Did Ralph "Fire" Fairchild?

[blackonyx89]

Has this been asked? I wonder. Is there something we don't know about? Hmmmm.....did Ralph call him in to the office and said we're going in a different direction next season and we don't need your services anymore?

[YardRat]

Re: Did Ralph "Fire" Fairchild?

I don't think Ralph is as involved in some personnel decisions as some would like to believe.

[The Answer]

Re: Did Ralph "Fire" Fairchild?

Has this been asked? I wonder. Is there something we don't know about? Hmmmm.....did Ralph call him in to the office and said we're going in a different direction and we don't need your services anymore?

Huh?

No way - a problem simply solved itself. And even if he wouldn't have landed the gig at Colorado St. he would have returned in 2008, especially since Studwards is making him look like a genius these last few weeks.

~The Answer

[OpIv37]

Re: Did Ralph "Fire" Fairchild?

I seriously doubt it.

He didn't fire Fairchild when the offense choked against Denver.
He didn't fire Fairchild when we lost the Dallas game cuz the O couldn't manage ONE touchdown.
He didn't fire Fairchild when we **** the bed against the Pats twice.
He didn't fire Fairchild when we failed to score an offensive TD against the Redskins.

He sure as hell isn't going to fire him after we score 4 offensive TD's and rush for well over 200 yards in one game.

[LABillsFan]

Re: Did Ralph "Fire" Fairchild?

I wouldn't doubt that Jauron said, "Steve, you really should take it."

[Meathead]

Re: Did Ralph "Fire" Fairchild?

we would be VERY HAPPY FOR YOU STEVE if you would take that job wink nudge

[LABillsFan]

Re: Did Ralph "Fire" Fairchild?

"Steve, how wonderful for you to get offered a HC job at a top notch program. This could be a great opportunity for you and I wouldn't have to fire ... I, I, mean I would never think of holding you back from an opportunity like this. Godspeed old chum."

[jamze132]

Re: Did Ralph "Fire" Fairchild?

we would be VERY HAPPY FOR YOU STEVE if you would take that job wink nudge

Yeah I highly doubt Dick tried to convince him to stay. He probably paid for his plane ticket to GTFO. Its a shame he just can't leave now... considering the fact that he IS going to leave, every time we punt, we will destroy Fairchild for being inept!

[LifetimeBillsFan]

Re: Did Ralph "Fire" Fairchild?

From the sound of this article (URL: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/s...e=NFLHeadlines ) and other articles that were written before Fairchild took the CSU job, it would appear that CSU had targeted Fairchild as a guy that they wanted to bring back to replace Sonny Lubick. There were rumours about Fairchild being the likely candidate to replace Lubick that surfaced almost as soon as Lubick was fired. CSU enjoyed perhaps its most successful run ever when Fairchild was an assistant under Lubick and it is obvious from the article (and the comments by CSU folks in response to it) that Fairchild created a lot of positive feelings and good will in the CSU community while he was there both as a student and as a coach.

As a result, Fairchild still had a lot of close connections to CSU and his appointment has the blessing of the out-going HC (how often does that happen?). He is also keeping the Asst.HC/DC and at least one other coach from the previous CSU staff.

All of which leads me to believe that this was a move that Fairchild wanted to make himself and that no one in Buffalo pushed him into it.

As for whether anyone in Buffalo--Wilson, Levy or Jauron--may have encouraged or tried to discourage Fairchild, as a general rule, coaches and organizations will not try to discourage an assistant coach from taking any job that amounts to a step up in his career--particularly if it the coach is going from an assistant to a head coaching job.

If an organization feels that it really can't afford to lose an assistant, it may try to lure him into staying by giving him a promotion within the organization (that's where you see the proliferation of "Assistant Head Coach/_____ coach" titles) and more money, but there are limits to what even the most profligate organizations can do in this area--its hard to justify having more than one "Assistant Head Coach" positions. Since the Bills have already given their "Assistant Head Coach" position to Bobby April and the organization isn't known for spending a lot on individual coaches, it is unlikely that the Bills tried to do anything to keep Fairchild from leaving either.

While it seems, from the article, that it is likely that Fairchild spoke with Jauron and, probably, Levy (and perhaps even Wilson) before this announcement was made, it would appear that the Bills didn't push Fairchild out the door, but they also didn't make much of an effort to stop him from leaving either. And, from the sound of the article, it would appear that that probably is because this was a job that Fairchild really wanted (with a school that really wanted him.)

[Night Train]

Re: Did Ralph "Fire" Fairchild?

Did Ralph force Colorado St. to hire him too ?

[HHURRICANE]

Re: Did Ralph "Fire" Fairchild?

As much as Fairchild may or may not be responsible for some of our offensive issues I believe that had he not been offered this job he would still have been the OC next year.

With that said, I'm ready for the change.

[bigbub2352]

Re: Did Ralph "Fire" Fairchild?

I think this was the most welcome news we all could have hoped for, maybe DJ said to him get ur applications out, and see what happens, i am glad his shoty playcalling and questionable offense will be gone, he has underutilized TE's and rbs all year long, lets get an aggressive offense in here next year, we r young and potentially explosive with a few FA and draft pick ups we could have a very good offense next year way to conservative this year in my opinion

[Ed]

Re: Did Ralph "Fire" Fairchild?

I really don't think the Bills have a problem with Fairchild the same way some fans do.