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When was the last time an active Bills Assistant Coach was hired as an NFL Head Coach?


JohnNord
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Thought of this while listening to Brandon Beane’s press conference about Joe Schoen (by the way, Beane put him over like a million dollars)

 

Am I correct, in assuming in was Ted Marchibroda signing with Indianapolis 31 years ago!?!?!?

 

I know former Bills head coaches have gotten jobs after leaving Buffalo (Wade, Gregggggg, Mularkey, St, Doug), but I can’t remember a time when a current Bills OC or DC was hired by another team.  
 

In fact, outside of Daboll and Frazier, I believe that only assistants to even get looks were Ted Cottrell and Jerry Gray…. maybe Elijah Pitts?  

Still, if I’m correct that’s a pretty damning statistic given the state of the franchise over the past 3 decades before McDermott.  The logical solution is when teams fail to make the playoffs if the HC does take the fall, the coordinators do.  There probably wasn’t one who was successful enough to keep his job
 

Also, out of the 4 consecutive Super Bowl trips, how was Marchibroda the only assistant to get a head coaching gig?  


And also outside of Brian Gaine in 2018 and now Schoen, I don’t think the Bills have had someone from the front office leave GM.  

 

 

Edited by JohnNord
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1 minute ago, Jistafan said:

How about Anthony Lynn for starters in San Diego ?


He doesn’t count.  Anthony Lynn and almost all of Rex’s coaches were out of a job after the 2016 season.  McDermott had no plans to bring them back…all but Danny Crossman

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2 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

Mike Pettine by the Browns. After the 2013 season.

Ah….totally forgot about Pettine 

2 minutes ago, Yobogoya! said:

If you aren’t counting Anthony Lynn then the answer is likely Mike Pettine. 

Lynn wasn’t a member of the Bills when he was hired.

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your question points upward as to why there have been a few, as in few and far between

GM John Butler went to San Diego along with assistant A.J. Smith who replaced and became GM there  as well...Butler smoked heavily and died at age 56 from lymphoma, had an unceremonious departure from the Bills thanks to Ralph who also had same with his predecessor Bill Polian (who insulted Ralph's daughter and got the axe) ) so when when Ralphie wasnt hastily getting rid of the winning-talented front office folks (the minority) he was hiring many dregs (Tom Donahoe and company who still work for the Eagles), Marv Levy (GM after coaching), Buddy Nix , Russ Brandon of recent past, and the likes of Terry Bledsoe (1980s crash and burn), Booth Lustig, Harvey Johnson (1970s debacles)....

 

My point is good management is needed to pick good HC who pick good coordinators and assistants.

 

coaches in addition to Pettine who is mostly mentioned...Chuck Knox had enough and left for Seattle back in the early 1980s to become Sea HC and took his DC Tom Catlin with him and he stayed DC for another 9 years !  that rarely happens nowadays

Anthony Lynn, Chargers-Lions-Unemployment Line,

Pete Carroll was a Bills assistant as was Jerry Glanville back in the early 1980s as well and they made it to HC...

Alex Van Pelt was a Bills qc coach and 1 year OC and he made it to the Browns OC but seems stuck as well,

and of course the great Nate Hackett, of all people, is getting HC interviews for his work getting coffee and donuts for Rodgers in GB..

Greg Roman was our OC and is with the Ravens in same but his phone isnt ringing much for HC...

Edited by First Round Bust
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3 minutes ago, 78thealltimegreat said:

Mike Pettine who didn’t exactly work

out in Cleveland 

Who would’ve worked in cleveland with Brian Hoyer, Johnny Football and Connor Shaw under center?  
 

One year coaching and those are your QBs. Shows why coordinators need to be smart about the HC jobs they take.  One wrong choice and you may never have another chance. 
 

not saying he’s a worthy HC, but not many coaches would’ve had success there.  Terrence west, Isaiah Crowell + Ben Tate in the backfield.  Leading receivers were Andrew Hawkins and Miles Austin. Winning 7 games with that O is impressive.

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46 minutes ago, First Round Bust said:

your question points upward as to why there have been a few, as in few and far between

GM John Butler went to San Diego along with assistant A.J. Smith who replaced and became GM there  as well...Butler smoked heavily and died at age 56 from lymphoma, had an unceremonious departure from the Bills thanks to Ralph who also had same with his predecessor Bill Polian (who insulted Ralph's daughter and got the axe) ) so when when Ralphie wasnt hastily getting rid of the winning-talented front office folks (the minority) he was hiring many dregs (Tom Donahoe and company who still work for the Eagles), Marv Levy (GM after coaching), Buddy Nix , Russ Brandon of recent past, and the likes of Terry Bledsoe (1980s crash and burn), Booth Lustig, Harvey Johnson (1970s debacles)....

 

My point is good management is needed to pick good HC who pick good coordinators and assistants.

 

coaches in addition to Pettine who is mostly mentioned...Chuck Knox had enough and left for Seattle back in the early 1980s to become Sea HC and took his DC Tom Catlin with him and he stayed DC for another 9 years !  that rarely happens nowadays

Anthony Lynn, Chargers-Lions-Unemployment Line,

Pete Carroll was a Bills assistant as was Jerry Glanville back in the early 1980s as well and they made it to HC...

Alex Van Pelt was a Bills qc coach and 1 year OC and he made it to the Browns OC but seems stuck as well,

and of course the great Nate Hackett, of all people, is getting HC interviews for his work getting coffee and donuts for Rodgers in GB..

Greg Roman was our OC and is with the Ravens in same but his phone isnt ringing much for HC...


Yeah the thing about Butler though is that he was already fired before he joined San Diego.  
Same thing with just about everyone you mentioned.  
 

Over the past 31 years, there have only been two Bills coordinators - Marchibroda and Pettine- that left the team (voluntarily) to become a head coach.  Still seems like a very small number to me

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You're never going to get top-flight coordinator talent when they know going in that the head coach is likely to be done in 3 years. 

 

When you're in that cycle, it's hard to break out - even with the transient nature of assistant coaching, there's a difference between getting guys that are on their way up, and guys that are just going from job to job and trying to keep up with the real talent in the league

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We've never been on this side of it. We always got crap cs and crap coordinators and fired them every 2 years to start over.

 

Nice to have stability in hc, where coordinators want to go without fear of it being a 2year stint.

 

Add in wanting to coach Josh and Diggs, or the #1 defense with guys like poyer and Hyde, not only being elite, but being mini coaches on the field.

 

The rich get richer, and the poor stay poor in this league 😆😆😆

 

Going to have to get used to this kind of turnover because it's going to be the new norm

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1 hour ago, mushypeaches said:

You're never going to get top-flight coordinator talent when they know going in that the head coach is likely to be done in 3 years. 

 

When you're in that cycle, it's hard to break out - even with the transient nature of assistant coaching, there's a difference between getting guys that are on their way up, and guys that are just going from job to job and trying to keep up with the real talent in the league

We had a chance to break the cycle if we had success with the QB.

 

Wade bet his career (at Buffalo) with Rob Johnson -  Failed 

Greg Williams and Mularkey banked on Drew Bledsoe - Failed 

Dick Jauron went with Losman and Edwards -  Failed 

Chan Gailey went with Fitz -   Couldn't get Fitz to next level.

Maronne drafted Manuel and that was catastrophe that he went with Kyle Orton one year

Rex lined up his chances with Tyrod Taylor and it was a disaster.

Sean McDermott went with TT to break the Playoff vodoo but figured out he was not the guy and drafted Josh Allen 

After reaching playoffs in 3 of the 4 seasons with Allen, the coordinators are going to get hot.   It is the Franchise QB that makes or breaks everything.....  Go Bills !

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