Not head coaches, but Chiefs bringing in Weis and looks like Crennel really is the extension of bringing in Haley so late last year. Now he’s got to the coordinators to improve the team.
Wow - I didn’t see that rumor. I wonder what sort of move they’ll make in the draft. Will they be happy at 5? Or with the new changes, will they want to trade up to get Suh? And if you think about trading up, how much can you give and still be able to keep rebuilding?
This is just great. The Giants hired Perry Fewell as defensive coordinator, so he’s not coming back to the Bills. I didn’t know much about him but I thought he deserved consideration. Brian Schottenheimer of the Jets turned the Bills down, although I didn’t think much of him as a choice. So… still no coach.
I wonder if the Bills would consider Marty Schottenheimer.
The Bears are getting the Heisman from every direction. Fewell disses them for NY, even though he’s friends with Lovie and has worked here before. Bates chose Carroll and the Seattle cash over the Bears. Clements isn’t allowed to chat with us at all. We’re stuck interviewing retreads like Tice and Martz and completely untested guys like Zampese and Fisch.
I expect the offense to sort itself out. There’ll be an ambitious guy out there to take on the job and bring some new ideas to the table. Losing Fewell presents serious issues for the defense since Lovie is almost assuredly only going to bring in a guy he likes and who will run his system, the system that has been the problem.
In a somewhat bizarre move the Bears have signed Mike Tice to be the Offensive Line Coach.
It’s bizarre for a couple of reasons, first he was the Tight Ends coach and Assistant Head Coach in Jacksonville, and since he apparently won’t have any “assistant head coach” title in Chicago (Marinelli already has it) it sounds like a step backwards. Though I admit having the tight ends coach as an assistant HC is more than a little uninspiring and likely meaningless in reality. Tice is supposed to be excellent with developing lineman and the Bears are in dire need in that arena, but it seems like every coaching candidate is “great” when he’s being interviewed and new to the media members.
The other strange circumstance in this is that this means the Bears are adding an O-line coach before they have a OC. It’s not as if this is a Redskins situation with both OCs being hired before the HC comes but you’d have to think that any OC with credentials would want to have a say in his position coaches, especially if Tice’s blocking philosophy doesn’t mesh with a OCs gameplans.
Tice makes for a second former HC coaching under Lovie in Chicago. Tice’s reign in Minnesota was decent and their offense was potent and their pass blocking was pretty solid, one would hope he’d have some skills to help rebuild this line. The same logic failed with Marinelli, but I’m not sure this Bears team will be as resistant to personnel changes as they were on the defensive side last offseason.
Perhaps adding experience to the position coaches ranks, and retaining the WR and RB coaches, lays the ground work for bringing in an unproven OC who’ll simply need to be a Xs and Os guy while leaving the talent evaluation and development to the position coaches. Converting a college coach or QB coach to an OC would be aided by having a experienced support staff.
For what it’s worth, Tice was an EXCELLENT offensive line coach with the Vikings. The O-Line were the unsung heroes of the 1998 team, where the entire left side of the line made the Pro Bowl, and deservedly so. When the Vikings hired him as head coach, I wasn’t alone among fans in wishing that Tice could have stayed on the line, perhaps adding coordinator duties. (It was an open secret that Dungy was going to be available the next week, and most fans figured that Dungy’s ties to the Twin Cities would have been enough to bring him back as head coach)
I’m a big Seahawks fan and this is exactly it for me too. Wait a minute, it was YOUR team, and YOUR offense that played like shit and couldn’t get the damn ball in the endzone. Mare shouldn’t HAVE TO attempt 6 god damn field goals. You should score touchdowns occasionally.
Also, later in the season Mora was talking about the OL having to “get tough.” This caught a lot of the lineman by surprise. Especially since nearly all of them were already playing with injuries. His offensive linemen threw him a rope on a radio show by saying “well I’d have to ask coach what he meant by that, I’m not sure.” I’d have tore him a new one.
The Bills have hired Chan Gailey as their new head coach.
They bypassed Perry Fewell to hire him?! Now the Giants have Fewell as defensive coordinator - a huge upgrade and potential successor to Coughlin. The Bills are dumb and the Giants benefitted by it.
Did the Bills pass on Fewell, or did Fewell pass on the Bills? Is there any short-term upside to the Bills’ roster?
Elsewhere… The 49ers hire Kurt Schottenheimer as Special Teams coach. Mike Nolan leaves the Broncos, and will likely join the Dolphins. Despite the Divisional loss to the Jets, the Chargers extend Norv Tuner’s contract to 2013, and Wade Phillips keeps his job, too.
Worth noting thus far is that none of the really big coaching names being bandied about have signed anywhere.
That’s an awful hire by the Bills.
Its looking more and more like no one wants any part of this uncapped year and potential lock out. Teams are shoring up their staffs even with uncertainty and uneven results and big name coaches are sitting things out.
Who the hell are the Bears going to get?
ETA: The Seahawks have added Green Bay Packers director of football operations John Schneider as their new GM.
How many kids does Marty Schottenheimer have?
Fewell was named interim coach of the Bills after Jauron was fired. Fewell was then fired at the end of the season, but interviewed for the now vacant job - possibly as a fulfillment of the Rooney Rule, because if they seriously wanted Fewell as their coach, all they had to do was NOT FIRE HIM.
I’ve gotta think that qualifies as the Bills passing on Fewell.
Also, if you believe reports that Fewell dragged his feet on signing with a new team as a DC in favor of perhaps ending up with the Bills HC job as candidates quickly dried up it seems pretty clear that the Bills passed on him.
OK, thanks. I wasn’t sure about the situation out there. What about the team’s prospects in the near future?