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Report: Chargers say Turner will be back in ’09

Despite 4-6 record, team president says it's 'ridiculous' coach would be fired

Chiefs Chargers Football
The Chargers went to the AFC Championship Game last season under head coach Norv Turner, but are only 4-6 in 2008.
Denis Poroy / AP
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updated 7:39 p.m. ET Nov. 19, 2008

Norv Turner reportedly is going to be the San Diego Chargers' head coach at the start of the 2009 season.

“I'm committed to him,” team president Dean Spanos told The San Diego Union-Tribune on Wednesday. “I believe in him. It's ridiculous to think he's not going to be back.”

Considered Super Bowl contenders before the season, the Chargers are 4-6.

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They have lost three of their past four, the only victory a one-point survival at home two weeks ago against the one-win Kansas City Chiefs.

The Chargers' top two bosses expressed confidence in Turner and assured that Turner's job is safe beyond 2008 when interviewed by the Union-Tribune.

“He's coming back,” General Manager A.J. Smith said “... We are extremely happy with the first year with the man we hired and where we're heading. “We're disappointed with the win-loss record (this season) but not in the coach.”

Turner was hired in February 2007, a week after the Chargers fired Marty Schottenheimer. The Chargers went to the AFC Championship Game last season by winning eight straight games after a 5-5 start.


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