Our own Tim Graham's take on Bills' search

[reddogblitz]

I really have no idea what the Bills are doing in regards to finding a coach and neither does anyone else. Just because they haven't come out publicly saying much doesn't mean they're not doing much. In the age of cell phones and text messages and email and video conferencing, they could be talking to a lot of people with no one knowing. Just because no ones seen anyone at the airport doesn't necessarily mean they aren't talking to anyone.

[San Jose Bills Fan]

I really have no idea what the Bills are doing in regards to finding a coach and neither does anyone else. Just because they haven't come out publicly saying much doesn't mean they're not doing much. In the age of cell phones and text messages and email and video conferencing, they could be talking to a lot of people with no one knowing. Just because no ones seen anyone at the airport doesn't necessarily mean they aren't talking to anyone.

It's true. As fans, we have very little sense of what's going on behind the scenes.

 

The thing about the Bills' search is that it's been pretty damn discrete. One theory for that is that they are trying to save face as far as the rejections go. A simpler and different theory would be that they are employing the sort of secrecy that NFL teams seem to be leaning more and more towards.

 

What is interesting is that in this day and age of, to quote you, "cell phones and text messages and email and video conferencing" that there hasn't been more leaks as to their intentions and actions. Every additional form of media is just another opportunity for information to be leaked. Yet, there's been very few leaks, seemingly.

 

If nothing else, the Bills in their search have been successful in playing their cards pretty close to the vest. But again, I agree with TG. I think the Bills expected that the search would have been resolved by now.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

Are you saying the reason the Bills can't get anyone to come to Buffalo for an interview is because Shanahan was being paid to sit home and Carroll was dominating the college football scene the past decade?

 

Historically inaccurate revisionism.

 

Im saying the coaches hired were not currently coaching.

 

And how was it inaccurate? John Fox and Charlie Weis went to the Super Bowl the years we interviewed them. We hired Gregg Williams out of no where and we hire Mularkey because we were worried about losing assistants like Jim McNally to other teams.

 

Maybe John Fox is incorrect but I know we didnt wait for Weis.

[bills_believer]

There are some things that should be kept in perspective. First the Bills had two vacancies: GM and Head Coach. I think they did the right thing in hiring a GM. Buddy Nix has quite a bit of experience in working for successful GM's, so I am satisfied with that choice.

 

Washington or Seattle have not made very good choices. Both Shanahan and Carroll are getting GM responsiblities (or the final say over the GM) and there are only a few guys who have done that well. Carroll was not that successful the first go around coaching in the NFL, so you're going to add GM responsibilities too and he'll do better? I am not buying that. Shanahan did not make good personnel decisions in Denver.

 

The other thing is there is no or little competition for head coaches. The Bills can wait until the playoffs are over. Sure I'd like to hear that they have a top notch guy now, but it really doesn't matter as long as it gets done in the next month.

[kodak]

I just asked Darryl Tally on twitter if Levy could handle another run and he said "Marv is content being retired. We drained him."

 

dogonit, I say bring the old goat out of retirement to fix this mess he made, Levy could get a nice piece of the pie and go out with a big smile on his face.( saying to himself where would you rather be then right here, right now )

what ever you're smoking pass it around

[Guest dog14787]

what ever you're smoking pass it around

 

 

Marv Levy led the Bills to 4 straight Suberbowls, he may not be GM material, but he's a good HC.

 

I find it odd Levy has not at least been mentioned as a possible candidate

[rpcolosi]

Wing Man posted this on another thread (thanks Wing Man) but I thought it deserved to be its own topic.

 

I totally agree with Tim's take and it's refreshing to see what a professional observer feels about the Bills' coaching search after reading so many different and misguided opinions on this board.

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/afceast/post/_/id/...-bills-progress

 

While I agree with Tim's take, I should also mention that it's not that late in the coach hunting season.

 

I did a little research to help put the Bills' coaching timeline in perspective.

 

Here are the dates of hire for last year's coaches when an NFL record number of head coaches were hired. Keep in mind that last year's Divisional playoff round was January 10th and 11th. This year's are January 16 and 17th. This means that the date of hire for the below coaches is roughly equivalent to a hire this year if you add six days to last year's date.

 

Put differently, if the Bills hired a coach tomorrow (Jan 15th, one day before the divisional playoffs), it would be equivalent to someone who was hired on January 9th last year. As you can see, no coaches were hired that early last year.

 

Bottom line, it's not that late yet to hire a coach. It just seems that way because we're all on pins and needles. If the Bills haven't hired a coach by about January 24-25, then it's getting late.

 

 

Todd Haley Feb. 6

 

Tom Cable Feb. 3

 

Rex Ryan Jan. 19

 

Mike Singletary Jan. 18

 

Steve Spagnuolo Jan. 17

 

Raheem Morris Jan. 17

 

Jim Schwartz Jan. 16

 

Eric Mangini Jan. 14

 

Josh McDaniels Jan. 13

 

Jim Caldwell Jan. 13

 

Jim Mora Jan. 13

 

 

nicely done sir..

[cåblelady]

So, last year there was an army of guys on the pier casting their lines and trying to reel in the big one. It was a freaking tournament, a competition between some of the best anglers around, all trying to outdo each other. Plenty of fish and plenty of fisherman.

 

Change the scene. Now we have one guy sitting on an old cardboard box with his rusted worm can. He's been there since yesterday at the end of the pier casting his line; he got a "jump" on everybody. He hasn't caught anything and he hasn't gotten more than a nibble. A couple of young teenagers rode their bikes up, cast a line, immediately hooked a big fish for dinner, and took off hours ago. The seagulls are circling the old fisherman and using his head as a poo target.

 

No cause for alarm. The fishing scenes are identical.

Bravo!

[BuffaloBaumer]

So, last year there was an army of guys on the pier casting their lines and trying to reel in the big one. It was a freaking tournament, a competition between some of the best anglers around, all trying to outdo each other. Plenty of fish and plenty of fisherman.

 

Change the scene. Now we have one guy sitting on an old cardboard box with his rusted worm can. He's been there since yesterday at the end of the pier casting his line; he got a "jump" on everybody. He hasn't caught anything and he hasn't gotten more than a nibble. A couple of young teenagers rode their bikes up, cast a line, immediately hooked a big fish for dinner, and took off hours ago. The seagulls are circling the old fisherman and using his head as a poo target.

 

No cause for alarm. The fishing scenes are identical.

 

Awesome, just love it. Great job on this one.

[mrags]

Marv Levy led the Bills to 4 straight Suberbowls, he may not be GM material, but he's a good HC.

 

I find it odd Levy has not at least been mentioned as a possible candidate

 

OMG please no!!!!!

 

A sub par coach with a ton of talent on his team, and the best GM in football for the last 20+ years and he couldnt win one damn Super Bowl.

 

Levy was a babysitter for millionaire kids and did a bad job at that

 

No Thank you

[BuffaloWings]

Im saying the coaches hired were not currently coaching.

 

And how was it inaccurate? John Fox and Charlie Weis went to the Super Bowl the years we interviewed them. We hired Gregg Williams out of no where and we hire Mularkey because we were worried about losing assistants like Jim McNally to other teams.

 

Maybe John Fox is incorrect but I know we didnt wait for Weis.

Donahoe waited for Fox and Marvin Lewis to finish the Superbowl, then interviewed them.

 

Greggo didn't exactly come out of nowhere, since he was the DC for the Titans' highly-ranked defense the previous season. People think he came out of nowhere because Fox & Lewis were the hot coordinators and didn't give much credence to anyone else. Funny, isn't it?

[zow2]

At this point I'd say it's down to Frazier or Grimm as our next head coach unless something CRAZY happens. I'm ready for either of those guys. I mean WTF?!?....let's do it. Other NFL teams seem to think both of those guys will be good NFL coaches so why not us. Take the plunge as soon as the playoffs are over.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

My guess, at this point, the Bills are either ready to hire Frazier as soon he's done in the playoffs. He was talked about being the top candidate for a while.

 

Maybe there's another playoff team's assistant, but other than Grimm, there have been no rumors.

 

 

Let's go Cowboys.

 

We need a freaking coach.

[Sisyphean Bills]

Sisyphus,

 

You don't seem to understand my post. I said I agreed with TG's take which means that I think the search has not gone well so far.

 

I added, because this board is always so sorely lacking in perspective, the dates of last year's hirings along with a correction factor in the form of the NFL schedule.

 

The Senior Bowl is in 2 weeks time. It is traditionally a time where new head coaches look to fill out their staffs. As much as I don't think the Bills' search is going well, I still think there's time left to hire a strong candidate. I would be surprised if the Bills haven't hired a head coach within the next week, unless they're interested in Grimm, and the Cardinals win this week, and the Bills choose to wait it out.

 

If you want to continue your harangue about last year's dates having no relevancy this year, by all means, plow ahead.

 

Kudos to you and your timeline which underscores your point.

Jose, I'm not arguing with you on agreeing with Tim's piece. I'm agreeing with Tim as well. I understand your point and logic about the adjusted schedules and that it's not too late. On the other hand, I was playing devil's advocate and trying to explain that any "lessons learned" from last year's data don't seem terribly relevant. See the fisherman post. The situations are starkly contrasting.

 

My "beef" is more with the comments that Tim is just a "Chicken Little". I don't see comments on the Bills coaching search as "Chicken Little" but more as a bald (and painful to fans) blow by blow enumeration of the known facts of the search. It's not Tim's job to speculate that the Bills have been meeting with coaching candidates in an alternate dimension using new technology to keep secrets. He has to stick to what is known, not wishful fantasy.

 

Now, do I think that the Bills "have time"? Sure. The Bills can wait as long as they want as they are the only opening going. In theory they have the pick of the litter, although 2 other teams have already swooped in quickly to snatch their own big fish. Hope springs eternal. Maybe if they wait long enough, the best head coach will, in fact, be a coach on one of the Super Bowl teams. Maybe if they show patience, that best candidate will feel he has no choice but to leave his current team and come to Buffalo. Frankly, I don't see the logic there nor does it seem to hold up when the Bills have already asked for permission to speak with assistants on teams in the playoffs.

 

All I'm saying is that it would be far more convincing that the Bills are "close" to filling the post if they actually had a few coaches flying in for an interview. There hasn't been a single one. Unlike the GM search, one would hope they don't have to hire the first guy that says, "Well, I guess so. OK." It's not complex espionage. The smoke means there is a fire. The Bills are having obvious trouble identifying candidates that are interested in being their next head coach. /end

[Malazan]

They can't "hire" a guy in the playoffs. What is so hard to understand?

 

I get the media's love affair with turning the organization into the next Raiders. It means they can continue to not do their jobs.

[Risin]

I just asked Darryl Tally on twitter if Levy could handle another run and he said "Marv is content being retired. We drained him."

 

dogonit, I say bring the old goat out of retirement to fix this mess he made, Levy could get a nice piece of the pie and go out with a big smile on his face.( saying to himself where would you rather be then right here, right now )

 

 

Dude, stop.

 

I never want Marv to have his hands on this franchise again, kind of like my feelings about Trent Edwards playing QB for us.

[Red]

Yeah, I'm starting to separate myself from all of this coaching stuff.

 

It will happen when it happens.

 

Some of it seems like a shot at the Bills- and in alot of ways they deserve it for the mismanagement that was the past decade. But I think that alot of it is just being happy where they are (Schott's JR and I think Rivera- though I thought Rivera said that he would be open to interviewing with the Bills once the Chargers were out of the playoffs), or waiting for the ideal situation (it turns out Cowher is waiting for the Giants head coaching job to open up, Shanahan was rumored to want to be part of package deal w/GM Bruce Allen which the Redskins complied with).

 

I would like to see Jim Harbaugh and Russ Grimm as candidates.

[ganesh]

The other thing is there is no or little competition for head coaches. The Bills can wait until the playoffs are over. Sure I'd like to hear that they have a top notch guy now, but it really doesn't matter as long as it gets done in the next month.

 

Also I don't really mind if a lesser known person takes up the HC job. Mike Smith, Harbaugh all were low key hires who went on to have success. The key is the assistants these HCs can hire. If our next OC has the same level of experience as Alex Van Pelt, then we are not going anywhere....That was the downfall of Greg Williams (Sheppard as the OC) and the downfall of Mularkey( Keeping Jerry Gray as his DC)...and Jauron (Piss poor OCs).

 

If it is Russ Grimm, who does he plan to bring in as the OC ?

If it is Jason Garrett, I assume he will also be the OC.

If it is Leslie Frasier, who will be his OC.

[Guest dog14787]

 

Dude, stop.

 

I never want Marv to have his hands on this franchise again, kind of like my feelings about Trent Edwards playing QB for us.

 

 

Marv Levy may have screwed up by thinking Russ Brandon could handle anything even remotely football related , but Levy had the team going in the right direction before Brandon and company took over and drove it into the ground.

[Sisyphean Bills]

Super Bowl coaches:

 

• Mike Tomlin: hired from Vikings. Vikings were 6-10 and not in the playoffs.
  
• Tom Coughlin: hired off the street. Had been HC of Jax. Jax has never appeared in a Super Bowl.
  
• Tony Dungy: hired off the street. Fired from Tampa. Tampa had never been to a Super Bowl.
  
• Bill Cowher: hired from Kansas City. Kansas City made playoffs and was eliminated by the Bills.
  
• Bill Belichick: hired from Jets. Jets were 8-8 and not in the playoffs.
  
• John Gruden: traded by the Raiders and was their head coach. Raiders were in the playoffs, but this is obviously a highly unusual case.
  
• Brian Billick: hired from Vikings. Vikings made it to the championship game.
  
• Dick Vermeil: hired out of broadcasting.
  
• Mike Shanahan: hired off the street. Fired by Oakland.
  
• Barry Switzer: hired from Wal-Mart.
  
• Jimmy Johnson: hired out of college ranks.
  

 

So, none of these guys came directly from a team in a Super Bowl and only one from a team in a championship game.