One Thing Clearly demonstrated by the Nix hire

[MRM33064]

If the plan was to go after Cowher they had to have a GM in place. By doing it now they beat Carolina and Tampa in negotiation. They basically have this weekend to make a case to Cowher. They are the only team talking to Cowher right now because Cowher won't negotiate with a team with a HC on staff ..... Everyone has to get over the fact that Nix was an internal hire. He's a great hire. He just happens to have joined the Bills a year ago.

PTR

 

1. If we'd have signed Nix directly away from the Chargers, the presumption would be that the move was aggressive and in the right direction.

 

2. I'd like to think that we're making a serious run at Cowher ... and the indications (even including Jimbo's incessant "Cowher" references in his press conference) seem to indicate we are. I'm not sure why Cowher would choose us over other available options (assuming equal compensation that is), but we can hope.

[Lv-Bills]

That is not true. The reason they went inside is because they needed to have a GM in place ASAP. Think about it. If the Bills went outside they'd have to wait until each candidate's team was done for the season. Once they had a GM then they'd have to look for a coach. You are talking mid-January at best. February at worst. In the meantime all the teams looking for coaches are ahead of the Bills. The Bills are the only NFL team with GM and HC openings.

 

If the plan was to go after Cowher they had to have a GM in place. By doing it now they beat Carolina and Tampa in negotiation. They basically have this weekend to make a case to Cowher. They are the only team talking to Cowher right now because Cowher won't negotiate with a team with a HC on staff.

 

Everyone has to get over the fact that Nix was an internal hire. He's a great hire. He just happens to have joined the Bills a year ago. He's not part of the Jauron/Levy cabal. Even if the Bills went outside you'd be hard pressed to find a GM candidate with his draft resume. So why waste valuable time when you have a solid candidate in house?

 

I remember past HC searches. Everyone here would cry the Bills were taking too long. I remember waiting for Weis and Crennell while other teams were signing candidates. Now the Bills are the early bird and people still piss and moan. It's ponderous.

 

PTR

 

Hardly any of this is true. God, it's mind boggling. And let me say again, I'm ok with Nix, as I prefer to wait and see about this guy. I like the staffs he's been on, but we really know nothing about if he was anything integral on any of them at this point.

 

That being said....let's just correct some things, for fact's sakes.

 

PTR Myth: "If the Bills went outside they'd have to wait until each candidate's team was done for the season."

There are several candidates, that according to their experience are available NOW. You don't have to wait. See 2009 Cleveland Browns. You would have to wait if you were chasing another team's, non-experienced GMs in waiting. So, under those circumstances, we took Nix. But jeez, they didn't even talk to anyone else. That's kind of weak. Although, I guess if you are going the non-experienced route, is anyone out there going to be that much better than Nix. Who knows.

 

PTR Myth: "If the plan was to go after Cowher they had to have a GM in place."

With a guy like Cowher, most likely, if you are chasing him, you approach him first and ask him IF he would want full control. You wouldn't approach a guy like that with a GM already in place, if your GM spot is open. See how Cowher feels about a GM, would he want full control, and if he doesn't want full control, who would he want. If he still seems interested, you may ask him how he would feel about Buddy Nix, or Tom Modrak, or whomever. See if it's doable. Then make a decision on which way to proceed. At this point, if the Bills are going to get Cowher, he most likely already approved Nix being the GM, OR, he already said no, and now it's either up to Buddy to get him interested again, or move on.

 

PTR Myth: "Everyone has to get over the fact that Nix was an internal hire. He's a great hire."

How do you know? How in the hell do you even know to what involvement Nix had on any level with the prior Bills or SD teams? That's his mark of success right? Getting AJ Smith to move back to Buffalo is a great hire. Getting Bill Polian to come back to Buffalo is a great hire. Getting a GM that is currently great would be the only great hire Buffalo could make. OK, so now, back to us. We hired Nix. We hope Nix was an instrumental cog with Butler and AJ Smith. We hope he was good in his job, and provided those guys with insightful information for picks. Butler and AJ Smith are player personnel gurus. They weren't GM's who let other guys do their work for them in that dept. This was backed up by John Clayton yesterday on WGR and by Mike Schopp's SD contact yesterday. We HOPE Nix learned from the best, and provided good insight to help make those other guy's the best. We have no idea if that's the case. Let's hope it is.

 

The only thing we can conclude from this hiring is that we have to be better off than Russ Brandon being in charge of the football side of things. I think that is certain. How much better, is yet to be seen. We will see soon, as he has a chance to recruit staff. We'll see his recruiting skills right off the bat. He'll start to give us indications almost immediately. THEN, let's start to judge this guy.

[PromoTheRobot]

so if the GM was so important,

1. why did they wait so long to hire Buddy as the inside guy?

 

2. If Buddy was the guy, why has he been kept out of the coach search?

 

3. if Cowher is the guy, what is the problem with announcing the Nix /Cowher package at the same time- why the big need to announce the GM now?

 

More likely the Nix hire as GM means Cowher will NOT be the coach as he wants to bring his own people, probably Kevin Colbert from Pittsburgh and he has enough juice to make that happen.

 

4. if the story is as you state, why didn't Ralph read the memo

1) I don't know why. Maybe they only decided this was the way to go recently.

 

2) There hasn't been a coaching search in earnest yet, other than the Shanahan interview. Contacts were made. You know the names.

 

3) I don't understand your point here. Why keep your GM hire secret until you hire the coach? Cowher is no gimme but they felt they needed the GM position filled before the made an offer to Cowher, so he'd know who he'd be working with. Despite your post Cowher does not require GM power, but he has to respect whoever the GM is. The Bills feel Nix is respected.

 

4) Again, what memo? Ralph is committed to overhauling the team but he's still Ralph Wilson Jr, an owner with a history of meddling. He elevated Brandon to the #2 position because he likes him and trusts him. But he still owns the team and it's his toy and he may still get the urge to add his two cents. Brandon's most important job will be handling Ralph while insulating Nix and the staff from his meddling.

 

PTR

[keepthefaith]

1) I don't know why. Maybe they only decided this was the way to go recently.

 

2) There hasn't been a coaching search in earnest yet, other than the Shanahan interview. Contacts were made. You know the names.

 

3) I don't understand your point here. Why keep your GM hire secret until you hire the coach? Cowher is no gimme but they felt they needed the GM position filled before the made an offer to Cowher, so he'd know who he'd be working with. Despite your post Cowher does not require GM power, but he has to respect whoever the GM is. The Bills feel Nix is respected.

 

4) Again, what memo? Ralph is committed to overhauling the team but he's still Ralph Wilson Jr, an owner with a history of meddling. He elevated Brandon to the #2 position because he likes him and trusts him. But he still owns the team and it's his toy and he may still get the urge to add his two cents. Brandon's most important job will be handling Ralph while insulating Nix and the staff from his meddling.

 

PTR

 

 

What the hire does say is that the front office recogizes the weakness in recent player personnel decisions and they have elevated their best personnel guy to improve it. Brandon getting kicked upstairs won't be counted on any longer for player expertise. Polian was a strong personnel guy and less of an administrator.

[Tasmo]

The only thing we can conclude from this hiring is that we have to be better off than Russ Brandon being in charge of the football side of things. I think that is certain. How much better, is yet to be seen. We will see soon, as he has a chance to recruit staff. We'll see his recruiting skills right off the bat. He'll start to give us indications almost immediately. THEN, let's start to judge this guy.

 

 

You better believe Nix is better than Brandon. Man oh man! Can't wait to see what comes next. Could be anything and I am ready baby! Ready for the next move. Love the fact that in all the interview comments we have heard Nix points out the glaring needs of this team without any BS evasive maneuvers like coach Jauron.

 

A vision for a team with an identity that is fit for Buffalo. Go man Go! Oh Yeah!!

[Malazan]

you must be new here.

 

posts like this will really bother the media members that post here

 

in their defense, the Bills organization goes out of their way to alienate the locals and shut them out of all information, choosing instead to release stories to the national outlets. The paranoia runs deep. Not sure why they hate the locals, but some background here would be helpful.

 

Would you give information to organizations that hire the quality of Jerry Sullivan? The same reason the Bills don't give schopp and jerry information is the same reason the Bills don't don't get my credit card information much any more.

[AxelRipper]

ok... so now what are they supposedly announcing on the 15th?

[PromoTheRobot]

ok... so now what are they supposedly announcing on the 15th?

Huh? Details, please.

 

PTR

[AxelRipper]

Huh? Details, please.

 

PTR

 

 

http://forums.twobillsdrive.com/index.php?showtopic=104156

[GrudginglyPessimistic]

Ok, put 100 guys around my basement. Kidnap my wife. Kill my dog. Whatever. The point is if the people with the information don't talk there is nothing to report. There is no one to track at the airport. No one to track in the parking lot. No itineraries to scrutinize.

 

4 men. All within the organization. They can meet whenever they want without raising an eyebrow. If those 4 men don't say anything to anyone - WTF is there to report?

 

I think the criticism in this instance is absurd. You have no evidence that the reporters had any access to any information that would suggest this news was forthcoming.

While it would be absurd to assume that reporters make conclusions or assertions without any evidence (afterall we routinely hear members of the media like Sully and WGR make absurd assertions without any real evidence whatsoever) it does strike me as at least a little lacking in reasonable consumer demand to expect a true sports reporter or journalist to put some shoe leather or phone effort into developing other credible sources beyond the four men in charge.

 

It has certainly been my experience that s mere half decent member of the media would:

 

1. Cultivate relationships with the myriad number of folks at OBD outside of the four good ol boys to get info on what is going on. Granted this will not be the word from on high from any of the four members of the good ol boy network, but simply in order to do business and run a multi-million dollar business there are gonna be dozens of employees with various levels of access to info. It takes work and cross-checking but part of being a good reporter is building and cultivating relationships and we on the outside simply do not see much evidence of results like having so reasonable incite into whats going on at OBD or even simple logistics as a major announcement on the GM issue should come next week.

 

2. Cultivate relationships with the likely several or more employees at OBD who have had their toes stepped on directly or good buddies like Butler, TD, Polian, Jauron, or a bunch of other folks fired. I would simply be surprised if OBD is some wall off fortress impenatrable to a good journalist/reporter given all the folks involved in a multi-million $ enterprise where heads have been rolled on a fairly routine basis over recent years. Particularly when the old boys are made up of geriatrics who probably need help to go to the bathroom much less have a meeting. A good reporter would seem to have lots of opportunities.

 

3. Cultivate relationships with the secretaries who are the real gatekeepers to get to the guys in charge and who know where they are and where they are going. Even when the secretary is unwilling to give up access if one cultivates a good personal relationship even in a conversation about how they are doing for Xmas and the secretary mentioning that they are quite busy during the holiday season because the old man will be in Buffalo on New Years a good reporter can get nuggets of info that may be useful.

 

4. Particularly for a newspaper such as the Buffalo Snooze which has multiple reporters and journalists dedicated to the Bills it would seem that a good sports editor in charge would co-ordinate all of these reporters to assign some the bad cop task of asking incisive questions and even attacking OBD while other reporters would play the good cop and generally write positive things and make a show of protecting OBD folks in order to gain their trust and get info to defend the team from his "evil" co-workers. It is silly folks fall for this but cops keep using good cop/bad cop because it often works.

 

Instead when an enterprise like the Bills routinely seems to operate with opaqueness even though part of their business is to give away info to the public it simply points to a failed media.

 

I do not say this as an attack on TBD, from my view it is actually one of the few working parts of the media covering the Bills. With the help of the thousands of reporters who use the internet it actually is the first place I go to for breaking news because the traditional media has failed once again to predict or even hint at something like the Nix announcement.

 

I tend to view TBD not so much as a source of shoe leather journalism but as a source whose primary advantage is the speed of info transport the "tubes" of the internet provides and the thousands of reporters who use it. It is in fact the utter failure of the traditional media sources of info which actually makes TBD of even greater value as we can longer reasonably count on sources like Sully, WGR, Empire TV or the rest for real news or solid analysis.

 

TBD does have an opening IMHO to fill the gap left by the traditional media to provide more shoe leather real reporting, but I would not expect it to since this would involve some heavy editorial weight lifting and some likely large costs which no no one has quite figured out how to generate from the internet.

 

if one wanted to pursue this course I would suggest actually trying to form alliances with local academic institutions and professors there who may want to teach true investigative journalism. The classes would provide the unpaid person power to collect information and pursue stories, the professors would provide the editorial guidance and teach investigative journalism to the students and TBD would provide an outlet where this work could be published and students would gain practice and credit for doing so.

 

However, all I would love to see as an interested consumer of info about the Bills would be some good reporting which simply refuses to accept that this is all the info that the four guys in charge will spoon feed me and that is all I can do. I have seen much better things done on much tougher eggs than the folks at OBD.

 

And so on.

 

I am not sau

[DCbillsfan]

This media el foldo is particularly odd in that the basement at OBD is to some extent pretty opaque as there is really one ulimate decision-maker Mr. Ralph and he has had destructive relationships with pretty much every alternative info source such as the fired Polian, the walked away Butler, the fired TD, Wade, etc and he has shown a penchant for hiring fellow Golden Boys like Marv and potentially now Nix. I mean the modern NFL team is designed to give info to the public. The media has the place set for them and they were totally unable to squeeze out the barest hint of additional info.

 

I believe that you answered your own question. Wilson is the ultimate decision maker and if he doesn't tell anyone prior to the press conference then how is it going to get leaked? In some ways, the Bills are not a modern NFL team. They went 4 years, sorry Marv doesn't count, without a bonafide GM. For years, Wilson has been criticized by the media and fans for being cheap and making bad personnel decisions regarding coaches and the front office. His reaction to it is essentially, I'm the owner of the team and I'm going to do it my way.

 

This organization has been in a decline for quite some time. Some people point to it starting when Kelly retired in 1996 i.e. no real solution to the QB position since his retirement.

 

Others point to the playoff loss to Tennessee on Homerun Throwback. As a result of that game, the Bills fire special teams coach, Bruce DeHaven, and Wade Phillips hires his buddy, forget his name, who knew nothing about special teams. After one season, Wilson wanted Wade to fire the guy and Wade refused. Wade was fired by Wilson which has since triggered the coaching carousel every few years.

 

Others point out that the Bills have always been a dysfunctional organization yet inexplicably made it to 4 straight Super Bowls.

 

There may even be other thoughts on when this decline began. I look at the Tennessee playoff loss which triggered a series of bad decisions. In addition, the Bills had lost all of their on the field leadership by this time which has never been fully replaced. They have had some good players and leaders since but not enough of them and not enough talent.

 

Hopefully, Buddy Nix as GM is the right answer and will get this organization turned around.

[Bufcomments]

Say Nix was a very fast decision & they announced it on New Years Eve because they are ready to announce Cowher as HC next week after the season is over & they wanted the GM move out of the way...

 

then you have to give Coach Sal credit for breaking the Cowher story.

Why is coach Sal not working for WGR is the question.

 

Please get that bum Schoop off the air and put somebody on the staff that actually cares about the Bills.

[GrudginglyPessimistic]

Hopefully, Buddy Nix as GM is the right answer and will get this organization turned around.

 

My sense is that Nix might well be the right answer if and only if this is a sign that Mr. Ralph is going to back off meddling (as is his right to do as an owner in our capitalist system) and leave the team building to Nix who has a pretty good proven record of picking individual players who perform (I think 8 of the SD draft selections taken on his watch were good enough performers to win the popularity contest called the Pro Bowl berth a couple of years ago).

 

Even more critical Mr. Ralph if he wants good results needs to not get involved in building and maintaining relationships with the men in charge.

 

This is a tall order and difficult to get an owner to do.

 

However, it is clear that regardless of who was at fault that the Bills won despite and probably lost due to toxic relationships between Mr. Ralph and Polian, Butler, Wade, TD, Mularkey, etc.

 

If Mr. Ralph wants to win then he had better simply back off, allow the football guys to build a team and then he can be wheeled out to accept glory when they happens.

 

Many thanks to Mr. Ralph for keeping the team here when there was more $ to be made elsewhere but the simple fact is that when he makes football judgments (only he could make the handshake deal with Jimbo which was based on the false football judgment that Jimbo would have a career with another contract- and other judgments which were clearly all him like firing and arbitrating Wade's contract or he almost certainly had a key role in like paying RJ a guaranteed boatload of $ which made him the starter when part of signing Flutie was guaranteeing him at least a shot) were simply bad football judgments.

 

Mr. Ralph has a right to be an idiot under the golden rule (he who has the gold rules) but even if folks want to blame Marv, Jauron or whomever there is simply one common denominator in the 0 for a decade non-playoff record, That is Mr. Ralph.

 

If Mr. Ralph backs off Nix may fail. If Mr. Ralph exercises his fiscal right to meddle then Nix is almost guaranteed to fail.