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New TG Story - Bruce and Willford lobbied for Reich to follow Marrone - Russ and Whaley pushed back


Reed83HOF

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Bruce Smith is pleased how it all turned out, but not until years later.

 

At the time, he seethed.

 

Smith, whose Buffalo Bills jersey number is retired, and some of his Super Bowl teammates wanted to endorse a candidate for the team’s coaching vacancy. Bills president Russ Brandon wouldn’t return Smith’s calls.

“I tried to talk to several people,” Smith said.

 

Two sources with knowledge of the Bills’ 2015 coaching search said Brandon and GM Doug Whaley — and, by extension owners Terry and Kim Pegula — were concerned Reich would be too submissive to keep former teammates from meddling with football decisions.

 

“When we would all go out and act like idiots,” left tackle Will Wolford said, “Frank wasn’t with us.

 

“I can see Bruce being frustrated. They wouldn’t listen to him. It was, like, ‘Hey, I’m not asking you to hire my buddy I partied with. I’m recommending the best guy I know who would be the best coach.’ That was always Frank.”

 

“I was pitching Frank to the Bills then,” Wolford said, “and I wish they would have hired him the last time, as well.

“But it sure looks like the Bills have a pretty good head coach-quarterback combo in the works right now.”

 

https://theathletic.com/757350/2019/01/09/we-knew-he-would-excel-frank-reichs-bills-brothers-are-rooting-for-him-even-though-they-couldnt-get-him-to-buffalo/

 

Edited by Reed83HOF
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I like this and the owners have a valid point of concern. I’m not saying it should be a reason to not have hired him, but it’s worth taking consideration. 

 

I’ve always wondered if our Alum was more or less visible than other players on other teams. 

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There was no guarantee the results would have been the same as what's happening in Indy now, it could have easily been a complete clusterf**k 

 

At the time he was a coaching assistant IIRC. He had not had much success as a coach or co ordinator but was viewed as a potential future candidate. It would have made more sense the last time when they hired McDermott, but even then he was still inexperienced.

 

This article just seems like piling on bashing the previous front office while gloating about 'being right'.

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1 minute ago, apuszczalowski said:

There was no guarantee the results would have been the same as what's happening in Indy now, it could have easily been a complete clusterf**k 

 

At the time he was a coaching assistant IIRC. He had not had much success as a coach or co ordinator but was viewed as a potential future candidate. It would have made more sense the last time when they hired McDermott, but even then he was still inexperienced.

 

This article just seems like piling on bashing the previous front office while gloating about 'being right'.

this was my thought too.  i like reich, but i can't imagine he would have the immediate success he's having this year if he started here.  not to mention that there's a group of fans that would have complained that the bills just can't get away from the superbowl years.  combine that with a losing season or two, and watch the anger begin.

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I think it's for the best that Reich never became the Bills head coach.

The pressure on him here would be ASTRONOMICAL. Not only that, but the fear that all of his ex-teammates would be too much of a distraction is probably a real one.

All things considered, I'm happy with how things turned out. 

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2 minutes ago, apuszczalowski said:

There was no guarantee the results would have been the same as what's happening in Indy now, it could have easily been a complete clusterf**k 

 

At the time he was a coaching assistant IIRC. He had not had much success as a coach or co ordinator but was viewed as a potential future candidate. It would have made more sense the last time when they hired McDermott, but even then he was still inexperienced.

 

This article just seems like piling on bashing the previous front office while gloating about 'being right'.

 

This, pretty much.   We are all creatures of our aggregate experience.

 

At the time Marrone exercised his clause and left, Reich had I believe two years experience as the OC of the San Diego Chargers.  After improvement his first year and despite a HOF QB, the Chargers offense was struggling - I think 26th overall in points, 31st in rushing yards.  Reich was fired and went to the Eagles.

 

It's entirely possible that the whole experience of being fired led to reflection and regrouping that caused success when Reich got the chance to work with Pederson and the Eagles.  Possibly he learned something working for Pederson and with Schwartz as DC that is helping him find success with the Colts.

 

Hindsight is 20/20 but we can never know.

 

That said, I will say it is lame not to have at least taken the calls.

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Just now, IgotBILLStopay said:

i still have my eye on FR as our OC 2-3 years down the road:)

 

Good 'luck' with that. The Colts are going to be great for the next 5 years. They have two rookies as first-team all pros and have just as much cap room as we do....

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2 minutes ago, teef said:

not to mention that there's a group of fans that would have complained that the bills just can't get away from the superbowl years.

 

Not so much “complaining” on my part, just a desire to finally let it go.

 

Great times, they certainly were. But this franchise can’t keep living 30 years ago, and it seems like they’re wise to it. Except for milking the jersey retirements the last two years, which I see no problem with for marketing purposes.

 

 We don’t need to know/care what Bruce or JK or whoever would do if they were ‘in charge’.

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1 minute ago, hemma said:

Brandon didn't have time to return Bruce's calls because he was doing other important, personal stuff.

 

Hitting on the ladies lol. 

 

So glad the cancer is gone. Bill's have a great GM and others in the building. As well a HC.

 

So proud for Frank Reich I always knew he is going to be a great HC.

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1 minute ago, HansLanda said:

 

Good 'luck' with that. The Colts are going to be great for the next 5 years. They have two rookies as first-team all pros and have just as much cap room as we do....

But it all begins and ends with Luck's shoulder, no? Also, even if Luck is healthy - given all the assets - if they suck next year, FR may be out, no? And Daboll does so well at Buffalo next year that he is hired somewhere as HC. Then we can have BS and WW once again lobbying to have FR as our OC. 

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