on Monday, 92.9 FM host Stan Norfleet offered an unconventional analogy to the news of Falcons head coach Dan Quinn firing three coordinators -- Steve Sarkisian, Marquand Manuel and Keith Armstrong -- on the same day.
Norfleet prefaced the analogy with a story of his trip to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., while majoring in history and playing college football at the University of Virginia.
Here's the full Northfleet conversation from 92.9 FM:
"Dan Quinn, firing all three coordinators. What does this mean?
It's simple ... I'm going to use an analogy here, but let's not be so serious.
With the concentration camps ... the Nazis would put folks in a container, and they would slowly suck the oxygen out of the container.
And what they found, it got so hot in there, and the pressure was so intense in there; that when they opened up the containers, they found, there was almost a pyramid of bodies trying to get to the top, to get the last breath of oxygen ... before, obviously, the fatal outcome.
Now, I know that's gruesome, I don't mean it that way. Y'all know I just think differently. That's what Dan Quinn did today.
Dan Quinn knows ... there are no more excuses. These are the casualties that come along with the nasty side of the National Football League."
In NFL circles, head coaches are routinely directed by management to make staff changes after disappointing seasons, or whenever it's time for a new voice in leadership.
Within that context, it's often viewed as a standard means of coaching self-preservation.
Norfleet's comments, however, certainly brought the custom of firing assistants to new and perhaps uncomfortable levels.
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UPDATE #1
A spokesperson for the station says Entercom has dropped Norfleet from his part-time radio role with 92.9, while also issuing an apology to Coach Quinn and the entire Falcons organization.
UPDATE #2
On Friday night, the Falcons released a statement regarding Norfleet's actions and subsequent dismissal.
From team vice president Rich McKay:
"We were just made aware of the comments made by 92.9 host Stan Norfleet earlier this week. The comments are totally unacceptable, not in line with our core values and show a complete disregard for the gravity of human tragedy he sought to use in his analogy. We fully support the station's decision to terminate him."
