Tim Graham just reported the Bills Coaching Search is on Hold

[cale]

There's a long, rich history of teams denying permission during the season. They feel, legitimately, that there will be lots of time after the season for guys to interview, and that during the season, there is work for these guys to be doing, and that they don't want them to be thinking about anything but their jobs during the season.

 

Also, even if they grant permission, lots of people find out about it during that process, and it almost always becomes public, which causes problems with other guys who say "Why aren't they talking to me?" This causes as many problems as it solves.

 

What they can do instead is make up a list of, say 100 interesting guys for the job, do research, cut down the list, do more research, cut down the list again, contact guys who know those guys quietly and ask about them, cut down the list again, talk to the ones still on the list who are not employed by NFL teams, cut down the list again, and when they arrive at a final list of 10 - 20 guys, settle in for intensive research on those guys, their proclivities and their situations.

 

You also put a list together of what you want in a GM, what characteristics you think would work well here in Buffalo. Then you compare the guys on your list with these characteristics and this allows you to eliminate a few more, maybe and helps you to decide which guys go to the head of your list and which guys go to the end.

 

Then, you gradually put together a list, in order, of the guys you want. You continue research, you analyze the data you've got already, exhaustively, and when it comes time to be able to move, about 12 days from now, you're ready and nobody knows what you are going to do.

 

That's most likely what they have been doing. One advantage is that you're more likely to have an outside-of-the-box candidate or two. You also have great depth of knowledge about the guys you want and why you want them and when each guy will be available and how long you are willing to wait to talk to the guys on playoff teams as guys on your list (maybe) find other work. It's a long, exhaustive process, done right.

 

That seems like a cogent strategy. I'd be happy if this is what they're truly doing. Somehow I think you give our FO way too much credit. I for one, doubt very much that the above is what Brandon et. al. have been doing. I pray you are right.

 

C

[cale]

There's a long, rich history of teams denying permission during the season. They feel, legitimately, that there will be lots of time after the season for guys to interview, and that during the season, there is work for these guys to be doing, and that they don't want them to be thinking about anything but their jobs during the season.

 

Also, even if they grant permission, lots of people find out about it during that process, and it almost always becomes public, which causes problems with other guys who say "Why aren't they talking to me?" This causes as many problems as it solves.

 

What they can do instead is make up a list of, say 100 interesting guys for the job, do research, cut down the list, do more research, cut down the list again, contact guys who know those guys quietly and ask about them, cut down the list again, talk to the ones still on the list who are not employed by NFL teams, cut down the list again, and when they arrive at a final list of 10 - 20 guys, settle in for intensive research on those guys, their proclivities and their situations.

 

You also put a list together of what you want in a GM, what characteristics you think would work well here in Buffalo. Then you compare the guys on your list with these characteristics and this allows you to eliminate a few more, maybe and helps you to decide which guys go to the head of your list and which guys go to the end.

 

Then, you gradually put together a list, in order, of the guys you want. You continue research, you analyze the data you've got already, exhaustively, and when it comes time to be able to move, about 12 days from now, you're ready and nobody knows what you are going to do.

 

That's most likely what they have been doing. One advantage is that you're more likely to have an outside-of-the-box candidate or two. You also have great depth of knowledge about the guys you want and why you want them and when each guy will be available and how long you are willing to wait to talk to the guys on playoff teams as guys on your list (maybe) find other work. It's a long, exhaustive process, done right.

 

Well this obviously didn't happen. I think Mr. Wilson's quote about neither him "or Russ knew the other candidates" was very revealing. I don't necessarily dislike the Nix hire. I'm just not sure it was the exhaustive process it should have been.

 

C