For Those Waiting on Brandon to Leave...

[feldspar]

A++ Marketing guy. F++ for personnel and player decisions.

Name his player and personnel decisions.

Which ones are you talking about that are his fault?

I'm not defending the guy, just asking a question.

What exactly has his responsibilities been over the years? What can we hold him accountable for, and I mean exactly?

[Buffalogic]

^Nothing with personnel. But this board thrives on a mob mentality. Facts are unnecessary.

[WagonCircler]

Name his player and personnel decisions.

Which ones are you talking about that are his fault?

I'm not defending the guy, just asking a question.

What exactly has his responsibilities been over the years? What can we hold him accountable for, and I mean exactly?

When he was General Manager, he had input on ALL personnel decisions. That's no different than taking feedback from the woman who cleans the offices at OBD. He has, to this day, ZERO qualifications on anything to do with football, but he felt entitled to oversee the draft.

This ******* was in ticket sales for a BASEBALL team that won a world series and still couldn't sell tickets. Then he came here. He is no more qualified than you or me or even Mace or Meathead to make decisions on football.

He's always credited with "regionalization" of ticket sales. This is what passes for genius? That's Marketing 101. That's not genius.

I just heard John Murphy on the radio. He said "I'm a Russ fan. The most important thing I learned about Russ in the past three years is that he really wants to win."

Seriously? Who the **** DOESN'T want to win? That doesn't mean he has a sliver of a clue how to win or build a winning team. Or a clue about hiring people to build winning teams.

This is Terry Pegula saying "OK. I'm bored. I did my part to keep the teams here. Now I'm putting them on auto-pilot. If you need anything, I'll be on my yacht."

[Victor7]

Just keep his ass away from the cameras and mikes, please. And as far away from player decisions as possible.

From ANYTHING football related. Keep him in an office away from the field and the front office.

[YardRat]

Awwwww....Terry's honeymoon sure was short. I guess just any ol' dude with a boat load of money might not be the panacea everybody was hoping for, hmmm?

[HHURRICANE]

I guess he's a marketing genius if he got people to buy the ****ty product he was putting on the field.

[better days]

Whaley & Rex will run the football operation on the Bills.

Tim Murray will run the hockey operation for the Sabres.

Brandon will handle the business side for both teams.

Does anyone think Brandon will be worse than Ted Black?

[trapezeus]

^Nothing with personnel. But this board thrives on a mob mentality. Facts are unnecessary.

no stone left unturned... he wrote that in a letter after yet another coach left in 3 years. that approach took less than 3 interviews (one for quota purposes). And he got the guy from down the street. a guy who was incompentent and paranoid. two of the worst traits combined.

He takes credit at the times of hires and then points the finger at someone else when it's a failure.

he is a suckup. you can see that in how he carries himself. and what the owners know is that these two sports sell themselves. there is no reason to have a more expensive guy in the role.

[OpIv37]

It's not his JOB to "put a team together."

It's his job to find people who can and he has consistently failed at it.

[better days]

no stone left unturned... he wrote that in a letter after yet another coach left in 3 years. that approach took less than 3 interviews (one for quota purposes). And he got the guy from down the street. a guy who was incompentent and paranoid. two of the worst traits combined.

He takes credit at the times of hires and then points the finger at someone else when it's a failure.

he is a suckup. you can see that in how he carries himself. and what the owners know is that these two sports sell themselves. there is no reason to have a more expensive guy in the role.

I know I would be happy with Brandon's salary, especially after getting the Sabres job.

There may be execs making more money than Brandon, but I would bet there are some that make much less.

[JoeMama]

Look, Russ Brandon is a great snake oil salesman but for the love of God keep him far the **** away from personnel & sports decisions.

And hey, here's what I think of marketing & advertising people.

[don137]

I have no problem with the operations side of Russ. It was Ralph that put him on the football side. This set the Bills back because he is not a football guy he is a marketing/operations guy. It's not his fault Ralph did that. What are people criticisms of him from a marketing/operations standpoint? I feel he was following Ralph's orders to do the Toronto series. Hasn't everyone done things they have not wanted to do on their job because a higher authority told him to do it? He generated a lot of revenue for that deal. He followed orders and ended the series when Pegulas took over.

We don't see how he runs the operations side. However, Pegulas are astute business people so if they put their trust in Russ I have no problem with that.

[justasportsfan]

Russ has been great at regionalizing the bills franchise. He will do the same with the sabres. He already said yesterday he won't be in charge of hockey operations. This should end the argument.

[OpIv37]

To me, Russ is Ralph. He represents the old way of doing things, where coaches and FO personnel are consistently underpaid compared to league averages, the org settles for second or third tier coaches and FA's, guys with big salaries are allowed to walk but the money is stuffed into a mattress instead of re-invested in the team and we start the season a gazillion dollars below the salary cap, etc. And it's all because budget decisions override football ones when Russ is in charge.

[OpIv37]

Russ has been great at regionalizing the bills franchise. He will do the same with the sabres. He already said yesterday he won't be in charge of hockey operations. This should end the argument.

But will he be in charge of how much money hockey operations gets? His cash-to-cap policy hamstrung football operations even when he wasn't directly involved.

[justasportsfan]

But will he be in charge of how much money hockey operations gets? His cash-to-cap policy hamstrung football operations even when he wasn't directly involved.

I doubt it. I doubt he also had the final say as to how much the team was allowed to spend.

- - - Updated - - -

To me, Russ is Ralph. He represents the old way of doing things, where coaches and FO personnel are consistently underpaid compared to league averages, the org settles for second or third tier coaches and FA's, guys with big salaries are allowed to walk but the money is stuffed into a mattress instead of re-invested in the team and we start the season a gazillion dollars below the salary cap, etc. And it's all because budget decisions override football ones when Russ is in charge.

you're making assumptions

[swiper]

The Sabres (read Pegulas) move from one yes man to a bigger yes man.

Who suffers? Buffalo sports fans.

[Joe Fo Sho]

Russ has never worked with an owner with as deep pockets as the Pegulas have. He's also not in charge of hockey/football operations so I don't know what everyone is so up in arms about. I'm willing to at least give the guy a chance before I set my pitchfork on fire.

[OpIv37]

Russ has never worked with an owner with as deep pockets as the Pegulas have. He's also not in charge of hockey/football operations so I don't know what everyone is so up in arms about. I'm willing to at least give the guy a chance before I set my pitchfork on fire.

Yeah, didn't we all say "Give Darcy a chance with Pegula as the owner?" How'd that work out?

[Joe Fo Sho]

Yeah, didn't we all say "Give Darcy a chance with Pegula as the owner?" How'd that work out?

I don't follow the Sabres enough to comment on them, but I know that 1 bad hire does not mean the next hire is going to be just as bad.

Besides, Russ is President of the Sabres not the GM. They are different roles. Just as he's no longer making football decisions for the Bills.