The biggest thing that scared me about Woody's presser is that he'll be the one with the final call on the HC. It should be the GM's call. Piece-mailing your football operations like this is another recipe for disaster. It can work and I know there have been many examples of it working, but the organization should be looking to become more cohesive and overall more respectable. One combo I'd look out for is Kyle Shanahan & Mike Maccagnan. Worked together in Houston with Casserly. I think it's also a possibility of George Paton & Norv Turner from Minnesota.
It would seem that hiring the coach before the GM could lead to similar problems that were recently experienced... Is it common to hire a coach before a GM in these situations?
As Falco pointed out, part of the problem is that we're competing with a bunch of teams for HC spots and we need to get our guy soon. However I think it's worth the wait if we can secure our GM pretty quickly and let him choose the HC (or be a big part of the search/decision at the very least).
From what I've been reading today, we're not the only ones who cleaned house. As it turns out, the bears are in the same situation we're in and its Frisco and Atlanta that retained their GM but fired their HC. I think we have time to get this transition right this time.
I think it has to be a fluid situation. If Woody were to lock himself into having to have a GM first he could miss out on a great coach that he would have had an opportunity to hire had he already found a GM. For example, maybe he has a chance to land Harbaugh if he gives Harbaugh input into the GM selection process. That's just a made up example but it's one way things could twist that would be favorable to the Jets IMO. The important thing is that they work well together and are on the same page. That doesn't mean the GM has to choose the coach.
I think guys like Gase and McDaniel could definitely be fools gold. Both succeeded "coaching" the offenses of the two most prolific QB's of this era. No guarantee they'd be as successful with lesser players.
Bingo! Casserly esp. I doubt it's Wolf. He's not crazy enough to take the strain. But you never know.
Besides, top HC candidates may shy away from an opening without knowing who's gonna run the show and if they can work with him. In much the same way it would affect a GM candidate.
Woody made it seem like ideally he would hire the GM first, who would then have full autonomy over the organizational decisions. The vibe I got was that he was protecting himself in case there was an amazing HC available a la Harbaugh.
If there's a shot at a big time candidate, and they are someone that you know you can hire first (like a gruden or a cowher, which i know are super longshots) and they will help find a GM that knows what they need to win, then of course its no big deal. BUT, if woody's gonna go with a guy like quinn or bowles, who are gonna be first time head coaches, then i would rather see that come from the new GM or the consultants (casserly and wolf), since they would have a feel if they could work with, or in the case of the consultants, find someone to work with them. i would be nervous if woody just pulled the trigger on another first time NFL HC, without making sure he had an executive that approves and wants to work with them.
If Harbaugh were here he'd want organizational control. BIG MISTAKE. I doubt Wolf and Casserly advise that. Although we are talking about Woody here .....
It could be a mistake, clearly he's a pretty volatile person. That wasnt really my point, though. My point was that Woody said he may sign a coach first just in case a high profile coach somehow becomes available.
People are a little on edge today. I think woody was basically saying that he's not going to wait with his hands tied if a top tier option presents itself. With the 2 consultants, who are widely respected, I have no problem with this mentality. He stated that obviously you would want your GM involved in that decision and have input but you also don't want to turn anyone down because you're dragging your feet with the GM Job. Hell, depending on who fills that HC job I might be more interested in him get input over which GM is selected then the other way around. But Ultimately he said the decision would come from the organization. I sure am glad we're going for someone with more talent evaluation / roster management background then another numbers guy.
It would have been cool. He had Geno earmarked for HC as well as QB after his showed impressive maturity winning a meaningless game.
Somebody has to have true authority on the football side. Figuring out who that somebody is going to be and then hiring them is really key to the whole process. Then you go pick up your HC if the GM is going to be the final say or your GM if he's going to be a caddy for the HC. If the Jets are hiring a Parcells-type mogul to come in here and coach and put together the organization then they have to hire that guy first, whether he's the HC or the GM. He's then going to have a major say in who complements him (or her, you never know.) If the Jets are going to go with a less integrated solution, with separate GM and HC hires, well they really have to get that exactly right given what happened with Rex and Idzik.
I am not worried about "not getting the guy we want". We already are not going to get that guy, we are simply not any hc free agent's top pick. Hire the GM, let the GM pick his staff from his "football/coaching tree" and see how it works. In the NFL, it's best to not mix and match philosophies, you see how quick things can fall apart (we just did). Everyone, from the scouts, to the WR coach, to the ball boy, to the towel boy, to the team masseuse need to be on the same page (exaggeration, of course). What we just experienced for two years is precisely what happens when an owner starts tampering with football decisions (see Jones, Jerry and Snyder, Daniel).
