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Thursday, January 3, 2008
GM, coach searches far from simple
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
The Falcons have three hires to make - two men and one commodity. They need a general manager and a coach, but above all they need credibility.
This franchise, for reasons voluminously documented, is now regarded as the NFL’s least adroit. Even Miami, which finished 1-15, landed Bill Parcells as Mr. Fix-it, while the Falcons let the temperamental Tuna wriggle away. For this flailing organization, there can be no more whiffs, no more Moras or Petrinos.
For Arthur Blank and whoever happens to be advising him - Rich McKay? Ernie Accorsi? Bernie Marcus? - here’s an unsolicited list of concerns/considerations regarding these fairly momentous decisions:
1. With McKay outgoing as GM, Blank needs to be clear about what he did wrong. Draft Jimmy Williams and Jamaal Anderson? Recommend Jim Mora and Bobby Petrino? Sign Joe Horn? Or were the Falcons disappointed that McKay seemed to disappear during the tumultuous season just past? Was his failing one of personnel or profile?
2. With McKay apparently staying as president, are the Falcons looking to hire a real GM or are they simply seeking someone better able to wrangle the draft? Would a seasoned NFL hand - Floyd Reese, recently of the Titans, or Tom Donohoe, formerly of the Bills - come here if he believes Blank’s hand will be on his left shoulder and McKay’s on his right?
3. Toward that end, how many voices does a franchise need? Blank shows no signs of backing off. Even in a diminished capacity, McKay would remain a big name in the industry. Add to that a new GM and a new coach, and isn’t it fair to wonder how many egos Flowery Branch can accommodate?
4. Blank and Co. are believed to be on the road interviewing candidates for both jobs. How exactly do you do that? Do you ask a prospective GM, “Who would you hire as coach?” and then scurry off for an audience with the supplied name? What if that supplied name says he really wouldn’t want to work for the guy who recommended him? Do you scratch both from the list?
5. Given the inherent difficulties of conducting a “simultaneous” search, mightn’t you be better served tabling the coach part until the GM is in place? (There are, at the moment, only two other NFL coaching vacancies.) But if the new GM isn’t going to be a real GM, should you care what he thinks about coaches in the first place?
6. Given that you’re filling two jobs, can you afford to hire someone who has never been an NFL head coach in tandem with someone who has never been an NFL general manager? Even if you wind up with two hot names - Dallas offensive coordinator Jason Garrett as coach and Green Bay personnel man Reggie McKenzie as GM, say - does introducing two newbies buy credibility?
7. If credibility trumps everything, shouldn’t Marty Schottenheimer be atop the list of coaches? (In 21 NFL seasons with four teams, he has made 13 playoff appearances and holds a career winning percentage of .613.)
8. If credibility trumps everything, shouldn’t the aforementioned Reese be atop the list of GMs? (He had an overall winning record in 13 years as general manager of the Oilers/Titans and was universally hailed as a savvy drafter: He picked Eddie George, Steve McNair, Jevon Kearse and, in his final draft with Tennessee, Vince Young.)
9. And if you’re saying, “Gee, what sort of buzz would we get with Schottenheimer and Reese, neither of whom currently holds an NFL job?” … well, weren’t there extenuating circumstances? (Yes. Both lost power plays with their owners: Alex Spanos fired Schottenheimer after the Chargers went 14-2 but were upset in the playoffs, and Bud Adams shoved Reese aside after his GM had just picked the AFC rookie of the year in Young.)
10. If you’re Blank, isn’t this your chance to prove you’re not that type of owner? To show you value competence over the ephemeral concept of “buzz”? To acknowledge that, while fresh faces might be nice, there’s no substitute for hands-on experience? To admit to one and all that a franchise seen as amateurish can only redeem itself by calling in the professionals?
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BCS process is hopeless
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
That makes three duds in three BCS games, and only the Fiesta Bowl didn’t seem a mismatch going in. Southern Cal beat Illinois, which didn’t belong, by 32 points. Georgia beat Hawaii, which was a nicer story than a football team, by 31. And now West Virginia has beaten Oklahoma, which has become to the BCS what Kansas is to the NCAA tournament, by 20.
And I say: Heh, heh.
I also say this, not for the first and surely not for the last time: The BCS doesn’t exist to produce great matchups or even a truly deserving national champ. It exists to give the impression that a deserving national champ will be crowned even though the overarching goal is to preserve the bowl system in all its moneyed bloat.
This is twice now that, apart from the mythical title tilt, a clear marquee game pairing Georgia and Southern Cal was there for the making, and twice now that the match went unmade. The first time was after the 2002 regular season, when Georgia was No. 3 in the BCS standings and Southern Cal had Carson Palmer, who was about to win the Heisman.
Instead the Trojans wound up in the Orange Bowl — couldn’t blame the Rose for messing things up that year — and beat Iowa by three touchdowns, while Georgia handled four-loss Florida State by 13 points in the Sugar. Bad as that was, this year was worse.
I’ve long since abandoned hope that the BCS will ever get No. 1 versus No. 2 right, and now it’s apparent that even No. 3 against No. 4 is beyond its capacity. All we want is the prospect of a really good game, and instead we get Illinois because the Rose wants a Big Ten rep and Hawaii because Fox is desperate to drum up another Boise State. Instead we get three blowouts in two days, and who among us sees Virginia Tech against Kansas in the Orange tonight as the game to right all wrongs?
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