New Orleans Saints interim head coach Darren Rizzi looks on against the Atlanta Falcons during the first half at Caesars Superdome. Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

Saints interim HC admits embarrassing, but hilarious story before debut

By Adam Gretz | Last updated Nov 10, 2024 5:42 PM ET

Darren Rizzi has waited his entire professional coaching career to be a head coach in the NFL. He finally got that opportunity this week when he was named interim head coach of the New Orleans Saints following the in-season firing of Dennis Allen.

His team gave him a great debut in a stunning, 20-17, upset win over the Atlanta Falcons for his first NFL win.

By Rizzi's own admission, his day did not start off that good.

Maybe it was nerves. Maybe it was something he ate. Maybe it was just some bad plumbing. Whatever it was, Rizzi said when he got to the head coach's bathroom at the stadium he ended up clogging the toilet and had a very fitting reaction to that moment.

"I'm a pretty open guy... I go to the bathroom, this is how my day started. I clogged a toilet. I'm like, this is gonna be a crappy day. Pun intended." - Saints interim coach Darren Rizzi pic.twitter.com/YZ5kCgwSdB
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 10, 2024

As it turns out, it was not in fact a crappy day for the Saints as they snapped a seven-game losing streak and shook off an ugly loss to the Carolina Panthers a week ago.

The Saints definitely got some help from Falcons kicking Younghoe Koo missing three field goals, but when you have lost seven games in a row and fired your head coach you are not in a position to apologize for any win.

The Saints, and Rizzi, will take it.

Adam Gretz

Adam Gretz is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh. He covers the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. Baseball is his favorite sport -- he is nearly halfway through his goal of seeing a game in every MLB ballpark. Catch him on Twitter @AGretz

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