I understand that. It's not all roses & pretty sunrises in my picture either. BUT .... I'll be damned if I'm going to turn something that I enjoy into an arena to rant, rave, & raise my BP. If that should somehow make me less of a fan, so be it. In case no one here as noticed over the years, I'm not overly swayed by other people's perceptions of me.
HEY HEY Heeeeeeeeyah! You have a secret weapon... You live with a Chiefs fan, so no matter your pain, you can alawys look over and smile thinking "their ship done sunk.... Mine still can be save, and there are life rafts..."
JMHO. There is no taskmaster to lead the cadence during the march into the throws of battle, the troops are soft and undisciplined. They are unable to look in the eye of their foe and draw the life that beats from within and claim total victory.
Oh look, that dude im trying to beat up is on the ground. Oh look, there is his neck (which appears to have recently had many surgeries). What would be the best way to finish this battle royale? Maybe I should just step on that neck and finish it? Nah, I'm going to back up 400 yards and try to throw sewing needles through a windstorm to hit his nerves and pressure points to keep him pinned down. These are the decisions being made.
I dont think that would help right now... Can we give our players a heady dose of testicular fortitude?
That's only one amongst thousands of other what-ifs we could waste time wondering about even though it's water under the bridge by now.
As much as I wanted the guy, I don't think we had any real chance at him. Spanos wasn't going to fire AJ, who wouldn't have wanted Harbaugh.
There is very little in Spanos' M.O. and even less than that in AJ's to suggest that Harbaugh would ever have been deemed a candidate let alone the hire. This is what I'm not sure people have grasped yet - we're dealing with guys who play a very conservative approach, not who launch out on a gambit right out the gate (I'm on a bit of a chess analogy kick lately). Dean might have a slightly inclination to go back to the strategy that outside of Bobby Ross never did much but bottom-feed for us (and even then Ross wasn't great but better than Mike Riley), and hire college coaches with no prior NFL experience. AJ came from the Butler regime where it was completely unthinkable - that M.O. was "no rookie coaches," "no college coaches". The poison runs deep in this team and, probably most depressingly, the silver lining is actually around Dean and his hapless family, because if AJ is left to his devices the only candidates we'll be looking at if/when we replace Norv are guys who don't demand full personnel control (it's not just that AJ doesn't want that, Spanos won't relinquish John's neatly-packaged future position) while also having prior HC experience at the NFL level. So we're talking the Wade's, Cam's, Mike Sherman's, Jack Del Rio's, or Bill Callahan's. At best, we're looking at guys getting hired like Dave McGinnis, maybe Rivera if he gets canned by Carolina (but he's not exactly making the best non-Norvish showing there), Mike Nolan, or Dom Capers. Hate to burst folks' bubble. There's my steaming pile dropped on everyone's hopes and dreams for today. Feel free to hurl your refuse my way.
You're depressing the crap out of me. Likely because I can't disagree with most of what you're saying. It's not that I believe Dean or his family are "hapless", but I do agree that they will take a conservative approach and not one of the coaches you list seem equipped to take this team to the next level.
Lets pretend we have a rational ownership for shits and giggles. Personally, experience doesn't concern me as much as attitude, leadership, and a mind for strategy when it comes to head coaches. A lot of the best HCs allow their coordinators to basically run the show on gamedays with minor exceptions. Which leads to my question, what do you think about Brady Hoke?
But why pretend we have rational ownership... well... that's not even an inaccurate criticism. They're plenty rational, probably a little too much for their own good. They're hyper-conservative. This team is a business first and a competitive entity second. Known former HC's are more likely to sell tickets to the casual fan - particularly ones that have taken a team to a Super Bowl in the past - because those folks will ignore all the other factors (such as the talent on whatever team they took there) that led to that coach's success. I just prefer to work in the realms of realism, particularly after living in the fantastical has just caused me too much heartache from constant letdowns by this ownership and management. It's a case where I'd much rather know that the act of the doctor setting my broken bone will hurt like hell than lead myself to believe it might not hurt and then getting the mind-numbing pain that was inevitably coming because that's just what happens, plain and simple. I like Brady Hoke, and if the Spanos' had bigger stones, he might even be a legitimate option because he has marketable ties to the San Diego community (not unlike Coryell did and Bobby Ross did), but they don't so I really don't see why even bothering to consider him as a candidate. It's like the folks pining for Gruden - a guy who has a massive ($-wise) buyout in his contract with ESPN/ABC - there's no way in hell that the Spanos' are going to shell out the money to buy out his network contract and then pay him a hefty contract on top of that to coach; because the returns at the gates and in other revenue won't offset it until at least year 3 or 4 - and that's assuming he turns this team back into a high-level, consistent winner. Among the names I listed prior, there are a few guys who I think could actually do a lot of good for this team (whether they were permanent solutions or not) and who, if provided with better talent than what they had on their first run-through could find success. Mike Nolan's a guy like that. Dom Capers is a guy like that, though I honestly doubt he wants another HC gig at this point (especially one that's requiring an OL overhaul, as it would be too much akin to his last time out). Heck, I think Mike Sherman has decent potential - provided he doesn't have personnel control (that's what killed him in Green Bay was when they made him HC/GM). And then there's guys that just scare me ****less on that list. Not the least of which is Del Rio who is notorious for devoutly sticking with "his guys/favorites" regardless of whether they're producing, being a detriment, or just plain crap to begin with. I'm also praying to God that Andy Reid doesn't get fired, because I can just see Dean salivating over him.
If we hire Jack Del Rio as the follow up to Norv Turner I would be livid, I can't think of a much worse choice. And of course Reid would be more of the same. I'm really all on board the Brady Hoke bandwagon until I see he's not on the short list of interviews. I love his attitude, I think he could easily handle the move to the NFL without being cowed by the players, and without being overly aggressive and rubbing them the wrong way. IMO he's the ideal figure head type coach, he knows how to draw up competant gameplans that eliminate the opposing teams "bread and butter", and he has shown a nack for winning without always having his key players. We'd just need to surround him with great coordinators, maybe Rivera and Chudz if they get fired.
