BillsNYC Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 You know, I usually agree with most of what Sully says in his columns, but the one this morning has me irked. In it he says we need to cut lose Modrak and Guy (True), bring in an established HC (True), and a real football man at GM (true). All great, but then he says to elevate Brandon to President. Brandon to President? Huh? 1) He's a sales/marketing guy, not a football man and should not be running this organization. Name the Sales/Marketing department after him, put a statue of him in there, but for the love of god he should not be at the top of the leadership pyramid. 2) What established GM would come in here and report to Brandon? None would because they know what he is, a Wilson pawn and a glorified used car salesman. 3) Brandon stands next to big free agents with a smile, answers questions about Toronto, and we see him when there's good news. Once the crap hits the fan, the guy vanishes, where's he been the last month? He hasn't been held accountable. In fact, where was he last night? I was shocked to see Fewell walk right up to the podium. If anything, Brandon should either be demoted as he has no accountability, or transferred back to his Sales/Marketing office and told to stay there. If they want, have him run the business side and retain his title and let the new GM be in the spotlight with all football decisions. But in no way should any organizational chart have an arrow pointing from the GM to Brandon, unless its pointing down at him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Turk Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 2) What established GM would come in here and report to Brandon? None would because they know what he is, a Wilson pawn and a glorified used car salesman. Probably most of them. That's how things work in the real world. People responsible for certain tasks report to other people who may or may not be familiar with how to do that task, especially in a business environment, because let's face it, if the person hiring them was capable of doing their job, there would be no need for them to hire the person in the first place. This isn't the Salvation Army---they aren't hiring a person just because the economy is bad and they feel like putting a few dollars in the guy's pockets around the holidays. And make no mistake about it. This is a business first and foremost. If the GM is fully responsible for the football decisions on the team, and Brandon is responsible for the GM performance and the financial aspects of the team, along with various other non-football related things, I am not sure what the problem would be. If anything that would be a perfect situation. Why would a football guy want the additional responsibilities of dealing with all the mundane financial, employee related, ticket sales, etc parts of the job when he is being brought in to help secure talent and win football games? We are not in fantasyland here. There are no flying unicorns here. Your point either shows a lack of understanding of how businesses operate in the real world or you don't understand that the Buffalo Bills are a business entity first and foremost whose product they are selling is football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coach Tuesday Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 You're confused. Well-intentioned, but confused. The move makes perfect sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed83HOF Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 Probably most of them. That's how things work in the real world. People responsible for certain tasks report to other people who may or may not be familiar with how to do that task, especially in a business environment, because let's face it, if the person hiring them was capable of doing their job, there would be no need for them to hire the person in the first place. This isn't the Salvation Army---they aren't hiring a person just because the economy is bad and they feel like putting a few dollars in the guy's pockets around the holidays. And make no mistake about it. This is a business first and foremost. If the GM is fully responsible for the football decisions on the team, and Brandon is responsible for the GM performance and the financial aspects of the team, along with various other non-football related things, I am not sure what the problem would be. If anything that would be a perfect situation. Why would a football guy want the additional responsibilities of dealing with all the mundane financial, employee related, ticket sales, etc parts of the job when he is being brought in to help secure talent and win football games? We are not in fantasyland here. There are no flying unicorns here. Your point either shows a lack of understanding of how businesses operate in the real world or you don't understand that the Buffalo Bills are a business entity first and foremost whose product they are selling is football. Great Post This is a good position for Brandon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flomoe Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 Probably most of them. That's how things work in the real world. People responsible for certain tasks report to other people who may or may not be familiar with how to do that task, especially in a business environment, because let's face it, if the person hiring them was capable of doing their job, there would be no need for them to hire the person in the first place. This isn't the Salvation Army---they aren't hiring a person just because the economy is bad and they feel like putting a few dollars in the guy's pockets around the holidays. And make no mistake about it. This is a business first and foremost. If the GM is fully responsible for the football decisions on the team, and Brandon is responsible for the GM performance and the financial aspects of the team, along with various other non-football related things, I am not sure what the problem would be. If anything that would be a perfect situation. Why would a football guy want the additional responsibilities of dealing with all the mundane financial, employee related, ticket sales, etc parts of the job when he is being brought in to help secure talent and win football games? We are not in fantasyland here. There are no flying unicorns here. Your point either shows a lack of understanding of how businesses operate in the real world or you don't understand that the Buffalo Bills are a business entity first and foremost whose product they are selling is football. +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GG Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 Probably most of them. That's how things work in the real world. People responsible for certain tasks report to other people who may or may not be familiar with how to do that task, especially in a business environment, because let's face it, if the person hiring them was capable of doing their job, there would be no need for them to hire the person in the first place. This isn't the Salvation Army---they aren't hiring a person just because the economy is bad and they feel like putting a few dollars in the guy's pockets around the holidays. And make no mistake about it. This is a business first and foremost. If the GM is fully responsible for the football decisions on the team, and Brandon is responsible for the GM performance and the financial aspects of the team, along with various other non-football related things, I am not sure what the problem would be. If anything that would be a perfect situation. Why would a football guy want the additional responsibilities of dealing with all the mundane financial, employee related, ticket sales, etc parts of the job when he is being brought in to help secure talent and win football games? We are not in fantasyland here. There are no flying unicorns here. Your point either shows a lack of understanding of how businesses operate in the real world or you don't understand that the Buffalo Bills are a business entity first and foremost whose product they are selling is football. Yeah and for that matter, what in the world does a telecom guy know about cars, since you have one running GM? Haven't read the Sully piece yet, but rearranging the front office where Brandon is President of the entire Bills' operations and has a football GM reporting to him, with everybody on the football side reporting to the GM makes a lot of sense. A big, I'd say the main, part of Bills problems is that after firing Donahoe, Wilson never put an organizational structure in place where people were truly accountable for their decisions. That's why Levy gets the blame for the last 3 years, but there's nothing to suggest that he was the one pulling the triggers on the moves. Instead you have 4-5 guys with personal fiefdoms and nobody coordinating the personnel decisions that make sense for the team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvermike Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 There are basically two options for who's going to be in charge of building football operations in Buffalo: Ralph Wilson or Russ Brandon. Whoever comes in - even if it's Cowher or Shanahan - is going to be hired by one of those two guys. I'd be much more confident with Brandon running that operation than Ralph. Cowher's not getting the deed to the team, he's going to have to report to someone. I think Brandon would be a better boss, who's probably more likely to defer to the coach than the owner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrags Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 Probably most of them. That's how things work in the real world. People responsible for certain tasks report to other people who may or may not be familiar with how to do that task, especially in a business environment, because let's face it, if the person hiring them was capable of doing their job, there would be no need for them to hire the person in the first place. This isn't the Salvation Army---they aren't hiring a person just because the economy is bad and they feel like putting a few dollars in the guy's pockets around the holidays. And make no mistake about it. This is a business first and foremost. If the GM is fully responsible for the football decisions on the team, and Brandon is responsible for the GM performance and the financial aspects of the team, along with various other non-football related things, I am not sure what the problem would be. If anything that would be a perfect situation. Why would a football guy want the additional responsibilities of dealing with all the mundane financial, employee related, ticket sales, etc parts of the job when he is being brought in to help secure talent and win football games? We are not in fantasyland here. There are no flying unicorns here. Your point either shows a lack of understanding of how businesses operate in the real world or you don't understand that the Buffalo Bills are a business entity first and foremost whose product they are selling is football. ^^^^^What he said Ive been saying that for a year now. Make Brandon in charge of the money and marketing aspect of it. Hire a new GM to take care of the football side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsNYC Posted November 18, 2009 Author Share Posted November 18, 2009 As I said, I have no problem with Brandon handling the biz side and GM handling the football side. However I dont feel Brandon should be named President, a title only Wilson himself and TD have held. I also said the GM should not report to Brandon in any capacity. Finally, I can't believe that Brandon is even leading the GM search. Unicorns? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kettle Creek Football Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 Football guys, when they become GM, complain about the same things... they want to deal with players, coaches, scouts, etc. They DON'T want to deal with sales, marketing, parking, concession stands, partnership agreements, PR, etc. So, let Brandon take care of the biz, let Cowher, Schottenheimer, Fewell, AVP, (ie, any "football guy") or whomever, take care of the football-only stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bananathumb Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 Next firing MUST be Brandon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reed83HOF Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 As I said, I have no problem with Brandon handling the biz side and GM handling the football side. However I dont feel Brandon should be named President, a title only Wilson himself and TD have held. I also said the GM should not report to Brandon in any capacity. Finally, I can't believe that Brandon is even leading the GM search. Unicorns? Brandon is the COO, Ralph is 90 or 91 (I can't remember, but he's old)... who would you want leading the search?? Modrak, Littman, Guy or the invisible man? Ralph being 90 isn't going to do all the leg work. In the end it will be Ralph's call. Having a background in marketing/sales and being good at it, ought to help Brandon sniff out the bulls%&ers and sell the GM job here to a good qualified person. Not to mention Brandon is the brains behind the regionalization of this team and that is what has helped it stay in Buffalo as long as it has. That kind of vision and the ability to pull it off is what you need in a President of an organization. He created a vision, the necessary goals needed to acheive it and carried it out with success. That is the type of person I want leading my organization... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 Next firing MUST be Brandon. Woah, there Speedy! Next Firings MUST be Modrak and Guy. We'll need Brandon to sell tickets to it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RayFinkle Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 As I said, I have no problem with Brandon handling the biz side and GM handling the football side. However I dont feel Brandon should be named President, a title only Wilson himself and TD have held. I also said the GM should not report to Brandon in any capacity. Finally, I can't believe that Brandon is even leading the GM search. Unicorns? Have you seen Ralph recently? He is clearly in no position to run the organization and needs somebody he trusts at the helm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleed Bills Blue Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 ...rearranging the front office where Brandon is President of the entire Bills' operations and has a football GM reporting to him, with everybody on the football side reporting to the GM makes a lot of sense. Absolutely. Sorry to rubber stamp the majority here, but I strongly agree with this. Let's just pray this is the first correct step in a long series of correct steps which restores our credibility in the league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsFan74 Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 You know, I usually agree with most of what Sully says in his columns, but the one this morning has me irked. In it he says we need to cut lose Modrak and Guy (True), bring in an established HC (True), and a real football man at GM (true). All great, but then he says to elevate Brandon to President. Brandon to President? Huh? 1) He's a sales/marketing guy, not a football man and should not be running this organization. Name the Sales/Marketing department after him, put a statue of him in there, but for the love of god he should not be at the top of the leadership pyramid. 2) What established GM would come in here and report to Brandon? None would because they know what he is, a Wilson pawn and a glorified used car salesman. 3) Brandon stands next to big free agents with a smile, answers questions about Toronto, and we see him when there's good news. Once the crap hits the fan, the guy vanishes, where's he been the last month? He hasn't been held accountable. In fact, where was he last night? I was shocked to see Fewell walk right up to the podium. If anything, Brandon should either be demoted as he has no accountability, or transferred back to his Sales/Marketing office and told to stay there. If they want, have him run the business side and retain his title and let the new GM be in the spotlight with all football decisions. But in no way should any organizational chart have an arrow pointing from the GM to Brandon, unless its pointing down at him. I disagree, having Brandon as President would not be a bad idea. He would develop the overall plan for the franchise ILO RW and allow the GM to execute the plan...sounds like a better option than what we have had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperKillerRobots Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 You know, I usually agree with most of what Sully says in his columns, but the one this morning has me irked. In it he says we need to cut lose Modrak and Guy (True), bring in an established HC (True), and a real football man at GM (true). All great, but then he says to elevate Brandon to President. Brandon to President? Huh? 1) He's a sales/marketing guy, not a football man and should not be running this organization. Name the Sales/Marketing department after him, put a statue of him in there, but for the love of god he should not be at the top of the leadership pyramid. 2) What established GM would come in here and report to Brandon? None would because they know what he is, a Wilson pawn and a glorified used car salesman. 3) Brandon stands next to big free agents with a smile, answers questions about Toronto, and we see him when there's good news. Once the crap hits the fan, the guy vanishes, where's he been the last month? He hasn't been held accountable. In fact, where was he last night? I was shocked to see Fewell walk right up to the podium. If anything, Brandon should either be demoted as he has no accountability, or transferred back to his Sales/Marketing office and told to stay there. If they want, have him run the business side and retain his title and let the new GM be in the spotlight with all football decisions. But in no way should any organizational chart have an arrow pointing from the GM to Brandon, unless its pointing down at him. I think the idea was that he would run the business side of the organization as the President of the team (currently a title held by Wilson) and would then have a say in hiring a GM. I don't think he meant that the football decisions would go through him. Also, what makes you think a GM wouldn't report to Brandon? I would venture a guess that pretty much every team has a pencil-pusher (bean-counter if you will) above the GM, who is responsible for signing his checks, overseeing stadium contracts, manging the stadium workforce, and doing projections. The Bills are a multimillion dollar corporation and though most fans only think about the football related guys, there are probably twice as many on the payroll who have what you might call corporate jobs. I think what Sully was trying to get to was that Wilson should have Brandon oversee the Bills instead of him. Not that Brandon should get more power on the football side of things. I don't think he ever was GM - he was just the guy who they threw out there for photo opts. He was one voice in a chorus of concensus. My guess is that DJ had mor esay over personnel than he did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Poojer Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 Exactly....being a president of a company doesn't necessarily mean you are a football expert....being a president of a company means you are able to steer people that are the experts in the right direction for the good of the company....people managing skills are what is important at that level...not football knowledge... Probably most of them. That's how things work in the real world. People responsible for certain tasks report to other people who may or may not be familiar with how to do that task, especially in a business environment, because let's face it, if the person hiring them was capable of doing their job, there would be no need for them to hire the person in the first place. This isn't the Salvation Army---they aren't hiring a person just because the economy is bad and they feel like putting a few dollars in the guy's pockets around the holidays. And make no mistake about it. This is a business first and foremost. If the GM is fully responsible for the football decisions on the team, and Brandon is responsible for the GM performance and the financial aspects of the team, along with various other non-football related things, I am not sure what the problem would be. If anything that would be a perfect situation. Why would a football guy want the additional responsibilities of dealing with all the mundane financial, employee related, ticket sales, etc parts of the job when he is being brought in to help secure talent and win football games? We are not in fantasyland here. There are no flying unicorns here. Your point either shows a lack of understanding of how businesses operate in the real world or you don't understand that the Buffalo Bills are a business entity first and foremost whose product they are selling is football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sisyphean Bills Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 Brandon as President would not necessarily be a bad move if 1) he hires someone else to run the football side of the business, 2) he takes on all the non-football stuff to help whoever is running the football side, 3) he is Ralph's go-to guy and in essence is the one guy that Ralph calls daily to check up on how things are going, and 4) he has the ability to overrule the bean counters as needed to make the team competitive (sometimes you have to spend a little jack to make more back). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malazan Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 Everything I've heard is that Brandon wasn't *asking* to have to be involved with making football decisions and given the power structure, it's like Guy, Modrak and Overdorf were responsible for the decision. Brando takes the heat since he's at the top, but it seems that given the opportunity, he pushed to bring in a "football" guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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