Cowher's Cost and the Case for a Coordinator.
by pasaluki on Jan 16, 2010 2:00 AM EST
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PrintWe all know the Bills took a gamble firing Jauron when they did, but they took the gamble to get an edge on the hot prospective coaching market. It wasn't smooth but it gave the Bills a time advantage over other teams unhappy with their coaches.
First was Shanahan, who some feel fully now had no intention of accepting the job at all.
Holmgren, who quickly fell into the Browns GM position, and Cowher who is available but for all the world seems to be unwilling to coach the team next season. And then Billick who appeared to be assembling a coaching staff but for some odd reason wasn't considered a candidate.
To their credit, I feel that the Bills indeed pursued Cowher the hardest of any candidates. But the truth is that they likely failed to get him, and of all of the rejections the Bills have received, his stings the most and in fact has negated Buffalo's initial advantage of time and has put them in a high pressure situation.
Recent reports seem to be indicating that now that Cowher is off the table, they will take their time in deciding who to interview/hire. This is troubling to me because they have no coaching staff and their FO is currently in flux. I understand wanting to be methodical, but they don't have a coach to build system around, or even a front office with a unified voice.
Of the potential coaches, only two have been interviewed after the regular season, and one of them has already accepted a job elsewhere. To have that few interviews and such a narrow range of candidates is very telling
But let's say for the sake of time the Bills hire Leslie Frazier or Russ Grimm. They need to do so very, very soon. In two weeks is the Senior Bowl, and if we don't have a coach by then, Nix is going to spend all of his time in that area, and not do what he's actually good at and scout. Maybe that's why no decision was made on Modrak and Guy, because Nix will hand off his scouting duties to them in the interim.
The initial gamble has all but backfired and Buffalo's lack of decisiveness and ironically, trying to do what the fans wanted them to do, will likely cost them unless they move soon.
If the Bills make a decision soon they will have a whole new challenge in hiring coordinators. If either Grimm or Frazier are hired, The Offensive Coordinator position is EXTREMELY important. I think whether we want an Offensive Coach (like I do this time) or a Defensive Coach (like Brian wants) hopefully that can be agreed upon. Grimm isn't known for calling plays, and Frazier is a defensive coordinator. Brian Schottenheimer was the only candidate who would call offensive plays,but he and Chargers DC Ron Rivera have already refused to interview.
Everyone is worried about the shrinking head coach pool, when that is only half of it. Several Offensive and Defensive coordinators who would have been slam dunk, experienced hires have been snapped up. Names like Charlie Weiss, Romeo Crennel, and Jim Haslett who may make some antsy as head coaches but as coordinators have proven themselves. And still others are being persued by other teams:
Marc Trestman (linked to Raiders)
Mike Martz (linked to Bears)
Norm Chow(linked to many teams likely to stay at UCLA)
Just to name a few, and while expecting to hire a known coordinator from the outside is perhaps with this franchise too much to ask, what kills me is the Bills AREN'T even in the running, because they don't even have a coach. How long did it take Washington to get a head coach and then once Shanahan was there, how long did it take them to get Haslett? Other teams are swimming laps around the Bills who were given a 2 lap head-start.
Interesting when Ralph Wilson said that in this league you have to be "lucky." I think that's true.
Eventually down the line you have to have some things go your way.
But what is that old saying? "Fortune Favors the Bold."
The Bills have spent so long waiting for something "lucky" like Bill Cowher coming to happen, that they haven't make their own luck they haven't taken their own chances. It's like the Aesop's fable where an owner of an stuck cart cries out to Hercules to fix the problem instead of putting his shoulder to the wheel.
And that is why right now there aren't any answers for what the Bills will become, because we don't have even an inkling of what they are trying to do. The more the Bills keep us all in the dark, and take their time to slowly sift through the swamp hoping to pull out Excalibur, and the more time they waste, and the more indecision there is about the roles of the FO, the more the inability to bring an A-list coach stings, and the more pressing the case for a coordinator becomes.
This franchise enters the new decade with so much uncertainty and so many questions, but for now the only question I want answered is "When?"
Just another great fan opinion shared on the pages of BuffaloRumblings.com.
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I voted for wasting valuable time.....
Only for the reason as Brian stated in the “Plan C” article. I have no issues waiting to interview candidates on playoff teams. Lets be honest, these teams are in the playoffs for a reason and good coaching is apart of that. So I have no issues waiting for these candidates.
But, they do need to persue Plan C now. I think it is imperitive to interview “fringe” candidates to get a feel for what is out there. There is no harm in interviewing these kinds of candidates, such as Billick. It is one thing to waste someones time, its another to go about due diligence and maybe one of these “fringe” candidates have something to offer the franchise.
Let the offseason begin
Brian Billick
If the Bills interview Billick wouldn’t that send a message that they are becoming very desperate. His availability would of allowed them to interview him before now and the fact that they haven’t indicates that they were not initially interested. The same for Haslett, Wies, Crennell and others.
If anything there next move should be indicative of what their initial plan was all along. I haven’t voted yet in your pool. This process is more mysterious than anything else.
Is it really average talent or just poor coaching, how important is depth and experience.
Pacing
The FO has to be doing something every day, right? I’m sure that they have a lot on their plate, even besides finding a new head coach. Our current big guns are still playing in the playoffs, and while we probably should be pursuing plan C options, what’s to say that Nix and the rest of them aren’t also scouting for the Senior bowl, developing at least a rough draft plan, etc? Just because all the fans are on the edge of their seats and feel like they can’t move forward without a head coach doesn’t mean the FO is doing the same.
Still too soon to pull the panic button. We all just want a new head coach asap.
Do we really know that's happening though?
We know Nix as a passionate scout, but we have no idea how he is at multitasking. Would you rather have a good draft plan with a head coach or a rough draft plan and scrambling around offering interviews and dealing with countless rejections? This is the problem.
This space held in honor of Robert Royal known to his friends as "Sweet Cream Style Corn" March 11 2006- February 26, 2009
I voted "Aren't Taking Enough Time"...
Acutally I interpret this as “Aren’t taking advantage of the time they have had”. We were the first team to begin this process by firing DJ early. Then we land in a year where there is an extremely low number of HC vancancies. A few announcements that the Bills were looking for the “Big Fish”, “Willing to spend Big Money for a coach”, etc. etc. etc. We sat and waited for every one to turn us down. Then they announce the promotion of Nix considering they weren’t vocal about their GM search. A surprise to many, but a favored move by many considering that this was a recipe for success at other franchises. Then Ralph let’s the cat out of the bag that they really didn’t know any other candidates they could knew so rather than spend the first few month or more doing the due diligence of interviewing candidates, they go with Nix and announce it is his job to hire the coach.
Fast forward… they wait to the end of the season… Interview Fewell out of courtesy, dismiss the entire coaching staff (watching April say “goodriddance”), interview Fraizer (who has been the bridesmaid several times in the past few years), and then sit and wait to get rejected by B. Shot, Rivera, delayed and possibly rejected by Grimm. While at the same time other teams hired HC’s, DC’s, OC’s and other important coordinator and position coaches. Meanwhile other candidates like Billick, Cam Cameron, Mike Nolan are out there waiting for a call and could be interviewed anytime.
So here we are on 1/16 with only one real canidate to pick from. (I don’t count Cowher a candidate because if he wanted the job, the job would have been his already… he doesn’t want it and will not be coming here).
I have a REAL HARD TIME with Buddy Nix as GM so far… The guy can’t even get his “known” candidates to interview. Marty and Brian Schott plus Ron Rivera. If he is failing at landing any of those guys that he knows the best, how in the world is he going to pursuade Grimm and Garrett to interview. Nix said during his presser at his hiring that they will go down the list and talk to each candidate. So far that list doesn’t look to good and he going down the same path as the Bills have done over and over again… who they know and not willing to consider anything or anyone else.
Well it is about “TIME” they “START USING THEIR TIME” more effectively. Make a new list!!! Interview canidates this week. What are they fearful of… making Fraizer upset he is being considered with other canidates. SO WHAT! It is called “recruiting” Buddy! Do it!
If this team was imaginative, they would do whatever it took to put in motion a 3-4 year deal for John Fox. I realize they can’t interview him formally because he is under contract, but trade a 7th rounder for him or something. Carolina doesn’t want him anymore, they’d let him go in a heartbeat.
If Fox isn’t a guy they covet, go elsewhere… DO YOUR JOB NIX. Cause so far it looks like “you still haven’t tee’d off yet”.
Maybe Fox has a No trade clause ?
I like the idea, but Fox would have to want to come to Buffalo….maybe he would? If the Cards lose, I would like to see Nix try to steal the Wiz from AZ. He has one year left on his 2.5 mil per year contract, with no talks about an extension so far from the Cards FO. I would love for Raph to give him 6 million reasons to come to Buffalo.
"Do you even hear how totally bat sh!t insane you sound?" - Archer
The great part about poaching the Wiz, besides the fact he looks like he could be the next Bill Cowher,
would be that he might be able to bring a substantial part of his staff with him. Wouldn’t it be un-Bill-ievalbe if we ended up with Ken W. and Grimm!
"Do you even hear how totally bat sh!t insane you sound?" - Archer
Time to be patient
It has only been twelve days — not even two weeks — since the Bills started their search for a HC and already folks are starting to panic. So what if the Senior Bowl is coming up? Buddy Nix will almost certainly be there, along with the other members of the Bills scouting staff. They can gather information on the top prospects easily enough. Having the HC there as well would be nice, but it isn’t essential.
As things stand, it is looking more and more likely that Leslie Frazier is going to be the HC. As Brian has written, he is a terrific choice. Because he is currently coaching a Superbowl contender we may have to wait a while for him, but isn’t it a good thing that he is currently responsible for the defense on one of the strongest teams in the NFL? Isn’t that where we would want out next HC to come from?
Interviewing more candidates makes sense at this point only if Nix really wants them. If he doesn’t, why go through the motions just to make impatient fans happy? Much better for Nix to focus on the draft and FA while he is waiting for Frazier to become available (meanwhile meeting with Grimm and anyone else he would like to check out). Just because we do not have access to his daily schedule does not mean he is twiddling his thumbs.
True, Being patient isn't a bad thing.
Think about this. We are all anxious because we don’t know what is being done. The fact that we don’t know what is being done is also a good thing. The fact that there hasn’t been numerous interviews and interview requests kind of indicates that the list is narrowed to canidates that are still running practices or working the booth for some network. If the cream of the crop rises to the top than lets be patient for top to thin out a bit. Being patient is better than being impatient. Very possible that the decision is already made who the Bills want, but they are not in position to announce yet. They are not announcing becasue the Coach doesn’t want the distraction to overshadow their current committment. We are going to be fine when this is done, we are just allowing ourselves to take to much ownership of the process.
Is it really average talent or just poor coaching, how important is depth and experience.
Rec'd this post
It’s not just the HC, but the OC, DC, all the line coaches, DB coach, QB coach, ST coach as well. That’s a complete overhaul. The Bills’ situation is completely different from other teams where other teams have existing coordinators on contract. The Bills’ next HC has much much more to overcome and do than any other new HC hire in the NFL. Time is not in favor of the Bills.
Also, even we need to wait for the next HC hire due to playoffs, why hasn’t Nix hired a 2nd hand man to be his assistant by now? He ought to be thinking about succession plan, and how to solidify the FO if he really means what he said about “building from the draft”. What about making changes to the FO (especially firing John Guy, who had done a terrible job in free agent evaluation in the past few seasons)?
We are seeing the same indecisiveness coming from Nix as what we’ve seen in the past from Wilson and the FO. This is not a good sign. Not good for the Bills at all!
Bills fan half way around the world
Also, even we need to wait for the next HC hire due to playoffs, why hasn’t Nix hired a 2nd hand man to be his assistant by now? He ought to be thinking about succession plan, and how to solidify the FO if he really means what he said about "building from the draft". What about making changes to the FO (especially firing John Guy, who had done a terrible job in free agent evaluation in the past few seasons)?
None of those things have a timeline. The head coach does.
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