It’s been an interesting time in Baltimore sports. First, the Orioles sent Manager Brandon Hyde his walking papers in-season after a dismal 15-28 start. Then, the Ravens gave Head Coach John Harbaugh his pink slip following a 26-24 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers and going 8-9 while missing the playoffs. Both decisions were the right decisions.
It was time.
While Hyde and Harbaugh’s stories and tenures were different, they had a lot of similarities in terms of expectations and results. For Hyde, it was to help the Orioles become a respectable, competitive franchise again and help bring winning baseball back to Baltimore with a young, inexperienced roster. After a couple of rocky seasons, Hyde finally saw success in 2022, when the Orioles won 83 games. The following year the Orioles won their first AL East title since 2014 with 101 wins, and Hyde won AL Manager of the Year. That seemed to be the peak of Hyde’s managing career in Baltimore, as they ended up becoming a wild card team in 2024 and started the 2025 season with a .349 winning percentage before Hyde was fired. Hyde found success with the Orioles, but not enough — the team never won a playoff game during his time as manager. The organization felt that it was time to move on.
Harbaugh’s story is a bit different. After he was hired in 2008, the Ravens saw immediate success. With a rookie head coach and a rookie quarterback in Joe Flacco, the team advanced to the AFC Championship that year. Harbaugh took the team to the AFC Championship in three of his first five seasons in Baltimore, and eventually won the Super Bowl in the 2012 season. But that was the last time Harbaugh would hoist a Lombardi Trophy. The next five years after the Super Bowl, he had four losing seasons and looked to be ready to be out in Baltimore in 2018 until Lamar Jackson came in and led the Ravens to a division title and playoff appearance. Since Jackson’s rookie season in 2018, the Ravens have had the number one playoff seed twice, with only one AFC Championship appearance. They have never reached a Super Bowl.
Both coaches were let go for similar reasons on the micro and the macro. From the micro perspective, Hyde was making costly in-game decisions, the team couldn’t overcome injuries, and the players simply looked lethargic and uninspired. Harbaugh, at times, looked like a deer in headlights when asked why one of his best players in Derrick Henry would be on the sidelines instead of being in the games. His team also couldn’t overcome injuries, particularly Jackson’s, and had constant double-digit 4th-quarter blown leads (two of them happened again this season). According to multiple reports, the players didn’t trust that he could get them over the hump anymore. As far as the macro, it’s simple: Both leaders’ successes appeared to have plateaued and were trending downward.
Oftentimes, people tend to believe that what a person has done for us should give them grace, or a longer leash, for lack of a better term. But exactly how long should these hypothetical leashes be? With Hyde and the Orioles, the growth of a young head coach and his young team didn’t materialize in a way that the new ownership would have liked. As a result, they reacted pretty swiftly in moving on, less than two years after Hyde’s Manager of the Year accolades. With Harbaugh, his Super Bowl win gave him a longer leash, and he coached for the Ravens for 13 additional seasons after their championship. But in each scenario, their magic had run out and their times had run its course.
Oftentimes, people tend to believe that what a person has done for us should give them grace, or a longer leash, for lack of a better term. But exactly how long should these hypothetical leashes be?
So what now? Will these teams rebound? Will the right decisions be made? We simply don’t know. Only time will tell. The Orioles have their new skipper, Craig Albernaz, and have helped him build a competitive roster by adding in former New York Met slugger Pete Alonso. They are also still in play for a star pitcher to add to their roster, so the organization seems to be doing what they can to set him up for early success. As for the Ravens, their next leader is TBD, but they’ve made two home-run hirings before in Harbaugh and Brian Billick, who both saw instant success in the organization. They also have a two-time MVP in Jackson as their QB. So fans should feel optimistic about their chances of getting it right again.
Change can be good. Change can also be necessary. And just because a guy may be a good manager or coach doesn’t mean their influence and impact doesn’t get stale to the players they lead. Moving on can be scary and uncomfortable, but can also be beautiful. And Baltimore sports fans are hoping that their team’s changes will be beautiful and full of hope for a championship once again.