Ex-Tech coach Gailey gets chance with Bills
The past 10 years have not been kind to Chan Gailey or the Buffalo Bills.
Together, they hope the next one goes better.
Gailey, a former Georgia Tech coach and a native Georgian, likely has received his last chance to be an NFL head coach Tuesday when he was hired by Buffalo, which has not been to the playoffs in 10 years.
"The challenge [is] to get the Buffalo Bills back to a winning franchise on a consistent basis, and that is the plan," said Gailey, 58, at a news conference Tuesday in Orchard Park, N.Y.
The Bills are counting on Gailey to be more like the coach who was hailed as an offensive whiz in the 1990s and less like the one who was fired from his past two jobs, as Tech's coach after six seasons in 2007 and then as Kansas City's offensive coordinator late in the 2009 preseason.
"You learn from every experience," said former Falcons coach Dan Reeves, who coached Gailey in Little League baseball in Americus and gave him his first NFL job with the Denver Broncos. "Sometimes, you learn more from an experience that didn't turn out the way you wanted it to."
A cynic would say that, in that case, Gailey has learned a great deal.
While Gailey went 44-32 at Tech from 2002-07, the Jackets went 0-6 against Georgia and never won 10 games or finished in the top 25.
In 2008, his one season as Kansas City's offensive coordinator, the Chiefs ranked 24th in total offense and 26th in points. First-year coach Todd Haley fired him two weeks before the 2009 season started.
Gailey's stock had fallen far from its highs in the '90s, when he won praise as the Pittsburgh offensive coordinator for developing quarterback Kordell Stewart into the triple-threat "Slash" and then a 3,000-yard passer.
Dallas hired him as its coach in 1998. Gailey led the Cowboys to an 18-14 record over two seasons with two playoff appearances, after which he was fired. This past fall, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he regrets not giving Gailey more time.
Reeves said that when he and Gailey spoke a month or so ago, Gailey spoke broadly of wanting another NFL job but didn't specify a head coaching position "because we didn't know if that would happen," Reeves said.
Gailey got the Buffalo job after several candidates reportedly turned down the Bills.
"If you sit there and say, ‘Do you lose confidence and lose belief in yourself?' " Gailey asked. "No, you don't. But do you see opportunities going by? Sure, you do."
Gailey inherits a team that went 6-10 and ranked 30th in the NFL in total offense and 19th in total defense. Quarterbacks Trent Edwards and Ryan Fitzpatrick had passer ratings of 73.8 and 69.7, respectively.
The hire, which has been widely panned, does have its supporters. Former Tech All-American defensive end Michael Johnson, who just finished his rookie season with Cincinnati, was genuinely excited for his former coach.
"Good things happen to good people," he said. "I'm happy for him. ... Hopefully they can do good except when they play us."
About the Author
Ken Sugiura is a sports columnist at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Formerly the Georgia Tech beat reporter, Sugiura started at the AJC in 1998 and has covered a variety of beats, mostly within sports.
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