FF Press Release 12-1

ESPN.com News Services. Last updated: Thursday, December 01, 2005 at 11:00 A.M.

Jessica Bailey, General Manager of Vote for Pedro announced Thursday morning that she is stepping down as Head Coach effective immediately.

“I haven’t done what I should have this season as Head Coach. I made some bad choices. I took some chances on guys that haven’t panned out. I’ve tried, I’ve tried my best. But it’s become clear to me that I’m just not the best person to lead this team anymore.” Bailey said, clearly overcome with emotion.

Vote for Pedro suffered a crushing loss last week to Division 1 leader O Trident My Trident to go to 4-8 on the season. This marked the fifth consecutive defeat for Vote for Pedro, tying them with The Ron Burgundys for last place in Division 1.

Bailey will maintain her position as General Manager of the team and said that it’s likely she’ll return next season as Head Coach.

“I’m going to work on me, making better choices and being more committed to this team and its success. I want to come back next year, I want to win. We were playoff contenders at one point this season and played ourselves out of that position. I have faith in this organization, we can rebuild this off season and I want to be a part of that.”

Vote for Pedro will play their final game of the season against Team 7 (4-3, 6-6) at home. Bailey said that she will not be coaching the final game, but instead named recently fired Lions Head Coach Steve Mariucci interim head coach.

“Mooch will be taking over for me this week.” Bailey announced. “Yes, he sucks, but then again, so do I. We’re going to take things in a different direction and see what happens. Maybe Mooch can do something with this team that I can’t.”

Not everyone on the Vote for Pedro roster was supportive of this move.

“Coach is not the problem. She’s done everything she could to help us win,” stated Vote for Pedro Running back Rudi Johnson. “There are other guys on this team that could have been better than they were. That’s it, straight up. Some people are going to blame Ben (Roethlisberger) because of the knee injury but that’s just (expletive). He did what he could to get back. Most guys on this team were playing hurt at one time or another, not just Ben.”

Johnson offered up 1st round draft pick, running back Corey Dillon as the scapegoat for Vote for Pedro’s disastrous performance this season. Dillon missed several games, due to a calf injury

“This all comes back to Corey. How many damn times can a guy hold himself out of games and refuse to play through an injury? He was listed as questionable so many times and come Sunday, of course he wouldn’t play in the game. We all have injuries, but you gotta be a man and step up. This is the ESPN Fantasy Football League for God’s sake. Corey is the one who should have been let go, not Coach Bailey. She shouldn’t take the heat for this, no way.” Johnson commented, following Vote for Pedro’s practice on Wednesday night.

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was surprised to hear Johnson’s comments in the locker room on Thursday morning.

“I can’t say I disagree with Fat Rudi’s assessment, but there are a lot of guys on this team that could be better,” said Roethlisberger, who returns this week after a knee injury sidelined him for several weeks. “I don’t want us to be blaming each other. We need to stay as united as possible this week. We gotta play our best this week, even if it is for Mooch and not for Coach (Bailey). Hopefully we can do that, and not finish last in our division and look ahead to next year. I think we owe Coach that.”

While her future with this team is uncertain, Bailey maintained her team loyalty this week, wishing her successor the best in the final match-up of the season.

“I want to be back next season and I hope the guys win this weekend. Mooch will have his work cut out for him this week, but I wish him luck,” said Bailey with tears in her eyes.

Steve Mariucci's Coaching Statistics
Record- last 3 seasons w/ Detroit Lions: 15-28
Career regular season record: 68-60
Career regular season win %: 0.531
Overall career record: 71-46
Overall career win %: 0.526

Information from the Associated Press has been used in this report.