I have been following the coaching carousel like most of you. That being said, I have also been keeping my eye on who other teams are interviewing. One thought keeps entering my mind ask I read through the names, "They're really considering hiring that guy." In my mind, I see a ton of names where I think to myself, "If they really go through with it, and hire him, they'll be looking again in 4 years." I was curious if it was just me, or if you guys are thinking the same thing. The names I like that we are interviewing are Brian Daboll and Mike McDaniel. I would be very happy if we hired either one of those guys. The rest of the names would simply be varying degrees of disappointment.
He's my first choice, but based on what I know, he is not being interviewed. If that changes, lezzzz go!
Its a really, really bad year to be looking for a new coach, IMO. Quinn largely had success in Atlanta because Kyle Shanahan was his OC. After Shanahan left, their offense got progressively worse and their defense - which is supposed to be Quinn's strength, was pretty bad most years either way. Dabol was a lousy OC for years until physical freak Josh Allen started having success with unrepeatable sandlot football, and passing the ball to similarly talented but also similarly unrefined Stefon Diggs, who didn't like playing in a structured, more team friendly offense in Minnesota. Dabol has gotten credit for the Bills scoring a lot of points, when I don't see what he's actually done. Take away Allen's running and his willingness to use his canon to make throws that most QBs shouldn't, and they aren't impressive. And so while my strong preference is to hire a coach who's proven to be have some success elsewhere where it just didn't work out for whatever reason, that may not be in the cards this year. I would actually shoot for the Moon, and see if we could swing a compensation trade for Mike Tomlin or Sean Payton, who both are in positions of huge upheaval in their current jobs. Failing that, then I'd look at someone like Mike McDaniel, who's been with Kyle Shanahan for years, knows that system inside out, and is well thought of by his former players. We need to create an offensive scheme that protects our QB and lets him maximize his skills, rather than throwing him to the wolves and asking him to be Superman.
Pederson, Caldwell, Harbaugh in that order. If we go project I find McDaniel intriguing. But I don’t have faith in what we do so…
As a fan you just want to cross things off the needs list. There was a time we thought we had a head coach and hopeful we had QB off that list. And when Tua appeared to be more question mark than certainty, I didn't lose all hope because we at least had a coach we could depend on. How many coaches and how much pain did we have to go through to find flores. And to have to go through this potential multi-coach multi-year search again is daunting. Even when we identify him, there is no certainty that this staff will keep him for the long term. It's crushing...
I'm hoping beyond hope that Ross didn't can a perfectly good coach without a plan in place first. Like he knew he could get harbaugh. Which while still a douchey move to sacrifice a perfectly good coach for another, it would at least not put the whole franchise and fan base in the wind while we struggle to find another solution. Coaches like Flores aren't just laying around, anybody but harbaugh, in my opinion, is guessing at success. And I'll be disappointted as a fan.
I never was into Flores, and I'm not sad to see him go. Different than past coaches, but not better than.
I agree, hopefully he at least had a name in mind. Between him and The Clown (Grier) I hope they find the right guy. Sad part is things won't change until we have a franchise quarterback in place. So unless Tua dramatically improves next season, it won't really matter. As of right now, Pederson would be my top choice followed by Daboll. Eric Bienemy deserves a look too.
Between Ross and the uncertainty at the quarterback position, no... it really truly does not matter who coaches this team.
Good coaches and players can overcome mediocre owners. Look at the Colts with Jim Irsray. He's a complete clown.
Harbaugh is like Quinn, but on the other end. His specialty is supposed to be offense, and yet all that they really did well in SF was hand off to Frank Gore. Everything else was mediocre to poor. His big thing was hiring Vic Fangio as DC, and then using all of the great players that were already there on that side of the ball to a top five defense all four years. Harbaugh didn't build much of anything in SF, and the team got worse the longer that he was there.
I think Pederson could step right in and put together a decent staff. That being said he probably will not be the guy.
Given the idiots at the top making the decisions, we probably won't get Pederson. My only real hope is Ross gets a boner for Harbaugh and hands him the reigns. Otherwise we are doomed to continued mediocrity with no end in sight.
I probably have Pederson at the top of my list, but I'm not even sure we have requested him for an interview at this point. Same with Dennis Allen, a guy who reportedly impressed Grier and Ross the last go-around. I really like that not only has he elevated the Saints D, but he's spent several years working with Sean Payton, who I think is an excellent manager of the team in addition to a top notch offensive mind. Mike McDaniel I am intrigued by, and the Shanahan tree has been pretty bright as of late, but I do wonder if he needs a year or two away from San Fran and calling plays to get fully seasoned. The same goes for the Rams dude I saw we had requested to interview, Thomas Brown. Daboll I'm good with, not just for Buffalo but also for Alabama and learning in Coaching Rehab with Saban. Dan Quinn, Leslie Frazier and Vance Joseph are all super meh to me. I also lost interest in Kellen Moore after that playoff disaster.
My criteria. 1) From a proven coaching tree. (No Belichek clones) 2) First time HC, as SB winning coaches are more likely to be first time hires than retreads. 3) Has a record of success with a variety of personnel (No Gase clones riding in on one year of Peyton Manning greatness) 4) Someone who has been passed over in previous HC cycles, yet has continued at a high level. 5) Former NFL player. I strongly believe that players respond better to coaches who have been in the circus themselves. For me that is Eric Bienemy.
Pederson would be the smart choice, therefore I fully expect Ross and The Clown to go way off the grid and far away from a logical choice such as Pederson.
The only one that made sense to fire Flo for was Harbaugh and it sounds like that’s not happening. I’ve lowered my expectations for this organization back to top 5-10 picks again.
Ugh, no. Enough with the Patriot's guys already. They all suck. Every one of them. Plus he's a dude who literally quit on his team. Eff him forever.
First, he doesn't even call plays in KC. Then there is his arrest record and other misdeeds: September 1993 – “Arrested for investigation of harassing a parking lot attendant” “ERIC BIENIEMY, a San Diego Chargers running back and former Colorado football star, was arrested for investigation of harassing a parking lot attendant at the University of Miami-Colorado University game on Saturday. Less than an hour later, one of Bieniemy’s party was arrested for investigation of hitting a witness during the incident, an arrest report said.” The arrest report offers more details, and this is where things look a bit uglier (emphasis added): “Bieniemy was with five friends in a parking lot when he allegedly approached a lot attendant from behind and grabbed her by the neck. The victim told police the contact was not painful, but it startled her. She said the man also made comments while holding her. She stated that the male who grabbed her said something about ‘a bunch of black males all at once being her worst nightmare,’ according to the report. The victim told police the group of men then dropped their pants and began urinating nearby April 2004 – Colorado recruiting rape scandal This is the big one. From 2001 to 2002, Bieniemy was a lead recruiter and running backs coach at the University of Colorado. Former kicker Katie Hnida told Sports Illustrated that she was raped, verbally abused, and molested. Several other women eventually came forward with rape allegations and reports of sex parties thrown for the purposes of recruiting at Colorado. In depositions taken in 2003 for the lawsuit brought against Colorado, Bieniemy’s name was mentioned to set a pattern of behavior accepted by the university. Bieniemy himself was called by an independent investigative commission appointed by the University of Colorado Board of Regents in 2004 for questioning. He was reportedly never directly questioned, however. 2001-2002 – Marcus Houston bullying From 2001 to 2002, Bieniemy, who was the running backs coach at the University of Colorado, had a strained relationship with injury-prone Colorado star running back Marcus Houston. Bieniemy questioned Houston’s “willingness to play hurt” and caused quite a stir by calling him “Markeesha” in practices. Houston eventually transferred to Colorado State, and the NCAA ruled that Houston was eligible to play for CSU right away (instead of having to sit out a year) because of “extenuating circumstances.” Also, he has a couple DUIs
At least he’d create an environment Watson would be comfortable in…. I didn’t realize he had so much history.
My feelings are that 1) It’s creepy, but not illegal for Watson to have so many massage therapists. 2) the lawyer for the accusers has done dodgy stuff with how he’s filed the cases that I wouldn’t expect a lawyer with a solid case to be doing. It’s a murky mess that I’m not prepared to bet on what the true situation is. Any outcome from Watson being a serial rapist to being a victim of extortion or something in between such as Watson thinking he was paying for happy endings but the therapists actually being legit is viable on what I’ve read.
That arrest record is more than a bit concerning, and I hadn’t been aware of it, as is the bullying issue. The rape accusation is something that makes me furious about the way Colorado handled the investigation, which from what you’ve said seems more about protecting the university than getting to the truth.
May I make a suggestion for those of you who are evaluating/picking your preferred coaches? Take the time to outline what you see (pros, cons etc.) and when you come to a conclusion, try to put down why you think they're the best, what your expectations are based on what you see etc. That way, whatever happens down the line, you can review what factors influenced your perspective and thinking, what things you put too much importance on, not enough, where you were right, wrong etc. It'll be useful to understand your own thinking, tendencies and influences. Just a suggestion.
Not sure how old Caldwell is, but I think he would be good choice. I could see him keeping the defensive coaches and that would be a plus. I don't want to start over on both sides of the ball with a new coach.
I don't see that? He started coaching at Ohio State with linebackers and DL. When he jumped to the NFL it was with the Texans, not Patriots. He coached in Houston until he got the Titans HC gig. He worked with former Patriot assistants, but never under BB as a coach and not in New England.
1. Jim Harbaugh 2. Doug Pederson --- huge gap --- 3. Kellen Moore 4. Mike McDaniel 5. Jim Caldwell Wouldn't be opposed to Thomas Brown either, but I don't know enough about him to come to a conclusion. Daboll is a hard, hard pass.