Archives for May 2013

‘It was difficult to determine whether he was shy, extremely cool or trying to blanket his nerves, but there somewhere was elegance to his guarded answers and direct message. Whaley has a quiet, unassuming way about him. You can only hope he has enough intelligence and confidence to make the right decisions.’

‘”I’ve known him for a while. He’s an incredible talent evaluator and he will be important for us on the road, seeing the top talent,” Whaley said of Monos, who comes to the Bills after spending the past eight seasons as a scout with the New Orleans Saints.’

‘”There’s no magic formula and if there was I wouldn’t be able to tell you because 31 other teams would want it,” Whaley said. “But if you’re committed to accountability and hard work, I think the sky’s the limit. Our main goal is to give our fans a team that consistently competes for championships.”‘

‘”I had a little more input and influence in setting up the draft board,” Whaley said. “It was still Buddy’s pick, but I was the one that put the magnet on the board, and Buddy (maybe) pulled it off.’

‘That man, Doug Whaley, was willing to give up his job as a retail stock broker on Wall Street for the chance to break into the NFL.’

”’Doug has every quality you look for in a leader,” team president Russ Brandon said. ”He’s the perfect guy to lead this organization and lead our football operation. And I don’t know of a guy that’s more deserving of this opportunity than Doug Whaley.”’

‘Whaley spent 11 seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, including his last 10 as the team’s pro scouting coordinator, before joining the Bills. He was also a scout for the Seattle Seahawks for three years.’

‘When asked if there was a “Steelers way” of doing things, Whaley said yes there is. “They don’t accept losing,” he said. “They set the standard of competing for and winning championships. If we instill that here, we’ll be headed in the right direction. It’s an organizational effort from top to bottom. If we’re committed to accountability and hard work, the sky’s the limit.”‘

‘”It is with great pleasure to name Doug Whaley to the position of General Manager today,” said Russ Brandon, Bills Team President and CEO. “Doug has been involved in every level of player personnel throughout his career and he will lead our efforts in reestablishing a winning tradition for this organization and our great fans.”‘

‘When some people talk in sports it’s very hard to believe them. Tom Donahoe was a great example of that, but Doug Whaley seems different. Football means a lot to him and this job means a lot to him, “This is a culmination of a lot of hard work. When anybody says hard work does not pay off, I’m going to have to say look at me because I believe it does.”‘

‘None of this guarantees that Doug Whaley and Doug Marrone are going to be great, or even good at any of this. Really, without being too simplistic about it, much of that will be dictated by how good EJ Manuel is and how soon.’

‘”Doug is a passionate and committed leader who will work tirelessly with his department to build a team our fans and all of Western New York will be proud of heading into the future.”‘

‘”Jim Monos and Kelvin Fisher bring a wealth of player personnel experience from championship organizations to their new roles with the Buffalo Bills,” said Whaley. “Both men have a keen eye for talent and will play a pivotal role in our talent evaluation process for years to come. We are excited to add two well-respected and innovative personnel professionals to this organization.”‘

‘When you look at it from that standpoint obviously there’s a lot of newness to the organization, no question. We all embarked on the process of hiring Coach Marrone a few months ago. And at the end of the day when we sit here, it’s new and different but it all comes down to wins and losses. And we’re all about accountability as well. From every person in this organization and I’ve mentioned back on January 1 that we share the fan’s frustration and our stakeholder’s frustration over the past 13 years. But you won’t hear us talk much about that. It’s all about what we do moving forward. And with Doug at the helm as our General Manager and Coach Marrone we feel very good about our future and I can stand up here and sit up here and talk about it all day, but it comes down to results and proving it. That’s the next step of what we have to achieve and it’s proving it on the field.’

‘”I think when you talk about people that earn the opportunity to advance and earn the opportunity to have more responsibility that Doug is a guy who has proven along the way at every step that he can equal the challenge and then surpass it. It does not surprise me that he has been named General Manager.”‘