UPDATE: Chan Gailey has had one successful interview with the Bills and will be landing at Buffalo Niagara Airport shortly for an interview tomorrow morning with Buddy Nix. If the interview goes well, Chan Gailey could be announced as the next head coach of the Bills tomorrow afternoon.
We've been hearing about all the potential candidates for the Bills head coach job for nearly two months. Since the alleged promise to pay up to $10M per year for 'A List' candidates like Bill Cowher and Mike Shanahan who could potentially serve as a General Manager and Head Coach, Shanahan has signed with the Redskins and Cowher hasn't left his desk as an analyst with CBS.
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We've been hearing about all the potential candidates for the Bills head coach job for nearly two months. Since the alleged promise to pay up to $10M per year for 'A List' candidates like Bill Cowher and Mike Shanahan who could potentially serve as a General Manager and Head Coach, Shanahan has signed with the Redskins and Cowher hasn't left his desk as an analyst with CBS.
In the meantime, a number of coordinators have expressly rejected the opportunity to interview with the Bills for the head coaching job. Brian Schottenheimer, the Jets offensive coordinator with a not-terribly-impressive resume, is the latest to reject the Bills request for a conversation. Jim Harbaugh, the head coach of Stanford, has a 17-19 record at Stanford - a second tier college football program. The Bills reportedly offered Harbaugh, a sub-500 college coach, the head coaching job and he turned it down. Think about that for a minute - a head coach with a mediocre resume at a second tier college turned down a NFL head coaching job. It's mind-boggling, and it speaks to just how bad the Bills reputation is throughout the football world.
Jerry Sullivan has nailed the issue in his latest column. Thanks to Bill Polian, A.J. Smith, Gregg Williams, and Mike Mularkey, the football world knows what it's like to work for Ralph Wilson. And despite the fact that there are only 32 head coaching jobs available in the world and that the Bills job likely means at least $3M per year, no one with any other legitimate options seems willing to work for Wilson and the Bills.
It's easy to think the Bills are an unattractive coaching destination because the team is so bad, but that's not the issue. The Bills are mediocre (heck, we beat the Jets who are now in the AFC Championship game) and there are a lots of worse teams in the league who can find coaches easier than the Bills. It's all about Ralph Wilson, Russ Brandon and the manner in which the Bills are managed. Sure, the fact that the franchise's future is in doubt because Wilson is 91 years old may give some high profile candidates some pause, but if Wilson was like Wellington Mara or Dan Rooney, you can bet Jim Harbaugh would leave Stanford to coach the Bills.
So now what? Cowher isn't coming. A Schottenheimer isn't coming. Perry Fewell left. Jim Haslett is off the market. At this point, the dream candidate appears to be Jason Garrett. But that isn't likely to happen. The Bills may be able to lure Russ Grimm away from Arizona and, of course, there is Leslie Frazier. Or maybe the Bills could get Lane Kiffin to leave USC. With the Senior Bowl is just 12 days, whatever the Bills are going to do, they better do it quickly.
Football coaches want to be around football men. Russ Brandon is not a football man. Football coaches want to work for an owner who wants to win. Ralph Wilson does not want to win.
At the end of the day, the biggest issue with the Bills are the enabling fans. 490,898 fans or 70,128 per each of the 7 home games said, with money, it is ok for the Bills to suck. People need to realize that until the Bills face a grim outlook in ticket sales...they are NEVER going to do anything about the grim product on the field.
I have to agree with this. What cities that have bad football teams consistently sell out every home game? Why do people continually attend them here? I don't get it!
I haven't been to a home game in over 6 years, and don't plan on it anytime soon. I feel like Ralph and Russ are crooked salesmen - selling you a product that is not what you thought it was.
Once the product improves, I'll be willing to spend money for it.
Right. Then you have the people that say that 'well, if people don't go, they will move'. Fine, I would rather not have a team than a sh!tty one year after year after year. That stupid TO signing smelled like a ticket selling stunt the moment they signed him. Of course you need to have a compenent QB to actually throw the ball, and a halfway decent O line to give the qb time to make a play, and a somewhat intelligent coach to coach the team, a GM to bring in talent, and a owner willing to open his wallet to sign players and either have positive input or stay out of the way regarding football personal decisions.
I don't think the Bills have any of the above, and its not looking like they have in the last 10 years, or will any time soon.
Go Sabres!