Norwood Teague is the new athletic director at the University of Minnesota who just fired a fairly famous coach yesterday. His action is proper for the following reasons.  A coach is judged by how well he coaches. This is determined by the improved perfomance of individual players during the player’s career. Smith’s players didn’t seem to get better. Strike one. 
Players own the first half of a game and coaches, by making moves, control the second half. Smith’s teams were often ahead in the first half and got beaten in the second half.  Briefly, he got out coached. Strike two.
A coach must run a program that can compete in the conference or league. Smith’s teams could not win in the Big Ten. Strike three.
Norwood Teague has made the correct move and now needs to find a coach that can achieve the three goals set out above for a coach.
I suspect he has someone in mind.