Archives for January 15, 2004

‘I, like many of you, would have preferred a man with NFL head coaching experience – a Jim Fassel or a Dick Jauron. I still worry about the reputation – perceived or real – that Donahoe is unwilling to yield power. I hope that isn’t why he passed on an established coach like Fassel, because if that’s the case, Donahoe is putting his ego above the good of the franchise, and that would be bad.’

‘But add it up, and hiring the 42-year-old Mularkey was far from predictable and easy for Donahoe. In fact, it was rather gutsy given the fact he didn’t do himself any favors when it comes to changing the perception about his lording management style.’

‘Mularkey, 42, will take just one Steelers assistant with him, quarterbacks coach Tom Clements, who will become offensive coordinator of the Bills. Mularkey, however, won’t wait until next fall to compete against Steelers coach Bill Cowher. Their teams will meet in Buffalo next season, but he and Cowher both want to hire LeBeau as their defensive coordinator and, as of last night, there was no word on who would get him. LeBeau was assistant head coach last year in Buffalo and was secondary coach on Cowher’s first staff and later promoted to defensive coordinator. Cowher interviewed Bears defensive coordinator Greg Blache at the team’s headquarters yesterday and could hire him if he loses out on LeBeau.’

‘Mularkey, who was officially named Bills coach yesterday, also wants to take Clements with him to Buffalo as offensive coordinator. Clements has been with the Steelers since 2001 when he helped turn Kordell Stewart into the team MVP, working especially closely with his footwork and other fundamentals.’

‘”I’m happy for him but not surprised,” said Chip Shealy, who coached Mularkey at Northeast. “He was always a student of the game. He would spend extra time watching film and working on designing plays. You know that someone with that kind of interest has a future in the game.”‘

‘Daniel Snyder’s plane, Redskins One, flew to Buffalo to bring some Bills assistant coaches to Redskins Park yesterday, but sources said the aircraft left without one person Redskins Coach Joe Gibbs and his defensive coordinator, Gregg Williams, want to hire: Jerry Gray.’

‘”Neither color nor age are factors if you are good,” he said by phone from his home in Chicago. “Numerical age is just as approximation of your functional age. Yes, I am disappointed that I haven’t been given another opportunity to be a head coach in the NFL.”‘

‘”There were a lot of very good candidates,” owner Ralph Wilson said. “There were a lot of very competent coaches in the seven we interviewed. All of them. You couldn’t go wrong.”‘

‘Antoine Winfield (URFA. Pound-for-pound among best tacklers in the NFL and can cover, but lack of interceptions hurts his chances of signing top deal, particularly with players like Charles Woodson also hitting the market. Bills will make attempt to re-sign Winfield, but won’t go overboard and he has sent off plenty of signals that he’s ready for a change).’

‘The length of Mularkey’s deal was not immediately known, but it’s believed to be four to five seasons for slightly less than the $1.5-million per year average San Francisco defensive coordinator Jim Mora, Jr. received from Atlanta.’

‘Mularkey rescued struggling quarterback Kordell Stewart in 2001, when he threw 14 touchdown passes and led the Steelers to the AFC championship. He also rejuvenated journeyman quarterback Tommy Maddox’s career the following year, when he tossed a career-high 20 touchdown passes as the Steelers advanced to the AFC divisional playoffs.’

‘It’s easy to say the Bills should have hired a guy with head coaching experience. It depends on what “experience” you get. Do you get the Dick Jauron that won 13 games for the Bears, or the one that couldn’t get over 500 the last 2 years ? Do you get the Jim Fassel that went to a Super Bowl, or the one that lost his last 8 games in New York ? One man’s “experienced” coach is another man’s retread.’

‘”What do think his (Mularkey) challenges might be in the next year? Marv Levy: “Well, Stefan, number one, put together a good coaching staff. That is number one. That is the most important thing a coach does. Every successful coach has an outstanding coaching staff.”‘

‘”I’m excited to have a guy like that who has proven to have a great offense the last few years. He is an intelligent offensive minded football guy. He does a lot of different things to trick the defense and that’s exciting to me. It makes it a lot of fun.”‘

‘Mularkey began his coaching career as a tight ends coach and graduated to the position of offensive coordinator, a position he held for three years. A year ago he was a finalist for the head coaching job in Cincinnati. That position eventually went to Marvin Lewis.’