An examination of Russ Grimm's coaching career

The HC is the guy with the vision, the guy with a system. The guy needs to exude confidence and command respect from his players. Grimm has won Superbowls and his lines have been feared, he’s coached on superbowl caliber teams and coaching staffs – he knows what it takes and the players would really respect him. The HC needs to be able to surround himself with good coordinators that will work within the system that the HC puts in place. I suspect that a guy like Grimm would favor a power running game and really put a huge emphasis on both lines, which is exactly what needs to be done.

He’s been the assistant HC for a few years now in ARI and he’s been a big part of the turnaround there, I believe that that has prepared him well for the challenge in Buffalo.

Grimm is definitely my preferred choice. At this point, Frazier or Rivera wouldn’t be bad either. I have warmed to the idea. Many have voiced that we need to start preparing for the senior bowl, FA and the draft and I would tend to agree. I also have started to worry about the fallout if we wait too long and other jobs become available. Lastly, whoever we hire will need a good staff and the longer it takes the less chances he will have so I guess time is of the essence.

Leslie Frazier is the man!! The Bills better have a contract offer ready as soon as the Vikings win the SB or get eliminated. They better not hesitate with Al Davis and Jerry Jones lurking about.

for assistant head coach, offensive line coach. He appears pretty good at that.

Also, hire Frazier as our defensive Co-ordinator…he seems pretty good at that too.

Now, when do we start interviewing for the Head Coach position?

I think I’m in the minority, but I’m still not warming to either of these guys as HC material. I just don’t see anything in their resumes that I can point to that indicates (to me, at least) they will have success at that level.

And at the very least, if I am going to take a chance on an unproven, first time head coach, I would want that guy to bring some excitement and potential with him. A young, "up and coming" type coach. I just don’t get excited about two 50 year old guys who have been passed up for multiple head coaching positions already.

But sadly, these may be our best options.

Are there any other young, up and coming college coaches out there anyone can think of?

we take some time to really delve into what this all means (the fact that the Bills are getting turned down by multiple candidates)?

Can I suggest articles discussing:

1.) On the surface, each coach that turned us down appears to have valid reasons. But does the collective number of turndowns indicate a bigger problem here? Is the HC position of the Buffalo Bills not as attractive as other HC positions?

2.) If yes, has it always been less attractive? If it hasn’t always been less attractive, how did we recently get to this place?

3.) Would it have been "better" to not even try and go after the "big name" coaches, since if we know they are going to turn us down in most cases, it just re-enforces negative perceptions of the Buffalo Bills?

4.) Are we sure we know that these "turndowns" are only because people don’t want to coach here? Put another way, do we know for sure that Ralph was willing to meet any demands their main candidates had for accepting the job?

5.) Did it even get to that point with Cowher, Shanahan? Did the discussions with these guys even get to the point where it came down to money discussions, or control of player decisions, ect?

6.) If we are willing to accept that our HC position is the least desirable in the league and we have that disadvantage, what can we do about it? Can we trade for a coach? Do we hire unproven, but potential-laden college coaches and hope they turn into the next Vince Lombardi? Or do we hire NFL co-ordinators who have been passed on by multiple NFL head coaches jobs already? Do we hire a player/coach like they used to have in the NBA? (haha, that would be sweet). Do we go with no head coach? Do we spend more on players?

I would be very interested in having these discussions at a later date.

In my opinion Russ Grimm would bring the perfect mentality to this team. He’s a hard nosed SOB and by him being here and motivating the players we currently have and also the players we’re going to have, this will be a much tougher team. On the flip side of this, I have absolutely no doubt after doing some light reading on Frazier that he will definately command the respect of the locker room and he will be prepared week in and week out. To me it doesn’t seem like there’s a wrong choice here! IMO both of these guys are excellent candidates for the job.

Now that the Chargers and Cards have been eliminated from the playoffs maybe if Ralph says “Pretty Please” Rivera an Grimm will make time in their very busy schedule to grant the Bills an interview.

what they think of the Bills potentially hiring Leslie Frazier or Russ Grimm?

After all, when I heard that Bill Parcells was going to Miami and Rex Ryan was going to be the new coach of New York, I was pissed and worried because I knew those guys would have their teams winning in no time. I could just feel it. Anyone else have those same feelings?

I have a feeling we would not get the same reaction from other team’s fans if we hired Grimm or Frazier. Does anyone disagree?

I like his attitude, I like his track record and I like his moustache.

Is he my #1? No, but Cowher isn’t coming, and if he is, it’s not as if they’ll pick Grimm over him.

I’m not too worried about him being 50 or so and not having had a shot yet. Offensive Line guys don’t get as many opportunities as guys who were QB coaches because they’re rarely seen as gurus or offensive wunderkinds (perhaps because they aren’t.) The steelers, an organization that does virtually everything right, thought he was about 99% of the guy they wanted. A guy who was top 2 for them? Frankly, given the amount of respect the job has with the bills in their current position, the steelers’ second choice is good enough for me.

To be frank, though, Frazier is probably good enough for me too.

Everyone else in our division has found a guy who fits their base- Ryan is loud, aggressive and obnoxious. Of course he coaches New York. Belichek is brilliant, scheming and condescending. Perfect for New England. The Big Tuna fits perfectly in Florida because of their well-known love for sportfish. I like the idea of Buffalo getting a tough, blue collar guy to go along with Buffalo as a city.

I’m kind of surprised at how evenly the voting is going. I figured that it would be pretty clear one way or another.

My vote is for Frazier. His defenses have stopped some of the best offenses in the league, who knows better how to beat a good defense (see Tony Dungy, Marvin Lewis, etc.). They’ve also been good for more than one year showing the strength of his scheme rather than average individual players having good years (see Aaron Schobel).

His track record is impeccable.
He developed the Eagles secondary that became one of, if not the, best secondaries in the league inside of four years. Hell, look at what Brian Dawkins did for Denver’s secondary in just one season. Frazier hand-raised the man.
The Bengals’ defense had 36 takeaways in 2004 (3rd in the NFL). And in one year he took one of the bottom 5 defenses in the league, and without much personnel turnover, almost moved them into the top half of the league (19th)
The year they won the Super Bowl, he was named “Special Assistant to the Head Coach” by Dungy and given exclusive control of their secondary. In one year the Colts’s D moved from 15th to 2nd in the league. Truly impressive considering how often teams have to play catch-up to Indy. Not a whole of runnin’ goin’ on if you know what I mean.
And finally, look at Minnesota’s D. UNREAL!! They destroyed Dallas, the hottest team in the league at that time. He held Jones and Barber to 83 yards on 22 carries (<4 per) and sacked Romo 6 times and hit him like 50! But most telling, was the interview with the four linemen prior to the game. All extrememly confident while remaining somehow humble at the same time.
Q: “How do you guys dominate opposing Offensive lines so consistently?”
A: “Coach says Stop The Run and the rest will follow, so that’s what we do!”

NUFF SAID!

8 sacks for a 4-3 DE is average at best. He’s consistently injured which speaks to his conditioning and physical competitiveness. 50 tackles for a 4-3 DE is again average at best. I will give you the forced fumble stat. He is adept at stripping the ball but he is by no means a great DE.

Anyway, all I was getting at is that Frazier has been able to do remarkable things defensively with (until Minnesota) average personnel which speaks to his preparation and the effectiveness of his schemes.

And I realize he started like 116 straight games, he was still injured for many of them, but he never missed time until last year. I am by no means questioning his toughness.