Sullivan: News from One Bills Drive looks like same old story
By Jerry Sullivan
NEWS SENIOR SPORTS COLUMNIST
December 31, 2009, 10:16 PM / 84 comments
Silly me. When I heard the Buffalo Bills planned to hire an actual football guy to be general manager, I assumed they would conduct an extensive search, one that would involve interviewing former league GMs and eager, talented young personnel guys just itching for an opportunity to run their own NFL operation.
That process would have begun in earnest next week, after the final week of the regular season. League rules prohibit talking with candidates who are currently employed by NFL teams. It would have been a great chance for Russ Brandon, the Bills' chief operating officer, to pick the brains of personnel types around the league and conduct a thorough, exhaustive search for the best possible GM.
After all, this was potentially the biggest hire in a quarter century — since Bill Polian — one that could lift the Bills from their decade of dysfunction and put them back on the road to respectability. Brandon had been telling people that, given a chance, he would knock this hire out of the park.
He hit a bloop single. Buddy Nix is the Bills' new GM. Once again, they've done the easy thing, the weak and short-sighted thing. Instead of reaching for the stars, they reached across the hall and plucked out Nix, an old, familiar face who was hired out of retirement after being forced out in San Diego a year ago.
This one has Ralph Wilson written all over it. When in doubt, the owner has often anointed the person nearest to him, rather than take a chance on someone he doesn't know or trust. Wilson gave Tom Donahoe full power over the football operation nine years ago, and it blew up in his face.
So Wilson has been running scared ever since. First, he brought in Marv Levy as a figurehead GM. Two years later, he handed the title off to Brandon. On Thursday, the owner acted as if he had a sudden epiphany. He needed a real football man to run the operation!
"Seriously, I'm here to introduce somebody that we've needed for a long, long time." Wilson said. "Something that the fans and everybody in the area and myself have wanted. That's a general manager of football."
A "general manager of football." A good idea, if overdue. But you'd think they could have come up with a better choice than Nix, who is 70 and had to be coaxed out of retirement by Wilson last January.
Apparently, Nix knows a football player when he sees one. He had some success as assistant GM under A.J. Smith with the Chargers — though I got the sense he rode the coattails of Smith and John Butler.
I don't mean to sound ageist. But 70 isn't typically the age when you take on the exhaustive task of running an NFL football department — the Levy experiment notwithstanding.
Wilson was asked if the Bills had conducted a GM search.
"Russ and I scanned a list of possible candidates," Wilson said. "We didn't know them. I didn't know them. I don't think Russ did. We narrowed it down to two candidates for the job of general manager of football, two in-house candidates."
Wow. They scanned a list and the owner didn't know them? What does that mean, that Ralph had never had them up for cocktails in Detroit? Maybe you get to know some of the rising GM of football candidates by, oh, actually interviewing them?
You don't need to scan any lists to know this was an inside job all the way. The Buddy system, if you will. The other in-house "finalist" was John Guy, who has been pro personnel director since Donahoe brought him here in 2001. Guy is black, who meets the Bills' obligations under the Rooney Rule, which requires interviewing at least one minority candidate for coaching and general manager openings.
I'd be more inclined to fire Guy, along with his fellow vice president, Tom Modrak. Nix said he planned to evaluate everyone in the football department, and he wasn't going to base his judgments on things he's read or heard. I'd suggest a review of the Bills' college drafts and free-agent signings the past nine years.
"I've never been accused of being the smartest guy in the room," Nix said, "and I'm not afraid to tell you I don't know. I'm not trying to build a resume or leave a legacy ... I see a little disappointment on faces that one of the geniuses isn't standing up here."
Well, fans aren't asking for geniuses at this point, just a little basic competence. Nix will be a hero if he finds a solid head coach. It needn't be an Ivy Leaguer, that's for sure.
Nix made some points by reaching out to Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas, who attended Thursday's news conference. At least Nix recognizes the value of keeping the former players in the loop. The Hall of Famers will apparently serve as consultants. Thomas might do some scouting. It can't hurt.
But it doesn't change the fact that Wilson kept this process in-house. He is surrounded by people who have been promoted beyond their achievements, who have no incentive to tell the owner the hard truths he would rather not hear.
In the end, the Nix hiring seems like the same old thing, a once-proud franchise running in place. Wilson made his usual comments about luck being the biggest factor of all. The last 10 years haven't been a product of luck, but of poor management and weak, uninspired hires.
On the final day of a lost, dark decade, it looks as if they just made another.
Plus, shouldn't a Bill coach the Bills? Ok, that was just awful LOLI think he wants to coach Charlotte, but it sounds like Fox gets another year, so Cowher will coach elsewhere.
Cowher doesn't strike me as the type of guy who would make his coaching decision based on weather. Sure, it could be a tie-breaker. But, the original post by Godsbrother makes it sound like Tampa >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Buffalo. There has to be more to it than weather.
Cowher doesn't strike me as the type of guy who would make his coaching decision based on weather. Sure, it could be a tie-breaker. But, the original post by Godsbrother makes it sound like Tampa >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Buffalo. There has to be more to it than weather.
for me.Brandon is not a football guy and doesn't really pretend to be an expert there. Adding a real GM allows him to focus on bigger picture things and Nix at least seems like a good talent evaluator.it's pretty amazing to me that the Bills continue to sell out considering they've gone a decade without a playoff appearance. Brandon deserves a lot of credit for that. If the seats were empty and the games were blacked out, this team would have no chance of staying in Buffalo.
for me.Brandon is not a football guy and doesn't really pretend to be an expert there. Adding a real GM allows him to focus on bigger picture things and Nix at least seems like a good talent evaluator.it's pretty amazing to me that the Bills continue to sell out considering they've gone a decade without a playoff appearance. Brandon deserves a lot of credit for that. If the seats were empty and the games were blacked out, this team would have no chance of staying in Buffalo.
