what happened? Fish was not listening to his mentors but that's not a fireable offense. Nor was the thing with women. He was married when he was hired and he was highly thought of as a young coaching prospect with a record of leadership.

We all have opinions. Mine is that on top of it all Fish was mailing it in and was not hungry. He has the potential but he was not eating, sleeping or dreaming it.
That said, its also not a firable offense.

What snapped this team into the tailspin that Fish was removed mid season?

I think this franchise has very little room for a return to deranged back pages. Not at these prices.

The fact that he was seemingly brushing-off Phil and more experienced assistants was the nail in his coffin. He was too arrogant to fess up to his own shortcomings and then try and fix them.

I thought it would be a season end firing, but taking everyone at their word, I think Phil fired him when he did with the hope we could revive, make a push for the playoffs and build some momentum as a better destination for players.