Our next coach??

[BigHairedAristocrat]

Originally Posted by SBXVII

I would settle for starting with Cerrato and telling him his services were no longer needed.

I wouldnt fire Cerrato unless/until I was pretty sure I could land a specific replacement. If Snyder wants either of the big name coaches (really its down to just Shanahan and Cowher at this point), he'd need to hire them first and have them select the front office structure they wanted. Its kind of a backwards way to do it, but the only way I can see it happening this year.

[mlmdub130]

Originally Posted by BigHairedAristocrat

I wouldnt fire Cerrato unless/until I was pretty sure I could land a specific replacement. If Snyder wants either of the big name coaches (really its down to just Shanahan and Cowher at this point), he'd need to hire them first and have them select the front office structure they wanted. Its kind of a backwards way to do it, but the only way I can see it happening this year.

kinda like hiring a oc before you have a hc?

[jadmanjeff]

I don't know about the head coach but how does charlie weis as oc and al groh as dc sound to u guys?

[BigHairedAristocrat]

Originally Posted by mlmdub130

kinda like hiring a oc before you have a hc?

Not really. Hiring an OC before a HC wreaked of an owner wanting to essentially install a "puppet head coach," which is exactly what Zorn has been his entire time here. Its only become blatantly evident in the most recent couple of months as Zorn has been publically neutered of authority and responsibilities. If I didnt know better, i'd think Snyder never really expected Zorn to succeed and was merely using him as a placeholder the entire time until bigger fish became available. (Who rebuffed Snyder 2 years ago because he wasnt ready to return to coaching yet?... Hmmm. No, can't be it. Snyder and Cowher don't want to have anything to do with eachother.)

Anyway, hiring a big name head coach before hiring a GM is the most sensible thing to do in this situation. While its often wise to gamble on a young HC with upside, you simply don't gamble on a GM. If you're rebuilding, you want to do it with someone who has serious credentials. Chris Polian was the only guy who fit the bill and he's now off the market. As far as older guys who've been GMs before, they've all been fired from previous jobs and for good reason - they have proven track records of failure. There are simply no "elite" GMs available. However, there are two, and possibly three (if we include Holmgren), elite coaches available. The smart thing to do in these circumstances is to hire your coach and then let him select a GM he trusts and is comfortable working with. If Snyder doesnt do that, then surely, one of the other teams out there will. If Snyder wants to land one of them, he would be foolish to fire Cerrato and hire a GM before selecting the HC. To do so would limit his options, as Cowher and probably Shanahan, already have guys in mind they'd want to fill GM roles.

Now, Snyder may hire Parcells or Gibbs as team president, and let them select the coach and GM... but under no circumstances should he hire a GM before a coach unless/until Cowher, Shanahan, and Holmgren are no longer available/under consideration.

[celts32]

Originally Posted by BigHairedAristocrat

I wouldnt fire Cerrato unless/until I was pretty sure I could land a specific replacement. If Snyder wants either of the big name coaches (really its down to just Shanahan and Cowher at this point), he'd need to hire them first and have them select the front office structure they wanted. Its kind of a backwards way to do it, but the only way I can see it happening this year.

I would fire Vinny even if it meant I needed to pull someone off this board and name them GM.

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by BigHairedAristocrat

Not really. Hiring an OC before a HC wreaked of an owner wanting to essentially install a "puppet head coach," which is exactly what Zorn has been his entire time here. Its only become blatantly evident in the most recent couple of months as Zorn has been publically neutered of authority and responsibilities. If I didnt know better, i'd think Snyder never really expected Zorn to succeed and was merely using him as a placeholder the entire time until bigger fish became available. (Who rebuffed Snyder 2 years ago because he wasnt ready to return to coaching yet?... Hmmm. No, can't be it. Snyder and Cowher don't want to have anything to do with eachother.)

Anyway, hiring a big name head coach before hiring a GM is the most sensible thing to do in this situation. While its often wise to gamble on a young HC with upside, you simply don't gamble on a GM. If you're rebuilding, you want to do it with someone who has serious credentials. Chris Polian was the only guy who fit the bill and he's now off the market. As far as older guys who've been GMs before, they've all been fired from previous jobs and for good reason - they have proven track records of failure. There are simply no "elite" GMs available. However, there are two, and possibly three (if we include Holmgren), elite coaches available. The smart thing to do in these circumstances is to hire your coach and then let him select a GM he trusts and is comfortable working with. If Snyder doesnt do that, then surely, one of the other teams out there will. If Snyder wants to land one of them, he would be foolish to fire Cerrato and hire a GM before selecting the HC. To do so would limit his options, as Cowher and probably Shanahan, already have guys in mind they'd want to fill GM roles.

Now, Snyder may hire Parcells or Gibbs as team president, and let them select the coach and GM... but under no circumstances should he hire a GM before a coach unless/until Cowher, Shanahan, and Holmgren are no longer available/under consideration.

Kind of like Mangini and Kokinis with the Browns?

There are plenty of strong candidates for GM (DeCosta, Raye, Gaine-just to name three of the younger guys)

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by celts32

I would fire Vinny even if it meant I needed to pull someone off this board and name them GM.

Well GMScud already has the name

[PennSkinsFan]

Fire Vinny, hire a GM, let the GM pick his coach. Kind of like normal teams.

[BigHairedAristocrat]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

Kind of like Mangini and Kokinis with the Browns?

There are plenty of strong candidates for GM (DeCosta, Raye, Gaine-just to name three of the younger guys)

Given the caliber of experienced HC talent out there, i wouldn't gamble on Shanahan, Holmgren, or Cowher wanting to work for any of these guys. Now, if you want to go with a young, unproven coach again, then sure, make one of these guys GM and let him select the coach. However, I personally would much rather have an experienced coach at this point. I'd even rather have Fassel (I can't believe I just said that)

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by BigHairedAristocrat

Given the caliber of experienced HC talent out there, i wouldn't gamble on Shanahan, Holmgren, or Cowher wanting to work for any of these guys. Now, if you want to go with a young, unproven coach again, then sure, make one of these guys GM and let him select the coach. However, I personally would much rather have an experienced coach at this point. I'd even rather have Fassel (I can't believe I just said that)

Well, this is the danger of going after experienced guys like the three you mentioned. Because all have proven success rates as NFL head coaches. But Shanahan doesn't want to come back as just head coach and his record as a personnel man is not all that much better (if at all) than VC's; Holmgren seems to want to be Bill Parcells and not coach at all and if he agreed to coach he'd probably want to GM as well-and he hasn't shown he can be too successful in a dual role.

And then there's Cowher who has no experience in the dual role.

All I'm saying is what's better-Mike Shanahan as both Head Coach and GM or say Eric DeCosta as GM, Russ Grimm as HC, and Charlie Weis as offensive coordinator (just to throw some names out there)?

[53Fan]

^ I'll take the 2nd choice.

[Beemnseven]

Originally Posted by BigHairedAristocrat

Given the caliber of experienced HC talent out there, i wouldn't gamble on Shanahan, Holmgren, or Cowher wanting to work for any of these guys. Now, if you want to go with a young, unproven coach again, then sure, make one of these guys GM and let him select the coach. However, I personally would much rather have an experienced coach at this point. I'd even rather have Fassel (I can't believe I just said that)

Why can't you believe you just said that? For the life of me, I cannot understand the deep-rooted hatred some people have for Jim Fassel.

[SFREDSKIN]

Originally Posted by 53Fan

^ I'll take the 2nd choice.

I'll second that too.

[SFREDSKIN]

Originally Posted by Beemnseven

Why can't you believe you just said that? For the life of me, I cannot understand the deep-rooted hatred some people have for Jim Fassel.

He sucks! That's why he is coaching in the UFL.

[Beemnseven]

Originally Posted by SFREDSKIN

He sucks! That's why he is coaching in the UFL.

Ahh, yes. The powerful, convincing, "He sucks" argument...

Let's see, a coach of the year award, guided his team to the Super Bowl, a conference championship, 3 playoff appearances, and a 24-17-1 record vs. the NFC East.

Not even close to sucking. Try again.