Chan Gailey

[jobycom]

The new Buffalo Bills head coach. I guess Ray Handley turned them down?

He's a nice guy, hope he does well.

[Wapsie B]

1. Coaching fraternity musical chairs.

Once your in the brotherhood you're in for life it seems.

[jobycom]

2. Funny thing is, the only owner who really liked to hire new coaches was Jerry Jones.

He brought Jimmy Johnson into the NFL, then Barry Switzer, then gave Chan Gailey his first head coaching job, then Dave Campo... Then everyone started complaining that he was always gambling on new coaches, so he hired Parcells and then Phillips, and hasn't had a lot better luck with the veterans as the new guys.

Gailey was a nice guy with the Cowboys. He took over as the team was in a decline. Their stars were getting older, they lost a lot to free agency, and they had tried to hire or trade for key veterans to plug holes, and the veterans weren't working out. So Jones gave Gailey two years, then fired him because Jones felt he was running out of time with the main stars on the team, and wanted someone who could win then. He later said he made a mistake, he should have let Chan have more time.

So maybe Gailey will be good for the Bills, and vice versa.

[Wapsie B]

3. As long as the head coach is more of an administrator and finds good assistants

such as many D-I college coaches he should do ok. But if he's got a dimwit GM running things all bets are off. A good GM who knows the game is priceless in sports.

[jobycom]

5. Coaches have to know enough to judge what the assistants are doing.

It's like any executive job--an executive who just lets his assistants do everything will wind up with a lot of confusion and no consistent system.

GMs are hard to figure. Jerry Jones was the GM of the Cowboys when they won three Super Bowls, and when they went on their long dry streak. Some people credit Jimmy Johnson with their success, but Johnson never succeeded in the NFL after that, and Jones reached a Super Bowl without him, and has had a couple of goos seasons lately. I think it takes a combination of a lot of factors, and it probably varies--a strong head coach can handle weak assistants, strong assistants can make a bad head coack look better, a GM who works well with one coach may clash with another... And that's not even getting into the players. :)

What's interesting about Buffalo is how many people turned them down, which is rumored to mean that no one wants to work with the Buffalo owners. Then again, Chan has experience working with meddlesome cantankerous owners.

[TZ]

4. Sometimes hiring a "fresh face" isn't all thats its cracked up to be

See: Jim Zorn.

[jobycom]

6. No, but Jones didn't hire people without some experience,

Chan Gailey was a very successful OC, Dave Campo was the Cowboys DC and had run the top ranked defense in the NFL for years, Barry and Jimmy were highly successful college coaches.

Zorn was hired off the street. I think everyone liked Zorn, but I doubt anyone really thought he would do well with no coaching experience at all.

[livetohike]

7. He was a good OC while in Pgh. under Cowher in the mid

90's and teams couldn't wait to hire him away back in those days.