For what it's worth, my choice for Bills next coach

[Bill Cody]

Is Jon Gruden

Pluses
very smart
driven
demanding
beyond intense
experienced
winner

minuses
almost too old school, good as long as you win (don't misunderstand I don't mind this but the reality is dealing with today's pampered pro athletes isn't easy)
needs the right QB because he is QB obsessed and drives them super hard, again that works with the right guy

I would get him in here the day after the season ends and tell him "look, we're going to draft a QB in the 1st round and we want you to pick him". I realize there's no guarantee his guy will be there when we pick but IMO it's essential the QB be Gruden's guy and he is probably more qualified to know QB talent that anyone anyway. This is the best possible fit for the Bills- Gruden as HC and a young stud to be developed by Gruden under center. In fact I wouldn't wait. Start talking to him now and have a deal in place. No sense firing Gailey now but he's a dead man walking. Gruden would laugh his ass off if you told him he would be working wth Fitz. But I really don't think that's a problem, even Ralph can see that situation can't continue either.

If we had a real owner I would actually be pretty optimistic we could pull this off. But the stench of OBD is strong so i'm probably just dreaming.

[Guest]

Re: For what it's worth, my choice for Bills next coach

Just dreaming.

[OpIv37]

Re: For what it's worth, my choice for Bills next coach

minuses
would never come to Buffalo

[Bill Cody]

Re: For what it's worth, my choice for Bills next coach

Just dreaming.

You got something better to do?

[Bill Cody]

Re: For what it's worth, my choice for Bills next coach

minuses
would never come to Buffalo

There are reasons he might.

1) I think he's ready to get back in the game, there are only likely to be a handful of vacancies
2) I think Ralph knows it's good business to hire a marquee name at this point in his life so he may be willing to actually overpay
3) Buddy Nix is retiring so you could offer Gruden as much control as he wants. I prefer a real GM but if that's what it took to bring Gruden in I'd do it.
4) The idea I laid out as far as picking/grooming a young QB is in fact right up Grduen's alley, big selling point.
5) We're actually a handful of players and the right coach away from being pretty good. This isn't 2 years ago when the roster looked like a wasteland. There are holes but it's fixable with the right offseason, QB being key. Gruden is smart enough to see the potential.
6) Ralph could play the "I know I've meddled before but I'm 102 and eat my lunch with a straw so I promise I won't this time" card. Might work.

[GingerP]

Re: For what it's worth, my choice for Bills next coach

Gruden would be a great choice, and he has some experience working with a meddling ownership after working for Al Davis. He would be an ideal candidate, a strong personality with a winning record that would clean house, and an offensive guy who would play an entertaining brand of football..

That said, I think Gruden is only going to a team with a QB in place. He has said in interviews that if he decides to coach again he wants to be sure he has a QB. He says he doesn't think you can win in the NFL unless you have a good QB, and one of his regrets in Tampa was not finding that guy. He isn't going to take over Buffalo with Fitz at the helm.

[DynaPaul]

Re: For what it's worth, my choice for Bills next coach

Gruden is exactly what this team needs: a fiery coach who isn't going to let his players get away with failure without getting an earful. We have talent on this team, there is no doubt about that, but that talent is wallowing in an unmotivated state. We need a literal firecracker to blow these guys up and get them moving. Now, would we get Gruden? Doubtful. This team has shown no ability to sign a big name coach and I'm not banking on it in the future. I sure hope we get someone like Gruden in here but it's not likely.

[GingerP]

Re: For what it's worth, my choice for Bills next coach

There are reasons he might.

1) I think he's ready to get back in the game, there are only likely to be a handful of vacancies
2) I think Ralph knows it's good business to hire a marquee name at this point in his life so he may be willing to actually overpay
3) Buddy Nix is retiring so you could offer Gruden as much control as he wants. I prefer a real GM but if that's what it took to bring Gruden in I'd do it.
4) The idea I laid out as far as picking/grooming a young QB is in fact right up Grduen's alley, big selling point.
5) We're actually a handful of players and the right coach away from being pretty good. This isn't 2 years ago when the roster looked like a wasteland. There are holes but it's fixable with the right offseason, QB being key. Gruden is smart enough to see the potential.
6) Ralph could play the "I know I've meddled before but I'm 102 and eat my lunch with a straw so I promise I won't this time" card. Might work.

Unless he thinks a QB in the draft they are in place to get can be a franchise guy, he won't come. He has been adamant in interviews that if he ever comes back it will be with a QB in place. He specifically said not having the QB in Tampa was what led to his firing.

[OpIv37]

Re: For what it's worth, my choice for Bills next coach

There are reasons he might.

1) I think he's ready to get back in the game, there are only likely to be a handful of vacancies
2) I think Ralph knows it's good business to hire a marquee name at this point in his life so he may be willing to actually overpay
3) Buddy Nix is retiring so you could offer Gruden as much control as he wants. I prefer a real GM but if that's what it took to bring Gruden in I'd do it.
4) The idea I laid out as far as picking/grooming a young QB is in fact right up Grduen's alley, big selling point.
5) We're actually a handful of players and the right coach away from being pretty good. This isn't 2 years ago when the roster looked like a wasteland. There are holes but it's fixable with the right offseason, QB being key. Gruden is smart enough to see the potential.
6) Ralph could play the "I know I've meddled before but I'm 102 and eat my lunch with a straw so I promise I won't this time" card. Might work.

I just don't think that Ralph has any pull with anyone with a reputation at this point. He's owned the team for 52 years. We had a good run in the mid-60's and through most of the 90's- maybe 12 of his 52 years. The other 40 have been an epic train wreck, including the current streak of 13 years or so and counting. It's complete and utter organizational failure from the top down. I just don't know why someone like Gruden, Cowher, Billick etc would risk their reputation by getting their hands in this unmitigated disaster.

[dannyek71]

Re: For what it's worth, my choice for Bills next coach

I want Andy Reid

[Bill Cody]

Re: For what it's worth, my choice for Bills next coach

I just don't think that Ralph has any pull with anyone with a reputation at this point. He's owned the team for 52 years. We had a good run in the mid-60's and through most of the 90's- maybe 12 of his 52 years. The other 40 have been an epic train wreck, including the current streak of 13 years or so and counting. It's complete and utter organizational failure from the top down. I just don't know why someone like Gruden, Cowher, Billick etc would risk their reputation by getting their hands in this unmitigated disaster.

Great head coaches are optimists. They also have no doubts in their own abilities. If you gave guy like Gruden control he'll believe he can make it work.

[OpIv37]

Re: For what it's worth, my choice for Bills next coach

Great head coaches are optimists. They also have no doubts in their own abilities. If you gave guy like Gruden control he'll believe he can make it work.

the problem is that I don't think there will be any way to convince a HC that they will have control as long as Ralph is involved.

[Bangarang]

Re: For what it's worth, my choice for Bills next coach

I want Mike Ditka

[Bill Cody]

Re: For what it's worth, my choice for Bills next coach

Unless he thinks a QB in the draft they are in place to get can be a franchise guy, he won't come. He has been adamant in interviews that if he ever comes back it will be with a QB in place. He specifically said not having the QB in Tampa was what led to his firing.

I agree with this. I also feel strongly you can't win without a great QB. This is the year we need to root for the team to continue to fight hard, play close entertaining games and lose every last one of them. My theory only has any legs if we're picking top 5. Even then you're right it might not be enough. As I said in the original post I'm probably dreaming. But IMO this is what we need.

[Ed]

Re: For what it's worth, my choice for Bills next coach

I just don't think that Ralph has any pull with anyone with a reputation at this point. He's owned the team for 52 years. We had a good run in the mid-60's and through most of the 90's- maybe 12 of his 52 years. The other 40 have been an epic train wreck, including the current streak of 13 years or so and counting. It's complete and utter organizational failure from the top down. I just don't know why someone like Gruden, Cowher, Billick etc would risk their reputation by getting their hands in this unmitigated disaster.

While it probably isn't anyone's first choice, it is still an NFL head coaching job and there's only 32 of them out there. I believe Billick was actually very interested in the job last time and openly expressed frustration that he wasn't given consideration. I don't think it's that easy for some of these higher profile guys to get whatever job they want and even guys like Gruden, Billick, and Dungy still get fired.

Maybe one thing Buffalo could have going for it if you're a bigger name guy like Gruden is that it could be a lot easier to demand more power and control from an organization like the Bills. Control always seems to be pretty important to these guys and they would have all the leverage in negotiations with this disaster of a franchise.

I really don't expect any of those guys to want to come here, but you never know. There have been a lot of other franchises too like New Orleans, Tampa, Indy, etc. that for long periods of time probably had little to no appeal to coaches either.