Sullivan: Gailey talks the talk: a familiar refrain
Published: January 19, 2010, 11:12 pm
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Three weeks in, Buddy Nix is melding nicely into the culture at One Bills Drive. Nix is already saying goofy things and demonstrating the organizational gift for insulting the intelligence of the average fan.
Nix couldn't resist. Before introducing Chan Gailey as the 16th head coach in team history — after letting it slip that he "didn't ask" for the job of finding him — Nix accused the national sports media of making up most of the news about the search.
"I'd say, giving the benefit of the doubt, 20 percent of the things that were reported had some truth to it," Nix said. "About 80 percent was complete fabrication. It was amusing, really, and made some good stories."
OK, it was a long, confounding process, and people threw some wild stuff out there. But 20 percent truth? That's an outlandish claim, even if Nix includes every Joe Sixpack who sat at the bar and claimed he saw Bill Cowher buying gas at Noco. It was a kick in the teeth of the NFL media, most of whom are hard-working, credible people.
This was a transparent strategy to counter the previous embarrassments, and to convince us that Gailey had been their man all along. Yes, they had him pegged from the start, and all that talk about being turned down by big-name coaches, top coordinators and Jim Harbaugh was pure fiction.
Well, as long as Nix was going to trash people in my business, I asked if he might enlighten us about that 80 percent. Tell us which names were fabrications. Was it not true that Brian Schottenheimer, Russ Grimm and Ron Rivera declined interviews?
Or are we supposed to simply accept his 80 percent line?
"I thought that's the way we play this game," Nix said.
Funny, but we haven't heard a single report from any of those coaches suggesting that the media fabricated the Bills' interest in them.
But whatever the case, Nix said the Bills formally interviewed only three men for head coach: Perry Fewell, Leslie Frazier and Gailey.
Assuming Fewell was a courtesy interview to satisfy the Rooney rule, that means the Bills had two serious interviews for coach. They did two in-house interviews for GM — Nix and John Guy, the obligatory African-American. No offense to Fewell and Guy, but they had zero chance of getting those jobs. Fewell took the defensive coordinator's job with the Giants before the Bills even made their decision.
So, at one of the most critical times in franchise history, with a decade of failure at their backs, the Bills filled their two most important jobs after granting a total of three real interviews. Three to make two, like in the old NBA.
But that's in the past. The task now is to see Gailey in the best possible light and contemplate whether he can lead this team out of the wilderness. Nix, taking his cue from owner Ralph Wilson, said he's always been lucky and expects Gailey to justify his wisdom and good fortune.
Gailey has a lot to recommend him. He knows offense. He has developed quarterbacks. He was on a lot of winning teams as an assistant, and he went 18-16 (including two playoff losses) with fading Hall of Famers in two years as the Cowboys' head man. He won enough to reach minor bowl games at Georgia Tech, but was dismissed as a mediocrity soon enough.
He does appear to be flexible. Gailey is a run-first guy, but ran some spread last year in Kansas City. He used the 4-3 defense in his previous head jobs, but suggested he might switch in Buffalo. Let's hope he goes to a 3-4 and helps the Bills distance themselves from Dick Jauron's obsession with undersized defenders, which brought us John McCargo and Aaron Maybin, among others.
"I know one thing," Gailey said. "I'm much more up on the 3-4 because I know what a pain it is to go against it every week."
Gailey said he believes in discipline and fundamentals (tell me the last time a coach was hired and didn't say that). He talked about the importance of character, on and off the field.
Again, we've heard this stuff before. Remember character and intelligence? If Gailey is for real, let's see him prove it by shaping up Marshawn Lynch or shipping him out of town.
That's the problem with new coaches. Even the Bills' hires know how to say the right things. Gailey said a couple of times that he'd be bringing in assistants who were good teachers. That's what Gregg Williams said nine years ago. You know how that one turned out. What Williams really meant, I suppose, was that they'd be paid like teachers.
Teaching is great. You need players, and the Bills don't have nearly enough good ones. But they also need a dynamic head coach with sideline command. Gailey is a good coach. What he is, I'm afraid, is a good offensive coordinator.
Gailey said he'll be head coach and offensive coordinator with the Bills. He said they'll hire someone with the title, but he'll be designing the offense and calling the plays. It's a formidable task for the best of coaches, and a tall order for a guy who hasn't been an NFL head coach in 10 years.
In time, I suspect Gailey will prove to be out of his depth as a head coach in today's NFL. I give him, oh, a 20 percent chance of succeeding.
But if nothing else, it'll be amusing, and make some good stories.
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