atlbillsfan1975 Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 When Ralph decided to retain DJ most of us thought he was crazy. Some of us tried to go along with the spin of 'continuity'. Now after seeing how many good coaches will be available for next season it make me wonder. Did Ralph know this? Could he forsee that Shanahan, Holmgren, Gruden and so on would be sitting out there next season. Some of you will quickly say yeah but those guys will never come coach at Buffalo. But did you honestly think Holmgren would ever go to Seattle when he did? And from what i understand about player personel the Bills Head Coach has a lot of input on it. A guy like this might be able to be lured to Buffalo. We could use the fact that we are the only team w/o a GM to an advantage. Tell one of those guys 'You can be our head coach and have a majority say in player selection, heck you dont have to worry about fighting with a GM because we dont have one.' To me it might be a win win situation. If DJ some how becomes a person on the sideline and not a robot, and the talent developes one more year. We make the playoffs. If not you cut him loose and go after one of the coaches with a pedegree of being a proven Super Bowl winner. And for those guys who want to say he wont pay the money for one of those guys. Stop! He does spend money, just unlike some of his counterparts in the NFL he is a smart business man. He takes calculated risks on where he invests his money. Not blind faith like Snyder or Jones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WVUFootball29 Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Someone remind me of the time Ralph went out and hired and upper-echelon coach and then maybe we could consider this. And by upper-echelon I mean a top tier coach at the time of hire, not in hindsight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbringer Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Someone remind me of the time Ralph went out and hired and upper-echelon coach and then maybe we could consider this. And by upper-echelon I mean a top tier coach at the time of hire, not in hindsight Chuck Knox Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marauderswr80 Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Im going to say yes he is that smart, only cause he drives a Ford Taurus like I do. And I also heard he owns a crystal ball? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rackemrack Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Im going to say yes he is that smart, only cause he drives a Ford Taurus like I do. And I also heard he owns a crystal ball? and a few shrunken heads of former coaches Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBill Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Chuck Knox There is always the exception to every rule Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WVUFootball29 Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Chuck Knox OK that I can agree with. Knox was a pretty decent coach with the Rams before coming to buffalo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizmo6824 Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 I really doubt he knew what next years scope of coaches was gonna be like. I think he just bout into what all his coaches were selling him. That continuity is best for a champion. He'll learn the hard way at his expense and ours, as fans.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsVet Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 When Ralph decided to retain DJ most of us thought he was crazy. Some of us tried to go along with the spin of 'continuity'.Now after seeing how many good coaches will be available for next season it make me wonder. Did Ralph know this? Could he forsee that Shanahan, Holmgren, Gruden and so on would be sitting out there next season. Some of you will quickly say yeah but those guys will never come coach at Buffalo. But did you honestly think Holmgren would ever go to Seattle when he did? And from what i understand about player personel the Bills Head Coach has a lot of input on it. A guy like this might be able to be lured to Buffalo. We could use the fact that we are the only team w/o a GM to an advantage. Tell one of those guys 'You can be our head coach and have a majority say in player selection, heck you dont have to worry about fighting with a GM because we dont have one.' To me it might be a win win situation. If DJ some how becomes a person on the sideline and not a robot, and the talent developes one more year. We make the playoffs. If not you cut him loose and go after one of the coaches with a pedegree of being a proven Super Bowl winner. And for those guys who want to say he wont pay the money for one of those guys. Stop! He does spend money, just unlike some of his counterparts in the NFL he is a smart business man. He takes calculated risks on where he invests his money. Not blind faith like Snyder or Jones. The comparison between the Seahawks and Holmgren is irrelevant. Paul Allen has deeper pockets than RW, and the latter isn't one to find people who will dictate the vision of the franchise. The TD experiment has forever shaken RW and besides, RW has never shown he'll spend over market value for a coach or GM. He's living in a previous era, and his actions affirm that he's not someone willing to throw money at a name coach. If Chuck Knox is the last example of a HC with a name coming to Buffalo, that's 30 stinking years ago. That's not a trend, that's an exception to Ralph's rule. Holmgren was one of the last to enjoy both the GM and HC roles together. It's too much for one man to handle all the responsibilities for those two positions. Any coach who goes to Buffalo knows what the job entails, in that RW and Jeff Littman will dictate the financials of the team. No GM will ever tell them otherwise. I don't think anyone with half a brain wants to work in Buffalo for Ralph, Littman, and around daddy's little girl Linda Bogdan. Ralph does not have a master plan at all. He's 90 years old, and the finest example of his lack of a future vision is the hiring of Levy. RW had no succession plan for when Levy retired, which was inevitable given Marv's advanced age. IMO, word has spread around the league that the Bills are a black hole in their front office. No one wants to work in that environment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max997 Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 No, Ralph is not smart and there is ZERO chance he even contacts Shanahan, Holmgren or Gruden next year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPDontletthedoorhityourars Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 No, Ralph is not smart and there is ZERO chance he even contacts Shanahan, Holmgren or Gruden next year Ralph is smart but his cheapness dictates his actions. Anybody who values a team treasurer (Jeffrey Littman) over a GM (Bill Polian) who amassed one of the greatest collection of talented players tells you where he's coming from. There's only one of two great talent evaluators around, but there are millions of those new york city kind of you know what con-artist accountant types. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsObserver Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Don't kid yourselves. Ralph is 90. He can't predict the next time he's going to take a dump let alone foresee a bunch of name coaches being fired, just so he could hire one of them next year. That is about the most ridiculous thing I've read in a while. To the original poster, ask yourself this, how would Ralph have any inside knowledge about Denver firing Shanahan? Or Tampa firing Gruden when it occurred many weeks after Ralph decided to keep Dick. This just seems like another desperate attempt to credit Ralph when the reality is, Dick had a contract and Ralph wasn't about to eat it. Continuity is the word of the year, get used to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPDontletthedoorhityourars Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Don't kid yourselves. Continuity is the word of the year, get used to it. Kind of like "change." The mindless sheep bought it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alphadawg7 Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Someone remind me of the time Ralph went out and hired and upper-echelon coach and then maybe we could consider this. And by upper-echelon I mean a top tier coach at the time of hire, not in hindsight Most fans screaming for him to hire a top notch coach are also the same fans screaming for us to hire one of these unproven coordinators that took jobs this offseason (Spanulo, Morris, etc.). So even if DJ would have been fired, the coaches most fans (who are the same fans saying Ralph is cheap) wanted us to hire another unproven hot coordinator that would not have been that expensive. Then, when that coordinator would not have worked out (like Mularkey and Williams) these same fans would be saying Ralph was cheap again because he hired a coordinator. The majority of the fans on this board really put Ralph in a lose lose situation. Ralph gets a bad rap over this...His biggest flaw is the approach he is has taken to the FO and GM position, not the HC position. He hired Williams and Mularkey who were both HIGHLY regarded up and coming coaches at the time and viewed as good hires. Williams is so respected that Sean Payton just gave williams $250,000 of his OWN money to get Gregg to sign on in NO. DJ was MARV LEVYS choice, and Ralph went with him because Marv chose him while he was GM...yet again, Ralph takes the "cheap" rap when DJ's hiring had nothing to do with money. Levy didnt choose him over price, Levy chose him becuase they were close and Levy believed in him.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lofton80 Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 This thread is comical. Our owner is never going to pay the dollars these guys command. The NFL coaching fraternity has surely been informed by our former employees what a zoo Ralph runs. Shanahan or Holmgren answering to Russ Brandon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Philster Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Most fans screaming for him to hire a top notch coach are also the same fans screaming for us to hire one of these unproven coordinators that took jobs this offseason (Spanulo, Morris, etc.). So even if DJ would have been fired, the coaches most fans (who are the same fans saying Ralph is cheap) wanted us to hire another unproven hot coordinator that would not have been that expensive. Then, when that coordinator would not have worked out (like Mularkey and Williams) these same fans would be saying Ralph was cheap again because he hired a coordinator. The majority of the fans on this board really put Ralph in a lose lose situation. Ralph gets a bad rap over this...His biggest flaw is the approach he is has taken to the FO and GM position, not the HC position. He hired Williams and Mularkey who were both HIGHLY regarded up and coming coaches at the time and viewed as good hires. Williams is so respected that Sean Payton just gave williams $250,000 of his OWN money to get Gregg to sign on in NO. DJ was MARV LEVYS choice, and Ralph went with him because Marv chose him while he was GM...yet again, Ralph takes the "cheap" rap when DJ's hiring had nothing to do with money. Levy didnt choose him over price, Levy chose him becuase they were close and Levy believed in him.... outstanding post but I will say that Ralph had nothing to do with the hirings of Williams or Mularkey. He gave Donahoe the title of President and gave him full reign in coaching and player decisions until late in 2005 when Donahoe's attitude became a black mark on the franchise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 When Ralph decided to retain DJ most of us thought he was crazy. Some of us tried to go along with the spin of 'continuity'.Now after seeing how many good coaches will be available for next season it make me wonder. Did Ralph know this? Could he forsee that Shanahan, Holmgren, Gruden and so on would be sitting out there next season. Some of you will quickly say yeah but those guys will never come coach at Buffalo. But did you honestly think Holmgren would ever go to Seattle when he did? And from what i understand about player personel the Bills Head Coach has a lot of input on it. A guy like this might be able to be lured to Buffalo. We could use the fact that we are the only team w/o a GM to an advantage. Tell one of those guys 'You can be our head coach and have a majority say in player selection, heck you dont have to worry about fighting with a GM because we dont have one.' To me it might be a win win situation. If DJ some how becomes a person on the sideline and not a robot, and the talent developes one more year. We make the playoffs. If not you cut him loose and go after one of the coaches with a pedegree of being a proven Super Bowl winner. And for those guys who want to say he wont pay the money for one of those guys. Stop! He does spend money, just unlike some of his counterparts in the NFL he is a smart business man. He takes calculated risks on where he invests his money. Not blind faith like Snyder or Jones. Either that or he knows he's close to a sale or death and will let someone else blow it up and start over... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsVet Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 This thread is comical. Our owner is never going to pay the dollars these guys command. The NFL coaching fraternity has surely been informed by our former employees what a zoo Ralph runs. Shanahan or Holmgren answering to Russ Brandon? This is the dirty little secret. RW will not pay big dollars for much of anything anymore. He's required by the current CBA to spend above the salary floor, but on coaches and front office executives he just doesn't have to. No doubt people like Wade, Polian, AJ Smith, and a host of others have been telling people around the league how bad it is to work for Ralph. It's little wonder that Ralph went back in time to get Levy out of retirement for the GM gig. I don't think anyone else was willing to do it. And when Levy went looking for a coach after Mularkey "resigned" DJ was happy to oblige him for less than the going rate for a HC. He was too desperate to ask for more. Organizationally, this franchise is a complete mess. They've been buying time for three years now on the back of the marketing folks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WVUFootball29 Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 Most fans screaming for him to hire a top notch coach are also the same fans screaming for us to hire one of these unproven coordinators that took jobs this offseason (Spanulo, Morris, etc.). So even if DJ would have been fired, the coaches most fans (who are the same fans saying Ralph is cheap) wanted us to hire another unproven hot coordinator that would not have been that expensive. Then, when that coordinator would not have worked out (like Mularkey and Williams) these same fans would be saying Ralph was cheap again because he hired a coordinator. The majority of the fans on this board really put Ralph in a lose lose situation. Ralph gets a bad rap over this...His biggest flaw is the approach he is has taken to the FO and GM position, not the HC position. He hired Williams and Mularkey who were both HIGHLY regarded up and coming coaches at the time and viewed as good hires. Williams is so respected that Sean Payton just gave williams $250,000 of his OWN money to get Gregg to sign on in NO. DJ was MARV LEVYS choice, and Ralph went with him because Marv chose him while he was GM...yet again, Ralph takes the "cheap" rap when DJ's hiring had nothing to do with money. Levy didnt choose him over price, Levy chose him becuase they were close and Levy believed in him.... Great post Alpha, probably one of the best assessments of the situation as I have seen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmwolf21 Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 Someone refresh my memory - did anyone really consider Mularkey and Greggggggggg-o "hot coordinators" that everyone was interested in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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