General Manager/Head Coach Interview Discussion

[The Marshall Plan]

Everybody stand down.

@IotaNet

Is just trying to be funny. And he is funny. I laughed. No big deal.

McNagy was as dumb as shoe leather and he looked ok for fitness.

Trestman was a bean pole right? Another dumbass.

Belichick and Parcells were / are both heavy right? Legends.

Reid. Fat dude. Fantastic HC.

It might be that the fat coaches are better.

Arians is chubby right?
Tomlin looks normal.

Come to think of it the better coaches are heavier. Right?

I’m not so concerned about age. We aren’t talking 80 year olds. Jim Caldwell is a non starter not because of his age but because he sucks.

I’ll come up with a bias right now. I want somebody that reads Heavy Metal which is a fantasy illustrated magazine. Kinda like Pace with the Camry.

[dplank]

Process can absolutely change that. Hire you GM first and voila, you've removed George from hiring our HC. I'd be ok with dual tracks as well so long as it was clear George would not hire a HC first nor would be winnow a list down in any way. If that's what's happening, then fine. I don't think it is though, I think they are drawing conclusions about coaches during this process and that will heavily influence the GM decision and, the GM's decision on coach.

I think your biggest mistake is thinking George could just hire the GM and then just step away into the sunset. He HAS to be apart of the full process if he's ultimately responsible for evaluating the GM. You're approaching it like he's gonna assign over ownership.

He should absolutely assign over ownership of football decisions - all of them - and step into the sunset. And if you don't believe he would do that, then I'd like to resuscitate our prior conversation about the need for a President of Football. It's one or the other. George McCaskey (and Ted Phillips), fan extraordinaire and mental midget, can not be involved in football decisions. It's really that simple. He knows it, he's said it out loud, he's making moves to move both he and Ted away from football "stuff". The only thing he can't get away from is hiring that top dog, that's unavoidable. I'm glad he's pulled Polian to help mitigate that one thing being a disaster, and once that's done, just go away. We don't want Dan Snyder or Jerry Jones here. And even those guys made their own fortunes vs coasting off the family heritage, so I'd trust them way more than George who hasn't had to succeed at anything in life.

[Hiphopopotamos]

FWIW - If Eberflus is now a favorite I'm betting its to pair him with Morocco Brown rather than Ed Dodds. Brown has the trifecta of a Polian/McCaskey/Bears connection. I think its much more likely they go this direction than going Dodds/Eberflus.

[Hiphopopotamos]

He should absolutely assign over ownership of football decisions - all of them - and step into the sunset. And if you don't believe he would do that, then I'd like to resuscitate our prior conversation about the need for a President of Football. It's one or the other. George McCaskey (and Ted Phillips), fan extraordinaire and mental midget, can not be involved in football decisions. It's really that simple. He knows it, he's said it out loud, he's making moves to move both he and Ted away from football "stuff". The only thing he can't get away from is hiring that top dog, that's unavoidable. I'm glad he's pulled Polian to help mitigate that one thing being a disaster, and once that's done, just go away. We don't want Dan Snyder or Jerry Jones here. And even those guys made their own fortunes vs coasting off the family heritage, so I'd trust them way more than George who hasn't had to succeed at anything in life.

psst - who do you think is going to make that hire? And then who is going to evaluate him?

[IotaNet]

FWIW - If Eberflus is now a favorite I'm betting its to pair him with Morocco Brown rather than Ed Dodds. Brown has the trifecta of a Polian/McCaskey/Bears connection. I think its much more likely they go this direction than going Dodds/Eberflus.

I wouldn't hate that. I wouldn't hate that at all.

[dplank]

He isn't qualified to do either, that's the whole point. If someone isn't qualified, why would you want them making TWO key decisions instead of just ONE?? The GM decision is unavoidable, so there's no point discussing it. Having him also hire a HC though? That is entirely avoidable. He himself said, out loud, that he shouldn't do it. You limit George's football decision, don't amplify them.

And thx Ditka...this is what I figured for a lot of folks. I think folks are more resigned to the reality of it and don't see any point complaining about it. Fair enough. I just can't see DEFENDING it.

Well for starters I guarantee you George is not hiring both. He hired either a HC to steer the ship or a GM to steer the ship and then he's gonna let that person go to work.

Second, following your method Harbaugh is out. And I sure as hell, as I believe you would, be fine with the hiring of Harbaugh before a GM.

Your overthinking it. Alot. The McCaskeys haven't thought nearly as in depth about it as you have. I'm sure George can't wait to get out of the way and "go back to being a fan".

I'd definitely be happy with Harbaugh and I always thought that it would make sense for George to interview coaches that would steer the ship as you say - so a coach with personnel responsibilities would make sense for George to target w/o having a GM first. Totally agree with you. And I want to agree with AZ about Harbaugh being behind that comment about "wowing" him, it was my first thought also, but then they started interviewing a bunch of rando coordinators? Interviewing coordinators runs counter to this logic. Another thought was that he's just talking with smart football people and gathering intel/info. It's really poor form IMO to be interviewing guys like Daboll, Leftwich, etc - guys still in the playoffs - if all you're really doing is picking their brains for intel. I'd like to believe the 4D chess move that's been posited by a few folks about this "he's just talking to football people", but I just have no faith in the man. Plus, if that's what he was doing, then why hasn't he talked with Fangio yet? Not for HC, but to see if he can't "put a band together" with Fangio as DC.

[dplank]

He should absolutely assign over ownership of football decisions - all of them - and step into the sunset. And if you don't believe he would do that, then I'd like to resuscitate our prior conversation about the need for a President of Football. It's one or the other. George McCaskey (and Ted Phillips), fan extraordinaire and mental midget, can not be involved in football decisions. It's really that simple. He knows it, he's said it out loud, he's making moves to move both he and Ted away from football "stuff". The only thing he can't get away from is hiring that top dog, that's unavoidable. I'm glad he's pulled Polian to help mitigate that one thing being a disaster, and once that's done, just go away. We don't want Dan Snyder or Jerry Jones here. And even those guys made their own fortunes vs coasting off the family heritage, so I'd trust them way more than George who hasn't had to succeed at anything in life.

psst - who do you think is going to make that hire? And then who is going to evaluate him?

psst - read prior posts

[wab]

There's just too much handwringing about all of this. None of these decisions are made in a vacuum. No matter what the Bears do, no matter what approach they take, the majority of the people are going to think they are idiots for doing whatever they do.

Fans: lol, the Bears have been doing this wrong for decades
*Bears take a new approach*
Fans: oh, no...not like that.

RE: "Too much handwringing" I could not agree more. I started to write a whole post about it -- we don't know what they're doing in the hiring process, and they don't care what we think. We're just a bunch of "fans" with an opinion.

I suppose that you can get into an Existentialist discussion about "Fans" being "Fanatics" and as such, "Hand-wringing" (especially online) is out only avenue we have in these matters, and I suppose that's the nature of the deal.

With that said, I don't care who they hire -- I just want to make the playoffs for a change.

And I mean, I do get it. We are fans doing what fans do. But all the unnecessary worrying about the process seems like wasted energy.

You either trust that they will get it right, or you believe they won't. Regardless of what side of that fence you are on, you either hope they don't get it wrong, or hope they accidentally get it right.

[TheWorldBreaker]

So the McCaskey brain trust is doing second interviews for head coaches before they’ve even completed their first round of GM (or head coaching interviews)?

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. They are going to epically screw this up aren’t they?

Will they screw up their hire? Probably.

Does this announcement bring some additional concern. Yes.

In context that he's gotten a second interview with Jax and they may want to try and protect their spot in the market and we don't know when next week and a GM could possibly be in place by then... We should just wait and let it play out IMO. Criticize after.

Could they fall ass backwards into the next Belichick? *Dumb and Dumber so you're telling me there's a chance gif*

My concern is that they might poison the well for candidates they’ve yet to interview who might actually turn out to be better.

Will some of them conclude that the Bears are already sold on Dodds and pull out? Is that why Morocco Brown wasn’t interviewed yesterday?

[UOK]

[Hiphopopotamos]

Morocco Brown now interviewing on Thursday.

[The Cooler King]

Will they screw up their hire? Probably.

Does this announcement bring some additional concern. Yes.

In context that he's gotten a second interview with Jax and they may want to try and protect their spot in the market and we don't know when next week and a GM could possibly be in place by then... We should just wait and let it play out IMO. Criticize after.

Could they fall ass backwards into the next Belichick? *Dumb and Dumber so you're telling me there's a chance gif*

My concern is that they might poison the well for candidates they’ve yet to interview who might actually turn out to be better.

Will some of them conclude that the Bears are already sold on Dodds and pull out? Is that why Morocco Brown wasn’t interviewed yesterday?

My inclination is that concern probably isn't valid. Keep in mind the pool of guys who would even be available for second interviews is limited. They're obviously interested in Eberflus. He's on a faster path than a playoff coach could be, so you either let him walk or try and match the process.

Goes into the point someone made earlier about these decisions not happening in a vacuum.

[Hiphopopotamos]

You normally see guys removing their name from contention when they know either someone else has got the job or they know they're not a finalist.

[The Cooler King]

He should absolutely assign over ownership of football decisions - all of them - and step into the sunset. And if you don't believe he would do that, then I'd like to resuscitate our prior conversation about the need for a President of Football. It's one or the other. George McCaskey (and Ted Phillips), fan extraordinaire and mental midget, can not be involved in football decisions. It's really that simple. He knows it, he's said it out loud, he's making moves to move both he and Ted away from football "stuff". The only thing he can't get away from is hiring that top dog, that's unavoidable. I'm glad he's pulled Polian to help mitigate that one thing being a disaster, and once that's done, just go away. We don't want Dan Snyder or Jerry Jones here. And even those guys made their own fortunes vs coasting off the family heritage, so I'd trust them way more than George who hasn't had to succeed at anything in life.

No I mean literally assign ownership.

Its his job to evaluate the GM, but he can't do that without context of the GM/HC decision. Otherwise the GM fails to have any sort of accountability and is basically just a mini-owner.

Otherwise he makes decisions without proper context and possible makes bad firing decisions when maybe the GM ends up being fine, but the coach not. He can't honestly assess the GM and cut himself out of the process to the extent your treating it. Lack of football knowledge aside, it makes zero sense to try and operate that way.

[The Cooler King]

You normally see guys removing their name from contention when they know either someone else has got the job or they know they're not a finalist.

Yea. Definitely an intersting turn.

HC getting second interviews. Rumored interviews not happening. Official announcements dropping at 9PM local time. Very little news about prior rumored candidates getting on the schedule.

SOMETHING has to be going on in the background.

[Artbest]

not sure if it was mentioned elsewhere, but Ed Dodds has removed his name for consideration for the Bears' GM job. He apparently did this with the Panthers last year and Cleveland two years ago.

[o-pus #40 in B major]

They're just doing Zoom meetings. Once they do hire a GM, that person can go through the recorded interviews and basically see a weeks worth of HC interviews on day 1. Not a bad idea IMO as long as they're asking good questions.

This is perfectly sensible; a structured Human Resources department would have a similar process planned in advance, with an attempt to maximize the (useful) information gathered from the screening interview(s).

Some flexibility has to be included, of course. Like George implied there might be a coach out there worth bending over backwards for - that leads me to wonder who he might have had in mind.

[Otis Day]

Didn't see a Champ Kelly thread so will just put this here:

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/bears-play ... 20512.html

[Grizzled]

4 teams are looking at GM and coach. The Giants have only interviewed GM candidates so far. The Bears, Vikings, and Raiders are interviewing for both positions at the same time.

[IotaNet]

You normally see guys removing their name from contention when they know either someone else has got the job or they know they're not a finalist.

OR if you don't like what you are seeing/hearing from the org you're interviewing with.

People sometimes forget that interviews are a 2-way street. On more than one occasion in my career, I've asked to be removed from consideration for a role because I didn't like the manager, the company, or the way the job was structured.

[o-pus #40 in B major]

4 teams are looking at GM and coach. The Giants have only interviewed GM candidates so far. The Bears, Vikings, and Raiders are interviewing for both positions at the same time.

Thanks for that news, Grizzled.

[UOK]

Clearly the Bears aren't quite willing to make that kind of deal.

[dplank]

He should absolutely assign over ownership of football decisions - all of them - and step into the sunset. And if you don't believe he would do that, then I'd like to resuscitate our prior conversation about the need for a President of Football. It's one or the other. George McCaskey (and Ted Phillips), fan extraordinaire and mental midget, can not be involved in football decisions. It's really that simple. He knows it, he's said it out loud, he's making moves to move both he and Ted away from football "stuff". The only thing he can't get away from is hiring that top dog, that's unavoidable. I'm glad he's pulled Polian to help mitigate that one thing being a disaster, and once that's done, just go away. We don't want Dan Snyder or Jerry Jones here. And even those guys made their own fortunes vs coasting off the family heritage, so I'd trust them way more than George who hasn't had to succeed at anything in life.

No I mean literally assign ownership.

Its his job to evaluate the GM, but he can't do that without context of the GM/HC decision. Otherwise the GM fails to have any sort of accountability and is basically just a mini-owner.

Otherwise he makes decisions without proper context and possible makes bad firing decisions when maybe the GM ends up being fine, but the coach not. He can't honestly assess the GM and cut himself out of the process to the extent your treating it. Lack of football knowledge aside, it makes zero sense to try and operate that way.

OK, it sounds to me like you are on board with the President concept then. Because this is exactly the reason why you do it. It moves the owner completely out of the picture, the President (now a football guy like a Trace Armstrong or Bill Polian), has the responsibility of assessing the GM, coaching, etc. He takes George's job over on all things football related, and as we discussed before he needs to be tenured for the role - 10 year min. I think my issue with your logic here is that your thoughts aren't aligned. You cannot simultaneously hold these 3 views: George is incompetent on football matters, we don't need a President to oversee football operations, and it's fine to have George hire his own coach before hiring a GM. Those three points don't align.

End of the day I just want it to work out, and he may blind squirrel this thing yet. Until Harbaugh is officially signed elsewhere I'll hold out hope that George does the obvious thing and that Harbaugh wants to come here.

[Hiphopopotamos]

You normally see guys removing their name from contention when they know either someone else has got the job or they know they're not a finalist.

OR if you don't like what you are seeing/hearing from the org you're interviewing with.

People sometimes forget that interviews are a 2-way street. On more than one occasion in my career, I've asked to be removed from consideration for a role because I didn't like the manager, the company, or the way the job was structured.

Sure. Always a possibility. Of course - he also might just be a terrible interview. Plenty of people are terrific at their current job but can't interview and can't answer questions worth a damn.

[Ditka’s dictaphone]

Got a feeling Harbaugh is still in mix.

[The Cooler King]

No I mean literally assign ownership.

Its his job to evaluate the GM, but he can't do that without context of the GM/HC decision. Otherwise the GM fails to have any sort of accountability and is basically just a mini-owner.

Otherwise he makes decisions without proper context and possible makes bad firing decisions when maybe the GM ends up being fine, but the coach not. He can't honestly assess the GM and cut himself out of the process to the extent your treating it. Lack of football knowledge aside, it makes zero sense to try and operate that way.

OK, it sounds to me like you are on board with the President concept then. Because this is exactly the reason why you do it. It moves the owner completely out of the picture, the President (now a football guy like a Trace Armstrong or Bill Polian), has the responsibility of assessing the GM, coaching, etc. He takes George's job over on all things football related, and as we discussed before he needs to be tenured for the role - 10 year min. I think my issue with your logic here is that your thoughts aren't aligned. You cannot simultaneously hold these 3 views: George is incompetent on football matters, we don't need a President to oversee football operations, and it's fine to have George hire his own coach before hiring a GM. Those three points don't align.

End of the day I just want it to work out, and he may blind squirrel this thing yet. Until Harbaugh is officially signed elsewhere I'll hold out hope that George does the obvious thing and that Harbaugh wants to come here.

I still believe there's a burden to prove about how the Pres is held accountable. Too often fans (not necessarily you) treat being employed as necessarily meaning there is accountability or incentive. Otherwise its just a really long rope and well check back in in 10 years? I mean... Yea it's kind of like just transferring ownership at that stage. It's an unrealistic idea.

The "traditional" Pres role is still be held accountable to things like revenue/value where the football ops plays a huge role, but they have some motivation to weigh the interests of long term growth and short term wins and evaluate the job of the football head. People aside, Bears had that for a while and are now apparently going for a more direct separation of powers structure where the owner is responsible for overseeing that long term growth and short term results balance.

But overall my biggest issue with the Football Pres role is they have to have final football authority. At that point its the same power as GM you're just asking them to delegate and playing a little with titles. They would then very likely be your "Primary Football Executive" which is how basically the rest of the league defines as GM (sometimes with an EVP title add-on, but not broken out roles).

Which is fine/good to delegate from that top level, but they have to have final say to be held accountable. And then at that stage the most important relationship for George to evaluate is still Pres/HC as he determines the progress each year of the football ops progress.

Now if they wanted a Football only Pres in the mold of a DePodesta I'd be open to that, but that's a much bigger discussion. He is basically building a PFF like company within football admin, so the scale is huge where it obviously requires its own leadership and he then kind if fulfills the "trad Pres" role of d2d football ops reporting to him.

[dplank]

It’s the most common and accepted form of discrimination left. And it shows here, if this had been a dig about his sexuality or race you’d have seen members lining up to admonish the poster - even if it was light hearted. But fat shaming? Fair game still.

I made the original comment and I used poor judgement.

My apologies.

It's a societal issue man, not yours. All good here.

[wab]

You normally see guys removing their name from contention when they know either someone else has got the job or they know they're not a finalist.

Yeah, my guess is they've narrowed it down to a couple of guys.

[dplank]

You normally see guys removing their name from contention when they know either someone else has got the job or they know they're not a finalist.

Yeah, my guess is they've narrowed it down to a couple of guys.

I think that he knew he bombed and he's saving face by getting in front of it. Kind of a "no, I dumped you first" move. I highly doubt that George and Bill were deemed people that he just couldn't work with - I have my issues with George's skill in football matter but I'd find that really hard to believe. Nice reasonable people that anyone should feel fine working for.

Really hard to think they have a narrowed list when they still have nearly half of their identified candidates still to be interviewed. But maybe, I hope so.

[The Cooler King]

Yeah, my guess is they've narrowed it down to a couple of guys.

I think that he knew he bombed and he's saving face by getting in front of it. Kind of a "no, I dumped you first" move. I highly doubt that George and Bill were deemed people that he just couldn't work with - I have my issues with George's skill in football matter but I'd find that really hard to believe. Nice reasonable people that anyone should feel fine working for.

Really hard to think they have a narrowed list when they still have nearly half of their identified candidates still to be interviewed. But maybe, I hope so.

I think the "he bombed and is saving face" is a very pro-team spin.

Likely somewhere in the middle but I find is refreshing a candidate may understand that fit is important and they aren't so godly in their talents that every situation is best for them.

This league doesn't lack bright football people. Timing and fit matter though. Belichick wouldn't have bombed in Cleveland and his eventual successor (Newsome) and him both succeeded so greatly if things we so innate.