PadresLakers
Footballguy
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE
February 23, 2007
When Chargers bosses determined they'd had enough of Marty Schottenheimer – and he of them – the Web sites began to spin like starving black widows. It's what happens now. Throw it against the wall and see if it sticks, except there is no wall in cyberspace. The manure goes its merry way, into some wacky orbit with all the other fertilizer.
I have a few favorites. One had General Manager A.J. Smith being fired after the draft.
“Ludicrous,” club President Dean Spanos says.
With the Schottenheimer firing came the natural ricochet. Pete Carroll was going to leave USC and come in as head coach and GM, with total control. Except Carroll wasn't considered. Smith went with his gut and hired Norv Turner.
“Yeah,” Smith says. “Pete Carroll's coming in. He'd better get here quick.”
Of course, it made sense that Smith would be allowed to hire his own head coach, go to the NFL Combine and interview players, gather his scouts, conduct a draft, and then be canned. I can't even dream such nonsense.
And those throwing out the Carroll and control rumors obviously didn't know Spanos believes in checks and balances. He doesn't want a coach running the entire football operation.
It wasn't going to happen. I don't know what you think of Spanos and frankly I don't care, but if he were to get rid of Smith, who personally has supplied 46 of the 53 players on the best roster in The League, he'd be in need of treatment.
Still, with all this has come an incredibly negative reaction to the Turner hire. That he's a yes man. He will be the GM's caddie. Smith truly will be the coach of this team. Turner is too soft. Jerry Rice doesn't like him (who likes Jerry Rice?). That he was the safe hire, the comfortable decision.
“Marty got hammered when he was hired,” Smith says. “Now he's a genius. I got hammered when Drew Brees left. I can't shake the negativity, but I do what I think is right.”
And, while Smith isn't perfect, he's been right more than any working GM in recent years. Maybe Turner won't work out. But Smith doesn't consider it a safe hire and neither do I. It took some spine to hire a coach with a losing record to take over a 14-2 team.
Is it comfortable? Sure. It's Turner's offense. Ted Cottrell has been brought in to coordinate a 3-4 defense he's run since he was a child. Ron Rivera, who recently ran the Bears' defense in the Super Bowl, has been added as linebackers coach, so there's a promise of new wrinkles.
This looks like a pretty damn good coaching staff to me.
“This isn't safe or cautious,” Smith says. “I just deal with what's in front of me. These are good football players who know the system and the system will remain in place.
“Of course, none of this means anything until we go to the playoffs. If we don't, I'm stupid another year. I'm the dumbest SOB to come down the pike and I should get my butt back to Buffalo.”
Smith doesn't live in a cave with Bin Laden. He may be a cowboy, but he isn't that ruthless. He's heard and seen the negativity, even been on talk shows recently with hosts who hate the hire.
“It's terrible, but I knew it was coming,” he says. “I've heard that I've hired a yes man. He's a puppet who will do everything I say. It's all about me. I'm coaching the team. I'm an egomaniac. I didn't listen to Marty Schottenheimer. It was all my way.
“I'll take the shells on that, but I'm not going to stand at a podium and tell everybody why (there was the rift). The real truth hasn't come out and it won't come from me. Our views were vastly different. Nobody can work with A.J.? I've worked with a lot of people in my career.”
It can't be helped. That's the way people see things, and judging by our e-mailers, the great majority see Turner as a loser.
“It's perception,” Smith says. “They say Norv isn't a screamer or a motivator. Everyone has different styles. What about Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith? It doesn't matter. It's all about winning. Marty Schottenheimer was 0-2 in the playoffs and there's 0-2 next to my name. I don't like 0-2. We've got to figure this thing out and do some damage.
“I hear about Jerry Rice. What's Jerry Rice got to say? Norv cut him (in Oakland). Ask Troy Aikman about Norv. I have a plan. Trust me.”
But, as Spanos said the day Turner was hired: “The pressure's on all of us now.” A coach who went 14-2 has been fired and a coach with a 58-82-1 career record has been hired. Smith knows it, but he doesn't seem to have changed. At least he's already had dinner with Turner. How many times did he break bread with Schottenheimer over a five-year span? Twice.
“I'm not happy or sad,” he says. “It's not personal. It's strictly business.”
Nothing like John Wayne ending the conversation with a quote from Michael Corleone.
Nick Canepa: (619) 293-1397; nick.canepa@uniontrib.com
February 23, 2007
When Chargers bosses determined they'd had enough of Marty Schottenheimer – and he of them – the Web sites began to spin like starving black widows. It's what happens now. Throw it against the wall and see if it sticks, except there is no wall in cyberspace. The manure goes its merry way, into some wacky orbit with all the other fertilizer.
I have a few favorites. One had General Manager A.J. Smith being fired after the draft.
“Ludicrous,” club President Dean Spanos says.
With the Schottenheimer firing came the natural ricochet. Pete Carroll was going to leave USC and come in as head coach and GM, with total control. Except Carroll wasn't considered. Smith went with his gut and hired Norv Turner.
“Yeah,” Smith says. “Pete Carroll's coming in. He'd better get here quick.”
Of course, it made sense that Smith would be allowed to hire his own head coach, go to the NFL Combine and interview players, gather his scouts, conduct a draft, and then be canned. I can't even dream such nonsense.
And those throwing out the Carroll and control rumors obviously didn't know Spanos believes in checks and balances. He doesn't want a coach running the entire football operation.
It wasn't going to happen. I don't know what you think of Spanos and frankly I don't care, but if he were to get rid of Smith, who personally has supplied 46 of the 53 players on the best roster in The League, he'd be in need of treatment.
Still, with all this has come an incredibly negative reaction to the Turner hire. That he's a yes man. He will be the GM's caddie. Smith truly will be the coach of this team. Turner is too soft. Jerry Rice doesn't like him (who likes Jerry Rice?). That he was the safe hire, the comfortable decision.
“Marty got hammered when he was hired,” Smith says. “Now he's a genius. I got hammered when Drew Brees left. I can't shake the negativity, but I do what I think is right.”
And, while Smith isn't perfect, he's been right more than any working GM in recent years. Maybe Turner won't work out. But Smith doesn't consider it a safe hire and neither do I. It took some spine to hire a coach with a losing record to take over a 14-2 team.
Is it comfortable? Sure. It's Turner's offense. Ted Cottrell has been brought in to coordinate a 3-4 defense he's run since he was a child. Ron Rivera, who recently ran the Bears' defense in the Super Bowl, has been added as linebackers coach, so there's a promise of new wrinkles.
This looks like a pretty damn good coaching staff to me.
“This isn't safe or cautious,” Smith says. “I just deal with what's in front of me. These are good football players who know the system and the system will remain in place.
“Of course, none of this means anything until we go to the playoffs. If we don't, I'm stupid another year. I'm the dumbest SOB to come down the pike and I should get my butt back to Buffalo.”
Smith doesn't live in a cave with Bin Laden. He may be a cowboy, but he isn't that ruthless. He's heard and seen the negativity, even been on talk shows recently with hosts who hate the hire.
“It's terrible, but I knew it was coming,” he says. “I've heard that I've hired a yes man. He's a puppet who will do everything I say. It's all about me. I'm coaching the team. I'm an egomaniac. I didn't listen to Marty Schottenheimer. It was all my way.
“I'll take the shells on that, but I'm not going to stand at a podium and tell everybody why (there was the rift). The real truth hasn't come out and it won't come from me. Our views were vastly different. Nobody can work with A.J.? I've worked with a lot of people in my career.”
It can't be helped. That's the way people see things, and judging by our e-mailers, the great majority see Turner as a loser.
“It's perception,” Smith says. “They say Norv isn't a screamer or a motivator. Everyone has different styles. What about Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith? It doesn't matter. It's all about winning. Marty Schottenheimer was 0-2 in the playoffs and there's 0-2 next to my name. I don't like 0-2. We've got to figure this thing out and do some damage.
“I hear about Jerry Rice. What's Jerry Rice got to say? Norv cut him (in Oakland). Ask Troy Aikman about Norv. I have a plan. Trust me.”
But, as Spanos said the day Turner was hired: “The pressure's on all of us now.” A coach who went 14-2 has been fired and a coach with a 58-82-1 career record has been hired. Smith knows it, but he doesn't seem to have changed. At least he's already had dinner with Turner. How many times did he break bread with Schottenheimer over a five-year span? Twice.
“I'm not happy or sad,” he says. “It's not personal. It's strictly business.”
Nothing like John Wayne ending the conversation with a quote from Michael Corleone.
Nick Canepa: (619) 293-1397; nick.canepa@uniontrib.com
