Who hires a new head coach and then fires the GM ?!?!???

[Skooby]

A New GM wants his own head coach, unless the owner is playing God. It seems like we did this a little backwards (if you really know how to read, you like this) in this situation. You can't go forward as a GM without having someone you'd prefer to work with at head coach. I'm seeing a good chance at grief and pain, be prepared.

[TacklingDummy]

Firing your scouting staff a day after what most say is an A draft is stupid. Almost as stupid as the Bears trading up from 3 to 2.

They should have been let go in January. Before the new coach was hired and before the draft. Very poorly run organization.

[jamze132]

This organization has been a mismanaged clusterduck since Pegula bought it. ...oh and so are the Sabres. And I thought Jerry Jones and Dan Snyder were always in the way...

[YardRat]

It's not like these guys have been coming up with mid- and late-round gems in the draft, big deal.

[Night Train]

McDermott is the GM and he's hiring an asst. The titles or explanation to us mean little.

Who cares ? Win football games.

[Arm of Harm]

I agree the timing on this could have been better. But the decision to can Whaley was itself such a good one, that I'm not going to nitpick about the timing. Whaley has shown time and again that he values a QB's physical tools, more than he values his accuracy or decision-making. That mindset has been typical of Bills GMs in the post-Polian era, and is why we still don't have a replacement for Jim Kelly. If we're ever going to get to the promised land, we need a real QB. We were not going to get that QB with Doug Whaley calling the shots.

[streetkings01]

Whaley was fired around 8am Sunday.........it's been on every sport network all day Sunday and you decided to start a thread about it 2 in the morning on Monday?

[sukie]

You take the scouting staff's work from last year and utilize it in the draft... That is what they were paid for... Firing them after their work has been used makes perfect sense. The alternative would have been to fire whaley along with rex and scurry for scouting prior to the draft with a new hire.

I think they should have a GM in place then hire a coach. It's kind of a pickle of a situation.

So They will hire a new guy... Prolly that guy from Carolina. Who cares... Whaley is gone. Proof was in the Peterman pick.

All hail the new regime.

[Jimkelly12203]

They've got it all ass-backwards.

I do, however, think that McDermott will essentially be picking the GM. They'll never say that of course... They'll tell us "we're definitely going to listen to McDermott in making our decision." but i suspect it's flat out going to be McDermott's choice.

It better be anyway. I have no idea if McD will be a good HC or not. But if you're going to completely botch the order of hiring, at least give the guy you know you have on the pay roll the opportunity to choose who he is going to sink or swim with.

IN the end, it's going to be someone with Andy Reid and/or Panther's ties. And that means it's going to be McDermott's choice.

Mark it. I'd bet my life on it.

[jimmifli]

There's no good time to fire and hire a GM.

I REALLY don't like the idea of preparing the draft and then setting them all free in January to "consult" with other teams. You think Evil Bill wouldn't have a couple of our scouts on speed dial just to make sure we aren't targeting one of their picks?

Nothing wrong with this.

[Skooby]

They've got it all ass-backwards.

I do, however, think that McDermott will essentially be picking the GM. They'll never say that of course... They'll tell us "we're definitely going to listen to McDermott in making our decision." but i suspect it's flat out going to be McDermott's choice.

It better be anyway. I have no idea if McD will be a good HC or not. But if you're going to completely botch the order of hiring, at least give the guy you know you have on the pay roll the opportunity to choose who he is going to sink or swim with.

IN the end, it's going to be someone with Andy Reid and/or Panther's ties. And that means it's going to be McDermott's choice.

Mark it. I'd bet my life on it.
Odds are we will drown, sinking means we might be able to swim.

[BertSquirtgum]

A New GM wants his own head coach, unless the owner is playing God. It seems like we did this a little backwards (if you really know how to read, you like this) in this situation. You can't go forward as a GM without having someone you'd prefer to work with at head coach. I'm seeing a good chance at grief and pain, be prepared.

When did you become such a whiney little *****?

[Skooby]

When did you become such a whiney little *****?
We lowered the number of qualified applicants because of our stupidity, it's really handcuffed us.

[Arm of Harm]

They've got it all ass-backwards.

I do, however, think that McDermott will essentially be picking the GM. They'll never say that of course... They'll tell us "we're definitely going to listen to McDermott in making our decision." but i suspect it's flat out going to be McDermott's choice.

It better be anyway. I have no idea if McD will be a good HC or not. But if you're going to completely botch the order of hiring, at least give the guy you know you have on the pay roll the opportunity to choose who he is going to sink or swim with.

IN the end, it's going to be someone with Andy Reid and/or Panther's ties. And that means it's going to be McDermott's choice.

Mark it. I'd bet my life on it.

You're probably right to say this will be McDermott's choice.

Any head coach is going to be very vulnerable to a bad GM. Worst case, you get a GM who convinces the owner that he's assembled playoff-caliber talent, without actually having done so. Then, when the team fails to make the playoffs, the GM (falsely) asserts, "The player talent was there, so our problem must have been coaching." At which point, bye bye head coach! This would have been McDermott's fate, had Whaley stayed on as GM.

This is also likely to be his fate, if the Bills select a bad GM. I'm sure McDermott is smart enough to have figured this out, and he has every incentive to steer the Bills towards the best possible GM he can find. Obviously, the Bills' front office cannot possibly be trusted to identify a good GM. Nor do I have much faith in the Pegulas to do so. It might not be perfect to have McDermott be the one making this decision. But it's better than any of our other alternatives.

[psubills62]

Traditionally, yes, this is backwards.

However (and I've talked about this a few times leading up to the draft), but I think the NFL seems a little backwards to begin with. I actually think the coach is the one who should have the most control. It makes little sense to me that the GM would have the most power, that they would decide who is on the roster, who gets drafted, etc. when the coaches are the ones who have to put these players in a position to succeed. The coaches are the ones who know which players fit best in the systems they want to run. Look at CFB, where the coaches decide who to offer, who to push for in recruiting, and manage the roster in every way.

And typically the GM's are closer to ownership than the coaches, so the coaches get fired first. Look at Harbaugh getting run out of SF. Everyone knew that was a horrible move and the GM there was fired not long after. Look at O'Brien down in Houston, who has done a great job overall and the GM has nearly screwed up the entire situation by giving Osweiler a contract before O'Brien had ever seen him in person.

All that said, I don't know that I'm a fan of bringing in someone who is a puppet for the HC. I also don't like the incestuousness of the NFL, where we have to bring everyone from Carolina now. BUT, if it is the best way to get the coach and GM to work together towards a similar vision for the team, I'm willing to give it a chance.