Head Coach thread

I definitely see how it may seem pointless but I really don't think it is. The entire purpose of the Rooney rule was to break up or at least circumvent the good'ole boy network that seemed to exclude minority coaches at the time. I think that with the solid success of guys like Dungy, Lovie, Lewis and the like the rule might be beginning to outlive it's usefulness but this might be due to it being effective in the first place. While it makes me a bit uncomfortable to consider it Lovie and Marvin Lewis both could have been guys who were brought in solely to satisfy the Rooney and ended up wowing the interviewer .To my limited eye it seems to me like a lot has changed and owners and GM's don't really care what a guy looks like as long as he can coach.

 

You want Tim Tebow and Jim Caldwell...

Do you know ANYTHING about football?

 

He is just a

 

You are mistaken. First you said he NEVER got the chance to play in NY? He threw 277 passes and played in 10 games. Is that what you mean by never played?

But let's examine your main point that Kurt Warner didn't get resurrected by Whisenhunt and it was just Boldin and Fitzgerald that carried them to the Super Bowl - once he 'got on the same page with them.' Boldin and Fitz were drafted in 2003 and 2004. The QB that got to throw to that pair was? Not Warner and not Leinart but Dennis Green was the coach. Warner was playing with the Giants so well he had a QB rating of 86.5 in 10 games. I should know, I watched a few of his games live as I live in NY.

In 2005, Boldin and Fitzgerald played SO WELL they were only the 2nd pair of WR's in NFL history to break 100 receptions each in the same season. Did they carry that team to the Super Bowl? Nope. And Warner had 10 games to throw them the ball that year. Sounds like if they had 100 catches each and he played in 10 games, he WAS already on the same page with them, right? But they went nowhere. So Warner had these two awesome receivers and his stats were? 11 TD's and 9 INT's for an 85.8 qb rating (lower then Locker's). Did they go to the Super Bowl riding Fitz and Boldin? No. And Warner was ALREADY there in 2005 so he wasn't brought in to backup Leinart who was drafted in 2006. 2006 was Green's last year coaching. Leinart had a QB rating of 74 and Warner had 89.3 in only 6 games since Leinart played in most of the games in 2006. Goodbye Green, hello Whisenhunt.

So in 2007 Whisenhunt is hired. The plan is to develop Leinart but they have Warner as insurance. Leinart starts the first five games but plays very poorly in most of them. So much so that Warner takes over for him DURING games 3, 4 and 5 winning 2 of them. And who wanted who to start you also have backwards. If Whisenhunt wanted Leinart to start, he wouldn't bench him during games and keep starting him unless he HAD to. Warner takes over permanently and goes on to have a QB rating of 89.8...a slight improvement over the previous year. By this time, Warner has thrown almost 1000 passes with Fitz and Boldin on the roster. I think they were already on the same page...but despite Warner playing 14 games that year, no Super Bowl.

in 2008, with a full year of experience under Whisenhunt, Warner was the fulltime starter and improved to a QB rating of 96.9 and threw 30 TD's for only the 3rd time in his career. Before Whisenhunt, he threw to the same WR's at a QB rating of 89. By 2008 in his 2nd year with Whisnehunt and first fulltime starting, he improved to a 96.9 rating which was 3rd best that year (better then manning, brady and brees). He threw that year for the 2nd highest yards total of his career and 3rd best TD's despite him playing with the greatest show on turf for 5 years. I'd say THAT is significant improvement. In 2009, his last season, he also had a QB rating of 93.2 which was also significantly better then his pre-Whisenhunt days.

Whisenhunt also improved Big Ben and significantly improved Rivers this year just like he did with Warner. This post is long enough so I won't break down the stats but they are similar.

Above is the actual history of what happened. Looks like significant improvement and the resurrection of Warner as a Pro Bowl QB who had a near MVP season in 2008 and carried the team (with other improvements like another WR) to a SB and almost won it!

 

I understand your point. We've seen it in other Sports too like Basketball. But since I live in NY and grew up watching Parcells who is like Zimmer and he kicked butt for a lot of years doing it, it certainly CAN work. Doesn't mean it will either.

 

Two things. First, the West Coast Offense is all about reading so it's not like you can give him a pass play where he doesn't go through a progression. Second, I understand you haven't been impressed by what you saw in those playoff games and certainly not all of it can be dropped onto Dalton. Gruden has SOME responsibility in the offense failing in 3 straight playoff games.

Question is, can he do better here and do we even want a West Coast Offense?

 

I think the Titans want to interview a lot of people for a few obvious reasons some are missing. First, the people brought in will have their own perspective on what is good and bad and what needs to be 'fixed' in their mind. Certainly you could look at a Caldwell and say we just will look at him for the Rooney rule, but the guy has been a legit OC and is over-preparing for his interviews by breaking down all the tape of the QB's/Offense for that team. I'm sure Ruston would like to get his opinion on Locker and Fitz and our offense from this past year.

Interview a guy like gruden who, like Zim, isn't exactly a suger coater. And after having 'developed' Dalton, how good does HE think Locker is? Do we need to draft another guy?

How about Bringing in a Zimmer who is a no BS kind of guy. How good was our offense? How good was our defense? Who is good? Who needs to go? Who or what would you bring in in the draft? Thoughts on defensive free agents?

When you get the chance to pick the brains of some top offensive and defensive coaches, you can learn a LOT about your team, how they would 'fix' it, opinions on free agents, positions that need upgrading, thoughts on how to get us to the Super Bowl, etc. Great info for Ruston and also can compare them to each other. Also, and perhaps more importantly, who would you bring on to your coaching staff. How do you see it all working?

Ruston will get a ton of info and opinions on all these things and the guy who probably comes closest to what Ruston thinks will probably get the job.

 

I could see Whisenhunt going to the Lions where he'd have yet another Franchise QB playing poorly who he can turn around.

I don't see gruden going to Washington as gruden is a West Coast guy and Washington has more of a Zone Read QB. Don't know how quickly RGIII can pick it up but that would be a HUGE transition for him as he played Zone/Read in college. Unless gruden brought in an OC to run that system...I don't see it unless Snyder's ego is making the decision and he wants a 'name!'

I think a lot of people are forgetting we don't just need a HC, we need a HC who will also take over one side of the ball and bring in a guru to run the other side. For example, if we hired Zimmer as HC, he'd bring his guy to be DC but it'd be Zimmer's D. Who would he bring in for OC? Ideally someone like Gary Kubiak who has experience and great success with a system, playcalling, and developing young QB's. So don't just think about the HC, think about who he would be matched up with. A 'good' HC who has avg coordinators is not gonna get us anywhere.

 

You know I really like Mike Zimmer and would be thrilled if we hired him (like 90% of us here) but I just can't shake the feeling he's more suited for a DC job with his attitude. Yeah it's great how he keeps his players motivated and always on them to perform but I don't know if he's balanced enough to be a HC. He's my #1 guy if we go with a defensive guy but how many of his types actually succeed as a HC? Doesn't have to be just NFL, even in the bigger NCAA teams they don't really work out.

 

Also, I kind of hoped this process would be over in 1-2 weeks but I guarantee you we won't hire anyone until we get a chance to interview the Seattle guys. The latest we could interview would be the week of the NFC championship I believe.