GM and Coach duties

[beerme1]

So different sport, hockey, but I'm listening to a podcast, The Sheet with DJeff Marek Daily Faceoff and they have former GM Pierre McGuire on talking about the firing of the Leafs GM.

 

He says, you can't nepo hire and only get people you know or have worked with. It doesn't work and everyone gets fired.

Also said you can't have your coach involved with picking players. Coaches make lousy scouts.

 

It just struck me as huh, that's exactly what we're doing with the Bills. Found it amusing.

[Big Turk]

7 minutes ago, beerme1 said:

So different sport, hockey, but I'm listening to a podcast, The Sheet with DJeff Marek Daily Faceoff and they have former GM Pierre McGuire on talking about the firing of the Leafs GM.

 

He says, you can't nepo hire and only get people you know or have worked with. It doesn't work and everyone gets fired.

Also said you can't have your coach involved with picking players. Coaches make lousy scouts.

 

It just struck me as huh, that's exactly what we're doing with the Bills. Found it amusing.

 

I mean, it worked out OK for Bill Belichick for the majority of the 20 years he was there.  Towards the end, he was the problem in terms of picking players, but he also went to half the SBs, winning 6 over a 20-year period.

[DrDawkinstein]

 

How many Super Bowls has Pierre McGuire won?

[DrDawkinstein]

Pierre McGuire: You need to keep coaching and GM duties separate!

 

Also Pierre McGuire:

McGuire joined the Hartford Whalers on August 28, 1992, as an assistant coach; on September 8, 1993, he became the team's assistant general manager.[15] On November 16, 1993, McGuire was named head coach of the Whalers, replacing Paul Holmgren. Holmgren had stepped aside due to frustration with insufficient effort from his players and a desire to focus on his role as the team's general manager.

Following his departure from the Whalers, McGuire became a scout with the Ottawa Senators. On November 22, 1995, he was promoted to the position of assistant coach.

 

[US Egg]

Lindy is a nepo hire.

[JPL7]

36 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

Pierre McGuire: You need to keep coaching and GM duties separate!

 

Also Pierre McGuire:

McGuire joined the Hartford Whalers on August 28, 1992, as an assistant coach; on September 8, 1993, he became the team's assistant general manager.[15] On November 16, 1993, McGuire was named head coach of the Whalers, replacing Paul Holmgren. Holmgren had stepped aside due to frustration with insufficient effort from his players and a desire to focus on his role as the team's general manager.

Following his departure from the Whalers, McGuire became a scout with the Ottawa Senators. On November 22, 1995, he was promoted to the position of assistant coach.

 

That’s why he now knows better 

[Simon]

46 minutes ago, US Egg said:

Lindy is a nepo hire.

 

His Dad used to play for the Sabres

 

[beerme1]

8 hours ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

How many Super Bowls has Pierre McGuire won?

 

How many have we won and are you confident in this season?

7 hours ago, US Egg said:

Lindy is a nepo hire.

 

Lol that's true.

 

Edited April 1 by beerme1

[Sierra Foothills]

This is a gross oversimplification by McGuire.

 

GM/HC tandems must be collaborative. Their chances of success are much greater working with each other as opposed to firewalling their scopes of work and working independently of each other.

 

I think the real crux is that some GM/HC tandems just make good teams and their give and take and compromises to each other lead to a high percentage of good decisions.

 

In the case of McBeane, both being good men, they earnestly tried to work together but in the end, the dynamics didn't work well enough for them to continue on.

 

In other words, they didn't bring out the best in each other with regards to decision making and roster construction.

 

[Rochesterfan]

8 hours ago, Sierra Foothills said:

This is a gross oversimplification by McGuire.

 

GM/HC tandems must be collaborative. Their chances of success are much greater working with each other as opposed to firewalling their scopes of work and working independently of each other.

 

I think the real crux is that some GM/HC tandems just make good teams and their give and take and compromises to each other lead to a high percentage of good decisions.

 

In the case of McBeane, both being good men, they earnestly tried to work together but in the end, the dynamics didn't work well enough for them to continue on.

 

In other words, they didn't bring out the best in each other with regards to decision making and roster construction.

 

 

You are telling me the HC/GM combo that had the highest winning percentage over the last 8 years and made the playoffs every year except 1 with multiple playoff victories didn’t bring out the best in each other.

 

McD took the team and formed it into a cohesive unit that year after year overachieved based upon the talent provided.

 

Beane worked hard to get the talent that would fit and fill in allowing this incredible streak of victories.  They fully worked as a team to produce the amount of wins they had.

 

I think it is 100% the opposite- the 2 of them collaborated extremely well and had the same vision and that led to the success - we will have to wait and see if Brady and Beane have even a close relationship as this moves forward.  
 

 

[Sierra Foothills]

3 hours ago, Rochesterfan said:

You are telling me the HC/GM combo that had the highest winning percentage over the last 8 years and made the playoffs every year except 1 with multiple playoff victories didn’t bring out the best in each other.

 

McD took the team and formed it into a cohesive unit that year after year overachieved based upon the talent provided.

 

Beane worked hard to get the talent that would fit and fill in allowing this incredible streak of victories.  They fully worked as a team to produce the amount of wins they had.

 

I think it is 100% the opposite- the 2 of them collaborated extremely well and had the same vision and that led to the success - we will have to wait and see if Brady and Beane have even a close relationship as this moves forward.  
 

 

 

Most of the people here are basing the success or failure of the McBeane Era on the number of Super Bowl Championships they won.

 

These two had Josh Allen for 8 seasons and didn't even appear in a Super Bowl.

 

This fact compelled the owner to fire the HC.

 

Your opinion that they were ultimately "successful" would be a minority opinion here I believe and I certainly disagree with you.

 

[SoonerBillsFan]

42 minutes ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

Most of the people here are basing the success or failure of the McBeane Era on the number of Super Bowl Championships they won.

 

These two had Josh Allen for 8 seasons and didn't even appear in a Super Bowl.

 

This fact compelled the owner to fire the HC.

 

Your opinion that they were ultimately "successful" would be a minority opinion here I believe and I certainly disagree with you.

 

This is why I want to see what Brane does without McDermott.  This offseason has been pretty good so far.

[Sierra Foothills]

19 minutes ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

This is why I want to see what Brane does without McDermott.  This offseason has been pretty good so far.

 

I like what they've done so far but until the games are played, it doesn't mean much.

 

[SoonerBillsFan]

1 hour ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

I like what they've done so far but until the games are played, it doesn't mean much.

 

It doesnt for any team. 

[Thurman#1]

On 4/1/2026 at 3:27 AM, beerme1 said:

So different sport, hockey, but I'm listening to a podcast, The Sheet with DJeff Marek Daily Faceoff and they have former GM Pierre McGuire on talking about the firing of the Leafs GM.

 

He says, you can't nepo hire and only get people you know or have worked with. It doesn't work and everyone gets fired.

Also said you can't have your coach involved with picking players. Coaches make lousy scouts.

 

It just struck me as huh, that's exactly what we're doing with the Bills. Found it amusing.

 

 

Coaches here have never been involved with picking players. That was made clear by both McDermott and Beane. Beane made the picks.

 

The coaches were welcome to give input, especially as to how players would fit schemes and such. That input would be a part of what Beane and his staff looked at, but the coaches weren't involved in the picking process.

 

Fans tend to want to put the responsibility for moves that didn't work out on the guy they hate. It's a form of confirmation bias, and it makes people feel better about the status quo here (McDermott is gone, so therefore these people assume our draft picks will be better.) That happened here, certainly. But Beane made it clear, every time he was asked, from when he was hired right up to the present, and doubtless into the future. He was in charge of the roster, and that absolutely includes making the picks.

 

I'm sure it will be the same with the new regime. It's basically how it works pretty much everywhere except where the coach is extremely powerful or even is the defacto GM. Belichick being the most obvious example. That was never true here and I can't see it being true in the near future with our setup.