2014-15 NFL Coaching Carousel Thread

Sounds about right.
He was a pretty good shopper at Oregon using Phil Knight's credit card

 

When coaches get that much power, it's usually their downfall.

 

That's been my feeling as well. Belichick has been the exception.

 

I think there are lots of examples of coaches with control of the personnel doing well. Bill Walsh had control of the personnel process. I think Joe Gibbs did during the Redskins glory days. Bill Cowher won a power struggle in Pittsburgh and I think effectively had control through most of his career.

I don't think that it is a bad idea to give control of personnel to the coach if he can effectively delegate the scouting duties. I do think what often happens when coaches get control is that they do not have time to scout during the season. Then they go to the combine and fall in love with a workout warrior and ignore the scouts who actually watched the kid play. For example, Mike Shanahan.

 

It's no coincidence the two guys you mentioned haven't worked in the NFL and/or been relevant in it in 25 years. The game has changed to the point where coaching and personnel duties need to be separated. Even the Patriots have a structure that provides checks and balances for Belichick.

 

It is. But when a coach is making $8 million a year or whatever Kelly is making in Philly and there's a power struggle with the GM or some other exec who is making less than a fourth of that, usually the coach is going to win.

The smart coaches who get that kind of control (Carroll, Reid) essentially bring in someone they trust to handle that role. They have final say, but the GM is still doing what a GM does. The power hungry coaches try to do both jobs and usually fail at both.

 

Wade Phillips is rumored to be on the list for Washington.
Shanahan is on the list for Buffalo.
Sexy Rexy Ryan is on the hot lost too. And
I'm sure Gary Kubiak's phone will ring soon as well.


I don't understand why NFL teams continue to retread failed head coaches. It doesn't work that often. For every Bill Belichick, there's a half dozen Wade Phillips.

 

If the Jets bring in Marrone , essentially they would be trading one of the best defensive minds in the NFL
for a good O line coach.

 

NFL owners are risk-averse types, so that's part of it, combined with the fact that 17 of the last 36 Super Bowl teams had retread coaches (in all fairness, Belichick accounted for five of these, but that list also includes Bill Parcells, Mike Shanahan, Dan Reeves, Tom Coughlin, Tony Dungy and Mike Holmgren, among others).

Generally, an owner that takes a risk may not want to do so again right away: take Tampa Bay, which gambled on the callow Raheem Morris, took a flier on a martinet with head-coaching experience, albeit in college (Greg Schiano), and finally settled on the tested Lovie Smith -- who was then responsible for a worse season that Morris or Schiano ever logged, although it might finally get them off a 39-season quarterback carousel.

Phillips is on Washington's radar for defensive coordinator, a position at which he excels more often than not. He's worked in some dysfunctional organizations (Dallas, the Mecom-era Saints, San Diego), but nothing has prepared him for the carnival of chaos based in Ashburn, Va. Even there, he'll provide the defense a veneer of professionalism and creativity it never had with Haslett.

Buffalo reached out to Shanahan after the 2009 season, and the two sides met, but Shanahan opted for Washington. Shanahan realizes he can't choose his job this time around. He's desperate to get back in, because he believes he's one Super Bowl win away from the Hall of Fame, among other reasons, but knows other names are hotter, and he has to take the first offer.

I'm sure Shanahan will write off his Washington years as the product of an organization that makes your average Third World junta look functional by comparison, but he's going to need a good explanation for 116-114 (including playoffs) in his 14 post-Elway seasons. On the positive side, I had a nice meal on someone else's expense account at his Denver-area steakhouse two years ago.

 

The success of Caldwell, Carroll, Coughlin, and Fox (and to a lesser extent Reid) in recent years has encouraged the retreads. Me? I'd be looking at a long-time assistant like Arians, Mike Zimmer or the countless other coordinators who might not be "hot" or "young" but know how to coach a team.

 

Josh McDaniels has been interviewing for all of these jobs, too.

 

I'm riding shotgun on the Darrell Bevell bandwagon. Last year it was the Mike Zimmer bandwagon, so I don't think I'm doing too poorly